diff --git a/.Rbuildignore b/.Rbuildignore
index bfd9104..b1475f5 100644
--- a/.Rbuildignore
+++ b/.Rbuildignore
@@ -11,3 +11,7 @@
 ^_pkgdown\.yml$
 ^docs$
 ^pkgdown$
+^src/rust/vendor$
+^src/rust/target$
+^src/Makevars$
+^src/Makevars\.win$
diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 32360d2..db9c8b6 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Package: mdl
 Title: Modern model matrices
-Version: 0.0.0.9000
+Version: 0.0.0.9001
 Authors@R: c(
     person("Simon", "Couch", , "simon.couch@posit.co", role = c("aut", "cre"),
            comment = c(ORCID = "0000-0001-5676-5107")),
@@ -19,10 +19,12 @@ Imports:
     withr
 Suggests: 
     testthat (>= 3.0.0)
-Config/rextendr/version: 0.3.1.9000
+Config/rextendr/version: 0.3.1.9001
 Config/testthat/edition: 3
 Encoding: UTF-8
 Roxygen: list(markdown = TRUE)
 RoxygenNote: 7.3.2
 SystemRequirements: Cargo (Rust's package manager), rustc
 Config/Needs/website: r-lib/bench#144, dplyr, ggplot2, rmarkdown, tidyverse/tidytemplate
+Depends: 
+    R (>= 4.2)
diff --git a/configure b/configure
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..c608b11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/configure
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env sh
+: "${R_HOME=`R RHOME`}"
+"${R_HOME}/bin/Rscript" tools/config.R 
diff --git a/configure.win b/configure.win
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..57eb255
--- /dev/null
+++ b/configure.win
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env sh
+"${R_HOME}/bin${R_ARCH_BIN}/Rscript.exe" tools/config.R
diff --git a/src/.gitignore b/src/.gitignore
index c23c7b3..24e51fc 100644
--- a/src/.gitignore
+++ b/src/.gitignore
@@ -3,3 +3,6 @@
 *.dll
 target
 .cargo
+rust/vendor
+Makevars
+Makevars.win
diff --git a/src/Makevars.in b/src/Makevars.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0353001
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Makevars.in
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+TARGET_DIR = ./rust/target
+LIBDIR = $(TARGET_DIR)/@LIBDIR@
+STATLIB = $(LIBDIR)/libmdl.a
+PKG_LIBS = -L$(LIBDIR) -lmdl
+
+all: $(SHLIB) rust_clean
+
+.PHONY: $(STATLIB)
+
+$(SHLIB): $(STATLIB)
+
+CARGOTMP = $(CURDIR)/.cargo
+VENDOR_DIR = $(CURDIR)/vendor
+
+
+# RUSTFLAGS appends --print=native-static-libs to ensure that 
+# the correct linkers are used. Use this for debugging if need. 
+#
+# CRAN note: Cargo and Rustc versions are reported during
+# configure via tools/msrv.R.
+#
+# When the NOT_CRAN flag is *not* set, the vendor.tar.xz, if present,
+# is unzipped and used for offline compilation.
