diff --git a/changes/4261.misc.md b/changes/4261.misc.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ca2a3fbb1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/4261.misc.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The contents of the `zarr` source distribution are now defined by an explicit allowlist rather than a blocklist. Previously the sdist bundled the whole `packages/` tree — `zarr-indexing`, `zarr-metadata` and `zarr-http-server`, which are released as their own distributions — along with CI configuration and other repository files. The sdist also now ships `docs/`, so the test suite it carries can be collected and run from an unpacked sdist.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index e0fbfc08fc..5e8129a6a9 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -2,11 +2,23 @@
 requires = ["hatchling>=1.29.0", "hatch-vcs"]
 build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
+# An allowlist, not a blocklist: anything new — a subpackage under `packages/`, a
+# config file in the repository root — stays out of the sdist unless it is named
+# here. Beyond `src` and `tests`, the entries are what keeps the shipped test
+# suite and docs build runnable from an unpacked sdist: `tests/test_docs.py`
+# walks `docs/` and `testpaths` collects `docs/user-guide`; the pages under
+# `docs/user-guide/examples/` pull their source out of `examples/` via pymdownx
+# snippet includes; `mkdocs.yml` and `mkdocs_hooks.py` let `mkdocs build` run
+# too. `pyproject.toml`, `README.md`, `LICENSE.txt` and `.gitignore` are added by
+# hatchling itself.
 [tool.hatch.build.targets.sdist]
-exclude = [
-  "/.github",
-  "/bench",
+include = [
+  "/src",
+  "/tests",
   "/docs",
+  "/examples",
+  "/mkdocs.yml",
+  "/mkdocs_hooks.py",
 ]
 
 [project]