diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 45a9a0d3c..d309c451e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 /compile_commands.json
 /link_commands.json
 /glad/out/
-/kitty/launcher/
+/kitty/launcher/kitty
 /*.dSYM/
 __pycache__/
 /glfw/wayland-*-client-protocol.[ch]
diff --git a/launcher.c b/kitty/launcher/launcher.c
similarity index 100%
rename from launcher.c
rename to kitty/launcher/launcher.c
diff --git a/prewarm-launcher.c b/kitty/launcher/prewarm-launcher.c
similarity index 100%
rename from prewarm-launcher.c
rename to kitty/launcher/prewarm-launcher.c
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index e9d80cfd6..5cbf34d51 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -904,8 +904,8 @@ def build_launcher(args: Options, launcher_dir: str = '.', bundle_type: str = 's
     os.makedirs(launcher_dir, exist_ok=True)
     os.makedirs(build_dir, exist_ok=True)
     objects = []
-    for src in ('launcher.c', 'prewarm-launcher.c'):
-        obj = os.path.join(build_dir, src.replace('.c', '.o'))
+    for src in ('kitty/launcher/launcher.c', 'kitty/launcher/prewarm-launcher.c'):
+        obj = os.path.join(build_dir, src.replace('/', '-').replace('.c', '.o'))
         objects.append(obj)
         cmd = env.cc + cppflags + cflags + ['-c', src, '-o', obj]
         key = CompileKey(src, os.path.basename(obj))
@@ -1365,7 +1365,7 @@ def clean() -> None:
     safe_remove(
         'build', 'compile_commands.json', 'link_commands.json',
         'linux-package', 'kitty.app', 'asan-launcher',
-        'kitty-profile', 'kitty/launcher')
+        'kitty-profile', 'kitty/launcher/kitty')
 
     def excluded(root: str, d: str) -> bool:
         q = os.path.relpath(os.path.join(root, d), base).replace(os.sep, '/')