diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index a21995b..0a62c5f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@ jobs:
 
     - name: 🛠️ Build
       run: |
-        cd tests
         mkdir -p build
         cd build
         CC=gcc-12 CXX=g++-12 cmake                        \
@@ -59,14 +58,15 @@ jobs:
           -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_LAUNCHER=ccache            \
           -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS="-fuse-ld=lld --coverage"       \
           -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="-fuse-ld=lld --coverage"     \
+          -DIMHEX_PATTERNS_ENABLE_UNIT_TESTS=ON           \
           -DLIBPL_ENABLE_TESTS=OFF                        \
           -DLIBPL_ENABLE_CLI=OFF                          \
           ..
-        make -j4
+        make -j4 unit_tests
 
     - name: 🧪 Perform Unit Tests
       run: |
-        cd tests/build
+        cd build
         ctest --output-on-failure -j 4
 
     - name: 📎 Validate JSON Files
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1351e79..9a0898a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 
 tests/cmake*/
 tests/build*/
+build/
 
+.vscode/
+.devcontainer/
+.cache/
 .idea/
-.DS_Store
\ No newline at end of file
+.DS_Store
+
+compile_commands.json
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cbbb75e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
+
+project(ImHex-Patterns)
+
+option(IMHEX_PATTERNS_ENABLE_UNIT_TESTS "Enable building unit tests for ImHex-Patterns"          OFF)
+
+# if enabled, add a unit_test custom target for all the unit tests to be registered against
+if(IMHEX_PATTERNS_ENABLE_UNIT_TESTS)
+    if(NOT TARGET unit_tests)
+        enable_testing()
+        add_custom_target(unit_tests)
+    endif()
+endif()
+
+# If this has been manually cloned into another project, libpl may already have been set up
+if(NOT TARGET libpl)
+    include(FetchContent)
+
+    FetchContent_Declare(
+        pattern_language
+        GIT_REPOSITORY      https://github.com/WerWolv/PatternLanguage
+        GIT_TAG             master
+    )
+
+    FetchContent_MakeAvailable(pattern_language)
+endif()
+
+if(IMHEX_PATTERNS_ENABLE_UNIT_TESTS)
+    add_subdirectory(tests)
+endif()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index 2c6af8d..407b211 100644
--- a/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,23 +1,7 @@
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
 
-project(tests)
-
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 20)
 
-include(FetchContent)
-
-FetchContent_Declare(
-    pattern_language
-    GIT_REPOSITORY      https://github.com/WerWolv/PatternLanguage
-    GIT_TAG             master
-)
-
-FetchContent_MakeAvailable(pattern_language)
-
-enable_testing()
-
 add_subdirectory(patterns)
 add_subdirectory(includes)
-add_subdirectory(magic)
-
-add_custom_target(test_all DEPENDS patterns_tests includes_test magic_test)
\ No newline at end of file
+add_subdirectory(magic)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/includes/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/includes/CMakeLists.txt
index ce65fc7..75be76e 100644
--- a/tests/includes/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/includes/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ add_executable(includes_test
 target_include_directories(includes_test PRIVATE include)
 target_link_libraries(includes_test PRIVATE libpl fmt::fmt-header-only)
 
-set_target_properties(includes_test PROPERTIES RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR})
+set_target_properties(includes_test PROPERTIES RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin)
 
 message(STATUS "Adding Include Tests")
 foreach (include IN LISTS INCLUDES)
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ foreach (include IN LISTS INCLUDES)
 
     set(TEST_NAME "Includes/${INCLUDE_NAME}")
 
-    add_test(NAME ${TEST_NAME} COMMAND includes_test "${INCLUDE_NAME}" "${include}" "${PATTERN_INCLUDES}" WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR})
+    add_test(NAME ${TEST_NAME} COMMAND includes_test "${INCLUDE_NAME}" "${include}" "${PATTERN_INCLUDES}" WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin)
     set_tests_properties(${TEST_NAME} PROPERTIES SKIP_RETURN_CODE 77)
-endforeach ()
\ No newline at end of file
+endforeach ()
+add_dependencies(unit_tests ${PROJECT_NAME})
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/magic/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/magic/CMakeLists.txt
index 50c7327..999828b 100644
--- a/tests/magic/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/magic/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ pkg_search_module(MAGIC libmagic>=5.39 REQUIRED)
 target_include_directories(magic_test PRIVATE include ${MAGIC_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 target_link_libraries(magic_test PRIVATE libpl ${MAGIC_LINK_LIBRARIES} fmt::fmt-header-only)
 
-set_target_properties(magic_test PROPERTIES RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR})
+set_target_properties(magic_test PROPERTIES RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin)
 
 message(STATUS "Adding Magic Tests")
 foreach (magic_file IN LISTS MAGIC_FILES)
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ foreach (magic_file IN LISTS MAGIC_FILES)
 
     set(TEST_NAME "Magic/${MAGIC_NAME}")
 
-    add_test(NAME ${TEST_NAME} COMMAND magic_test "${MAGIC_NAME}" "${magic_file}" WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR})
+    add_test(NAME ${TEST_NAME} COMMAND magic_test "${MAGIC_NAME}" "${magic_file}" WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin)
     set_tests_properties(${TEST_NAME} PROPERTIES SKIP_RETURN_CODE 77)
-endforeach ()
\ No newline at end of file
+endforeach ()
+add_dependencies(unit_tests ${PROJECT_NAME})
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/patterns/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/patterns/CMakeLists.txt
index bdb423e..c824a58 100644
--- a/tests/patterns/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/patterns/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ add_executable(patterns_tests
 target_include_directories(patterns_tests PRIVATE include)
 target_link_libraries(patterns_tests PRIVATE libpl fmt::fmt-header-only)
 
-set_target_properties(patterns_tests PROPERTIES RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR})
+set_target_properties(patterns_tests PROPERTIES RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin)
 
 message(STATUS "Adding Pattern Tests")
 foreach (pattern IN LISTS PATTERNS)
@@ -33,13 +33,14 @@ foreach (pattern IN LISTS PATTERNS)
         foreach (TEST_FILE IN LISTS TEST_FILES)
             get_filename_component(TEST_FILENAME ${TEST_FILE} NAME)
             set(TEST_NAME "Patterns/${PATTERN_NAME}/${TEST_FILENAME}")
-            add_test(NAME ${TEST_NAME} COMMAND patterns_tests "${PATTERN_NAME}" "${pattern}" "${PATTERN_INCLUDES}" "${TEST_FILE}" WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR})
+            add_test(NAME ${TEST_NAME} COMMAND patterns_tests "${PATTERN_NAME}" "${pattern}" "${PATTERN_INCLUDES}" "${TEST_FILE}" WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin)
             set_tests_properties(${TEST_NAME} PROPERTIES SKIP_RETURN_CODE 77)
         endforeach ()
     else ()
         set(TEST_NAME "Patterns/${PATTERN_NAME}")
-        add_test(NAME ${TEST_NAME} COMMAND patterns_tests "${PATTERN_NAME}" "${pattern}" "${PATTERN_INCLUDES}" WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR})
+        add_test(NAME ${TEST_NAME} COMMAND patterns_tests "${PATTERN_NAME}" "${pattern}" "${PATTERN_INCLUDES}" WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin)
         set_tests_properties(${TEST_NAME} PROPERTIES SKIP_RETURN_CODE 77)
         message(STATUS "  No test file available for ${PATTERN_NAME} pattern")
     endif ()
 endforeach ()
+add_dependencies(unit_tests ${PROJECT_NAME})