+$(STATLIB):
+
+	# Check if NOT_CRAN is false and unzip vendor.tar.xz if so
+	if [ "$(NOT_CRAN)" != "true" ]; then \
+		if [ -f ./rust/vendor.tar.xz ]; then \
+			tar xf rust/vendor.tar.xz && \
+			mkdir -p $(CARGOTMP) && \
+			cp rust/vendor-config.toml $(CARGOTMP)/config.toml; \
+		fi; \
+	fi
+
+	export CARGO_HOME=$(CARGOTMP) && \
+	export PATH="$(PATH):$(HOME)/.cargo/bin" && \
+	RUSTFLAGS="$(RUSTFLAGS) --print=native-static-libs" cargo build @CRAN_FLAGS@ --lib @PROFILE@ --manifest-path=./rust/Cargo.toml --target-dir $(TARGET_DIR)
+
+	# Always clean up CARGOTMP
+	rm -Rf $(CARGOTMP);
+
+rust_clean: $(SHLIB)
+	rm -Rf $(CARGOTMP) $(VENDOR_DIR) @CLEAN_TARGET@
+
+clean:
+	rm -Rf $(SHLIB) $(STATLIB) $(OBJECTS) $(TARGET_DIR)
diff --git a/src/Makevars.win.in b/src/Makevars.win.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9805b51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Makevars.win.in
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+TARGET = $(subst 64,x86_64,$(subst 32,i686,$(WIN)))-pc-windows-gnu
+
+TARGET_DIR = ./rust/target
+LIBDIR = $(TARGET_DIR)/$(TARGET)/@LIBDIR@
+STATLIB = $(LIBDIR)/libmdl.a
+PKG_LIBS = -L$(LIBDIR) -lmdl -lws2_32 -ladvapi32 -luserenv -lbcrypt -lntdll
+
+all: $(SHLIB) rust_clean
+
+.PHONY: $(STATLIB)
+
+$(SHLIB): $(STATLIB)
+
+CARGOTMP = $(CURDIR)/.cargo
+VENDOR_DIR = vendor
+
+$(STATLIB):
+	mkdir -p $(TARGET_DIR)/libgcc_mock
+	touch $(TARGET_DIR)/libgcc_mock/libgcc_eh.a
+
+	if [ "$(NOT_CRAN)" != "true" ]; then \
+		if [ -f ./rust/vendor.tar.xz ]; then \
+			tar xf rust/vendor.tar.xz && \
+			mkdir -p $(CARGOTMP) && \
+			cp rust/vendor-config.toml $(CARGOTMP)/config.toml; \
+		fi; \
+	fi
+
+	# Build the project using Cargo with additional flags
+	export CARGO_HOME=$(CARGOTMP) && \
+	export LIBRARY_PATH="$(LIBRARY_PATH);$(CURDIR)/$(TARGET_DIR)/libgcc_mock" && \
+	RUSTFLAGS="$(RUSTFLAGS) --print=native-static-libs" cargo build @CRAN_FLAGS@ --target=$(TARGET) --lib @PROFILE@ --manifest-path=rust/Cargo.toml --target-dir=$(TARGET_DIR)
+
+	# Always clean up CARGOTMP
+	rm -Rf $(CARGOTMP);
+
+rust_clean: $(SHLIB)
+	rm -Rf $(CARGOTMP) $(VENDOR_DIR) @CLEAN_TARGET@
+
+clean:
+	rm -Rf $(SHLIB) $(STATLIB) $(OBJECTS) $(TARGET_DIR)
diff --git a/src/rust/Cargo.lock b/src/rust/Cargo.lock
index 9353782..a54970e 100644
--- a/src/rust/Cargo.lock
+++ b/src/rust/Cargo.lock
@@ -2,6 +2,12 @@
 # It is not intended for manual editing.
 version = 3
 
+[[package]]
+name = "build-print"
+version = "0.1.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "4a2128d00b7061b82b72844a351e80acd29e05afc60e9261e2ac90dca9ecc2ac"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "crossbeam-deque"
 version = "0.8.5"
@@ -45,43 +51,46 @@ checksum = "60b1af1c220855b6ceac025d3f6ecdd2b7c4894bfe9cd9bda4fbb4bc7c0d4cf0"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "extendr-api"
-version = "0.7.1"
+version = "0.8.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "67505d96c7faa49d20e749dba7ba2447db52c40a788fd88cc2b6bef02c02277a"
+checksum = "cae12193370e4f00f4a54b64f40dabc753ad755f15229c367e4b5851ed206954"
 dependencies = [
+ "extendr-ffi",
  "extendr-macros",
- "libR-sys",
  "once_cell",
  "paste",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "extendr-engine"
-version = "0.7.1"
+version = "0.8.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "80a5e4f65b235938728b67b17f66bd43520f8f5eae9c143f25f01916fe3eea9f"
+checksum = "38fd5c794b955e643ac021664ef1db482f0cad218837614485e6b04071bfc42a"
 dependencies = [
  "ctor",
- "libR-sys",
+ "extendr-ffi",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "extendr-ffi"
+version = "0.8.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "b48f96b7a4a2ff009ad9087f22a6de2312731a4096b520e3eb1c483df476ae95"
