diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 3e5777133d..151a9fcbcf 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ Added
   to pants' use of PEX lockfiles. This is not a user-facing addition.
   #5778 #5789 #5817 #5795 #5830 #5833 #5834 #5841 #5840 #5838 #5842 #5837 #5849 #5850
   #5846 #5853 #5848 #5847 #5858 #5857 #5860 #5868 #5871 #5864 #5874 #5884 #5893 #5891
-  #5890 #5898 #5901 #5906 #5899 #5907 #5909 #5922 #5926 #5927 #5925
+  #5890 #5898 #5901 #5906 #5899 #5907 #5909 #5922 #5926 #5927 #5925 #5928
   Contributed by @cognifloyd
 
 * Added a joint index to solve the problem of slow mongo queries for scheduled executions. #5805
diff --git a/pants.toml b/pants.toml
index 99ebdae93a..b8dc5656a7 100644
--- a/pants.toml
+++ b/pants.toml
@@ -136,6 +136,11 @@ st2 = "lockfiles/st2-constraints.txt"
 # Revisit this in pants 2.16 to see if it is feasible to use the default "warning".
 unowned_dependency_behavior = "ignore"
 
+[setup-py-generation]
+# when building the package (with ./pants package ::), pants will,
+# by default, generate a setup.py file for use with setuptools.
+generate_setup_default = true # true by default
+
 [bandit]
 lockfile = "lockfiles/bandit.lock"
 version = "bandit==1.7.0"
diff --git a/st2actions/BUILD b/st2actions/BUILD
index 676079ffb0..aa69d5d336 100644
--- a/st2actions/BUILD
+++ b/st2actions/BUILD
@@ -7,4 +7,11 @@ st2_component_python_distribution(
         "bin/st2scheduler",
         "bin/runners.sh:shell",  # used by service files installed by st2-packaging
     ],
+    dependencies=[
+        # policies get wired up by metadata in st2common/st2common/policies/meta/*.yaml
+        "st2actions/policies",
+        # backwards compat API:
+        # st2actions.runners.pythonrunner.Action moved to st2common.runners.base_action.Action
+        "st2actions/runners/pythonrunner.py",
+    ],
 )
diff --git a/st2api/st2api/BUILD b/st2api/st2api/BUILD
index db46e8d6c9..8486ed9b78 100644
--- a/st2api/st2api/BUILD
+++ b/st2api/st2api/BUILD
@@ -1 +1,12 @@
-python_sources()
+python_sources(
+    overrides={
+        "app.py": dict(
+            dependencies=[
+                # controller routes are wired up via st2common/st2common/openapi.yaml
+                "./controllers",
+                "./controllers/v1",
+                # "./controllers/exp",
+            ],
+        ),
+    },
+)
diff --git a/st2api/st2api/controllers/BUILD b/st2api/st2api/controllers/BUILD
index db46e8d6c9..8118c9e64e 100644
--- a/st2api/st2api/controllers/BUILD
+++ b/st2api/st2api/controllers/BUILD
@@ -1 +1,10 @@
-python_sources()
+python_sources(
+    overrides={
+        "root.py": dict(
+            dependencies=[
+                "st2api/st2api/public",  # cfg.static_root (has logo images)
+                "st2api/st2api/templates",  # cfg.template_path
+            ],
+        ),
+    },
+)
diff --git a/st2auth/st2auth/BUILD b/st2auth/st2auth/BUILD
index db46e8d6c9..e46a5cc524 100644
--- a/st2auth/st2auth/BUILD
+++ b/st2auth/st2auth/BUILD
@@ -1 +1,10 @@
-python_sources()
+python_sources(
+    overrides={
+        "app.py": dict(
+            dependencies=[
+                # controller routes are wired up via st2common/st2common/openapi.yaml
+                "./controllers/v1",
+            ],
+        ),
+    },
+)
diff --git a/st2auth/st2auth/backends/BUILD b/st2auth/st2auth/backends/BUILD
index db46e8d6c9..2a29327564 100644
--- a/st2auth/st2auth/backends/BUILD
+++ b/st2auth/st2auth/backends/BUILD
@@ -1 +1,10 @@
-python_sources()
+python_sources(
+    overrides={
+        "__init__.py": dict(
+            dependencies=[
+                # Public API classes that cannot be inferred
+                "./base.py",
+            ],
+        ),
+    },
+)
diff --git a/st2reactor/st2reactor/container/BUILD b/st2reactor/st2reactor/container/BUILD
index db46e8d6c9..fb50ef582c 100644
--- a/st2reactor/st2reactor/container/BUILD
+++ b/st2reactor/st2reactor/container/BUILD
@@ -1 +1,10 @@
-python_sources()
+python_sources(
+    overrides={
+        "process_container.py": dict(
+            dependencies=[
+                # This is called in a subprocess using filesystem path
+                "./sensor_wrapper.py",
+            ],
+        ),
+    },
+)
diff --git a/st2stream/st2stream/BUILD b/st2stream/st2stream/BUILD
index db46e8d6c9..e46a5cc524 100644
--- a/st2stream/st2stream/BUILD
+++ b/st2stream/st2stream/BUILD
@@ -1 +1,10 @@
-python_sources()
+python_sources(
+    overrides={
+        "app.py": dict(
+            dependencies=[
+                # controller routes are wired up via st2common/st2common/openapi.yaml
+                "./controllers/v1",
+            ],
+        ),
+    },
+)