diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c1d2267b..d013db92 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -13,4 +13,4 @@ modules/**/wit
 target.wasm
 world
 .env
-modules/sqlite/sqlite_worker/.cargo/config.toml
+src/bootstrapped_processes.rs
diff --git a/build.rs b/build.rs
index 1a5b7c48..fa9dffd9 100644
--- a/build.rs
+++ b/build.rs
@@ -158,7 +158,15 @@ fn main() {
     .unwrap();
     run_command(Command::new("touch").args([&format!("{}/world", pwd.display())])).unwrap();
 
-    // Build wasm32-wasi apps.
+    // Build wasm32-wasi apps, zip, and add to bootstrapped_processes.rs
+    let mut bootstrapped_processes = fs::File::create(format!(
+        "{}/src/bootstrapped_processes.rs",
+        pwd.display(),
+    )).unwrap();
+    writeln!(
+        bootstrapped_processes,
+        "pub static BOOTSTRAPPED_PROCESSES: &[(&str, &'static [u8])] = &[",
+    ).unwrap();
     let modules_dir = format!("{}/modules", pwd.display());
     for entry in std::fs::read_dir(modules_dir).unwrap() {
         let entry_path = entry.unwrap().path();
@@ -185,12 +193,16 @@ fn main() {
         }
 
         // After processing all sub-apps, zip the parent's pkg/ directory
-        let writer = std::fs::File::create(format!(
-            "{}/target/{}.zip",
+        let zip_filename = format!(
+            "{}.zip",
+            entry_path.file_name().unwrap().to_str().unwrap(),
+        );
+        let zip_path = format!(
+            "{}/target/{}",
             pwd.display(),
-            entry_path.file_name().unwrap().to_str().unwrap()
-        ))
-        .unwrap();
+            zip_filename,
+        );
+        let writer = std::fs::File::create(&zip_path).unwrap();
         let options = zip::write::FileOptions::default()
             .compression_method(zip::CompressionMethod::Stored)
             .unix_permissions(0o755);
@@ -216,5 +228,14 @@ fn main() {
             }
         }
         zip.finish().unwrap();
+
+        // Add zip bytes to bootstrapped_processes.rs
+        writeln!(
+            bootstrapped_processes,
+            "    (\"{}\", include_bytes!(\"{}\")),",
+            zip_filename,
+            zip_path,
+        ).unwrap();
     }
+    writeln!(bootstrapped_processes, "];").unwrap();
 }
diff --git a/src/state.rs b/src/state.rs
index 01c5e5de..c8c9955d 100644
--- a/src/state.rs
+++ b/src/state.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ use tokio::sync::Mutex;
 
 use crate::types::*;
 
+include!("bootstrapped_processes.rs");
+
 pub async fn load_state(
     our_name: String,
     home_directory_path: String,
@@ -344,8 +346,7 @@ async fn bootstrap(
             });
     }
 
-    let packages: Vec<(String, zip::ZipArchive<std::io::Cursor<Vec<u8>>>)> =
-        get_zipped_packages().await;
+    let packages = get_zipped_packages().await;
 
     for (package_name, mut package) in packages {
         // special case tester: only load it in if in simulation mode
@@ -591,29 +592,17 @@ async fn bootstrap(
     Ok(())
 }
 
-/// go into /target folder and get all .zip package files
-async fn get_zipped_packages() -> Vec<(String, zip::ZipArchive<std::io::Cursor<Vec<u8>>>)> {
+/// read in `include!()`ed .zip package files
+async fn get_zipped_packages() -> Vec<(String, zip::ZipArchive<std::io::Cursor<&'static [u8]>>)> {
     println!("fs: reading distro packages...\r");
-    let target_path = std::path::Path::new("target");
 
     let mut packages = Vec::new();
 
-    if let Ok(mut entries) = fs::read_dir(target_path).await {
-        while let Ok(Some(entry)) = entries.next_entry().await {
-            if entry.file_name().to_string_lossy().ends_with(".zip") {
-                let package_name = entry
-                    .file_name()
-                    .to_string_lossy()
-                    .trim_end_matches(".zip")
-                    .to_string();
-                if let Ok(bytes) = fs::read(entry.path()).await {
-                    if let Ok(zip) = zip::ZipArchive::new(std::io::Cursor::new(bytes)) {
-                        // add to list of packages
-                        println!("fs: found package: {}\r", package_name);
-                        packages.push((package_name, zip));
-                    }
-                }
-            }
+    for (package_name, bytes) in BOOTSTRAPPED_PROCESSES.iter() {
+        if let Ok(zip) = zip::ZipArchive::new(std::io::Cursor::new(*bytes)) {
+            // add to list of packages
+            println!("fs: found package: {}\r", package_name);
+            packages.push((package_name.to_string(), zip));
         }
     }