+dependencies = [
+ "build-print",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "extendr-macros"
-version = "0.7.1"
+version = "0.8.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "81b58838056f294411d0b2c35ac1a2b24c507d6828b75f2c1e74f00ee9b99267"
+checksum = "fdbbac9afddafddb4dabd10aefa8082e3f057ec5bfa519c7b44af114e7ebf1a5"
 dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
  "syn",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "libR-sys"
-version = "0.7.1"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "06ac9752bc1e83f5a354a62b9e81bd8db4468b1008e29f262441e7f0e91e6bb3"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "mdl"
 version = "0.1.0"
@@ -93,9 +102,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "once_cell"
-version = "1.19.0"
+version = "1.21.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "3fdb12b2476b595f9358c5161aa467c2438859caa136dec86c26fdd2efe17b92"
+checksum = "42f5e15c9953c5e4ccceeb2e7382a716482c34515315f7b03532b8b4e8393d2d"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "paste"
diff --git a/src/rust/Cargo.toml b/src/rust/Cargo.toml
index 19e0151..9883f4c 100644
--- a/src/rust/Cargo.toml
+++ b/src/rust/Cargo.toml
@@ -3,16 +3,17 @@ name = 'mdl'
 publish = false
 version = '0.1.0'
 edition = '2021'
+rust-version = "1.65"
 
 [lib]
 crate-type = ['staticlib']
 name = 'mdl'
 
 [dev-dependencies]
-extendr-engine = { version = "0.7.1" }
+extendr-engine = { version = "0.8.0" }
 
 [dependencies]
-extendr-api = { version = "0.7.1" }
+extendr-api = { version = "0.8.0" }
 rayon = {version = "1.10.0", optional = true}
 
 [features]
diff --git a/tools/config.R b/tools/config.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..13a5904
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/config.R
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+# check the packages MSRV first
+source("tools/msrv.R")
+
+# check DEBUG and NOT_CRAN environment variables
+env_debug <- Sys.getenv("DEBUG")
+env_not_cran <- Sys.getenv("NOT_CRAN")
+
+# check if the vendored zip file exists
+vendor_exists <- file.exists("src/rust/vendor.tar.xz")
+
+is_not_cran <- env_not_cran != ""
+is_debug <- env_debug != ""
+
+if (is_debug) {
+  # if we have DEBUG then we set not cran to true
+  # CRAN is always release build
+  is_not_cran <- TRUE
+  message("Creating DEBUG build.")
+}
+
+if (!is_not_cran) {
+  message("Building for CRAN.")
+}
+
+# we set cran flags only if NOT_CRAN is empty and if
+# the vendored crates are present.
+.cran_flags <- ifelse(
+  !is_not_cran && vendor_exists,
+  "-j 2 --offline",
+  ""
+)
+
+# when DEBUG env var is present we use `--debug` build
+.profile <- ifelse(is_debug, "", "--release")
+.clean_targets <- ifelse(is_debug, "", "$(TARGET_DIR)")
+
+# when we are using a debug build we need to use target/debug instead of target/release
+.libdir <- ifelse(is_debug, "debug", "release")
+
+# read in the Makevars.in file
+is_windows <- .Platform[["OS.type"]] == "windows"
+
+# if windows we replace in the Makevars.win.in
+mv_fp <- ifelse(
+  is_windows,
+  "src/Makevars.win.in",
+  "src/Makevars.in"
+)
+
+# set the output file
+mv_ofp <- ifelse(
+  is_windows,
+  "src/Makevars.win",
+  "src/Makevars"
+)
+
+# delete the existing Makevars{.win}
+if (file.exists(mv_ofp)) {
+  message("Cleaning previous `", mv_ofp, "`.")
+  invisible(file.remove(mv_ofp))
+}
+
+# read as a single string
+mv_txt <- readLines(mv_fp)
+
+# replace placeholder values
+new_txt <- gsub("@CRAN_FLAGS@", .cran_flags, mv_txt) |>
+  gsub("@PROFILE@", .profile, x = _) |>
+  gsub("@CLEAN_TARGET@", .clean_targets, x = _) |>
+  gsub("@LIBDIR@", .libdir, x = _)
+
+message("Writing `", mv_ofp, "`.")
