diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index d636662..269eec2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -43,6 +43,10 @@ jobs:
       run: make -C compat compile
     - name: Build transient
       run: make -C transient lisp
+    - name: Set envvars for dependencies
+      run: |
+        echo "COMPAT_DIR=$PWD/compat" >>$GITHUB_ENV
+        echo "TRANSIENT_DIR=$PWD/transient/lisp" >>$GITHUB_ENV
     - name: Build snakemake-mode
       run: make -C snakemake-mode all
     - name: Test snakemake-mode
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1a0a7fc..c1adfcd 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 *-autoloads.el
 *.elc
 /.deps
+/config.mk
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index c431b7d..3f8ed24 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 
-LOAD_PATH = -L ../compat -L ../transient/lisp -L .
+-include config.mk
+
+COMPAT_DIR ?= /dev/null
+TRANSIENT_DIR ?= /dev/null
+
+LOAD_PATH = -L $(COMPAT_DIR) -L $(TRANSIENT_DIR) -L .
 EMACS = emacs
 BATCH = $(EMACS) -Q --batch $(LOAD_PATH)