diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index c11c35e7fa..9fbc1888bb 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -17,3 +17,6 @@
 [submodule "docs/cpp-api/assets/doxygen-awesome-css"]
 	path = docs/cpp-api/assets/doxygen-awesome-css
 	url = https://github.com/jothepro/doxygen-awesome-css.git
+[submodule "src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/simple_spf"]
+	path = src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/simple_spf
+	url = https://github.com/IfcOpenShell/step-file-parser
diff --git a/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/simple_spf b/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/simple_spf
new file mode 160000
index 0000000000..3baaa7db3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/simple_spf
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 3baaa7db3f862621f24b1f5cb58e744cc792e4ae