diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b8ed4c7cea7c739bc77f54ae0d8dcea7ce6b1c7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "tpls/common"]
+	path = tpls/common
+	url = https://github.com/ORNL-QCI/common