diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index 992fec3d18..75bffdaddd 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -56,3 +56,6 @@
 [submodule "lib/micropython-lib"]
 	path = lib/micropython-lib
 	url = https://github.com/micropython/micropython-lib.git
+[submodule "lib/protobuf-c"]
+	path = lib/protobuf-c
+	url = https://github.com/protobuf-c/protobuf-c.git
diff --git a/lib/protobuf-c b/lib/protobuf-c
new file mode 160000
index 0000000000..abc67a11c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/protobuf-c
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit abc67a11c6db271bedbb9f58be85d6f4e2ea8389