diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..112a0edd3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "libs/h5xx"]
+	path = libs/h5xx
+	url = https://github.com/h5md/h5xx.git
diff --git a/libs/h5xx b/libs/h5xx
new file mode 160000
index 0000000000..fedf38a0bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libs/h5xx
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit fedf38a0bc58ff5ff30c46819d64eb7b8c644c60