diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 39798ec2..469b6375 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -377,6 +377,8 @@ macro(xeus_cpp_create_target target_name linkage output_name)
         target_link_libraries(${target_name} PRIVATE ${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT})
     endif()
 
+    target_compile_definitions(${target_name} PRIVATE "XEUS_SEARCH_PATH=\"$<JOIN:$<TARGET_PROPERTY:${target_name},INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES>,:>\"")
+
 endmacro()
 
 # xeus-cpp-headers
diff --git a/src/xinterpreter.cpp b/src/xinterpreter.cpp
index 5ed527e3..81635b45 100644
--- a/src/xinterpreter.cpp
+++ b/src/xinterpreter.cpp
@@ -46,6 +46,19 @@ void* createInterpreter(const Args &ExtraArgs = {}) {
     ClangArgs.push_back(CxxInclude.c_str());
   }
 #endif
+
+#ifdef XEUS_SEARCH_PATH
+  std::string search_path = XEUS_SEARCH_PATH;
+  std::istringstream iss(search_path);
+  std::string path;
+  while (std::getline(iss, path, ':')) {
+      if (!path.empty()) {
+          ClangArgs.push_back("-I");
+          ClangArgs.push_back(path.c_str());
+      }
+  }
+#endif
+
   ClangArgs.insert(ClangArgs.end(), ExtraArgs.begin(), ExtraArgs.end());
   // FIXME: We should process the kernel input options and conditionally pass
   // the gpu args here.