+con <- file(mv_ofp, open = "wb")
+writeLines(new_txt, con, sep = "\n")
+close(con)
+
+message("`tools/config.R` has finished.")
diff --git a/tools/msrv.R b/tools/msrv.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..59a61ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/msrv.R
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+# read the DESCRIPTION file
+desc <- read.dcf("DESCRIPTION")
+
+if (!"SystemRequirements" %in% colnames(desc)) {
+  fmt <- c(
+    "`SystemRequirements` not found in `DESCRIPTION`.",
+    "Please specify `SystemRequirements: Cargo (Rust's package manager), rustc`"
+  )
+  stop(paste(fmt, collapse = "\n"))
+}
+
+# extract system requirements
+sysreqs <- desc[, "SystemRequirements"]
+
+# check that cargo and rustc is found
+if (!grepl("cargo", sysreqs, ignore.case = TRUE)) {
+  stop("You must specify `Cargo (Rust's package manager)` in your `SystemRequirements`")
+}
+
+if (!grepl("rustc", sysreqs, ignore.case = TRUE)) {
+  stop("You must specify `Cargo (Rust's package manager), rustc` in your `SystemRequirements`")
+}
+
+# split into parts
+parts <- strsplit(sysreqs, ", ")[[1]]
+
+# identify which is the rustc
+rustc_ver <- parts[grepl("rustc", parts)]
+
+# perform checks for the presence of rustc and cargo on the OS
+no_cargo_msg <- c(
+  "----------------------- [CARGO NOT FOUND]--------------------------",
+  "The 'cargo' command was not found on the PATH. Please install Cargo",
+  "from: https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install",
+  "",
+  "Alternatively, you may install Cargo from your OS package manager:",
+  " - Debian/Ubuntu: apt-get install cargo",
+  " - Fedora/CentOS: dnf install cargo",
+  " - macOS: brew install rust",
+  "-------------------------------------------------------------------"
+)
+
+no_rustc_msg <- c(
+  "----------------------- [RUST NOT FOUND]---------------------------",
+  "The 'rustc' compiler was not found on the PATH. Please install",
+  paste(rustc_ver, "or higher from:"),
+  "https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install",
+  "",
+  "Alternatively, you may install Rust from your OS package manager:",
+  " - Debian/Ubuntu: apt-get install rustc",
+  " - Fedora/CentOS: dnf install rustc",
+  " - macOS: brew install rust",
+  "-------------------------------------------------------------------"
+)
+
+# Add {user}/.cargo/bin to path before checking
+new_path <- paste0(
+  Sys.getenv("PATH"),
+  ":",
+  paste0(Sys.getenv("HOME"), "/.cargo/bin")
+)
+
+# set the path with the new path
+Sys.setenv("PATH" = new_path)
+
+# check for rustc installation
+rustc_version <- tryCatch(
+  system("rustc --version", intern = TRUE),
+  error = function(e) {
+    stop(paste(no_rustc_msg, collapse = "\n"))
+  }
+)
+
+# check for cargo installation
+cargo_version <- tryCatch(
+  system("cargo --version", intern = TRUE),
+  error = function(e) {
+    stop(paste(no_cargo_msg, collapse = "\n"))
+  }
+)
+
+# helper function to extract versions
+extract_semver <- function(ver) {
+  if (grepl("\\d+\\.\\d+(\\.\\d+)?", ver)) {
+    sub(".*?(\\d+\\.\\d+(\\.\\d+)?).*", "\\1", ver)
+  } else {
+    NA
+  }
+}
+
+# get the MSRV
+msrv <- extract_semver(rustc_ver)
+
+# extract current version
+current_rust_version <- extract_semver(rustc_version)
+
+# perform check
+if (!is.na(msrv)) {
+  # -1 when current version is later
+  # 0 when they are the same
+  # 1 when MSRV is newer than current
+  is_msrv <- utils::compareVersion(msrv, current_rust_version)
+  if (is_msrv == 1) {
+    fmt <- paste0(
+      "\n------------------ [UNSUPPORTED RUST VERSION]------------------\n",
+      "- Minimum supported Rust version is %s.\n",
+      "- Installed Rust version is %s.\n",
+      "---------------------------------------------------------------"
+    )
+    stop(sprintf(fmt, msrv, current_rust_version))
+  }
+}
+
+# print the versions
+versions_fmt <- "Using %s\nUsing %s"
+message(sprintf(versions_fmt, cargo_version, rustc_version))