diff --git a/app/build.xml b/app/build.xml
index 37aa13d03..a495b4f7e 100644
--- a/app/build.xml
+++ b/app/build.xml
@@ -162,6 +162,7 @@
            encoding="UTF-8"
            includeAntRuntime="false"
            classpath="../core/library/core.jar;
+                      utils/library/utils.jar;
                       lib/ant.jar;
                       lib/ant-launcher.jar;
                       lib/flatlaf.jar;
diff --git a/app/utils/build.xml b/app/utils/build.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5a4b72e32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/utils/build.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<project name="Processing Utils Library" default="build">
+  <target name="compile" description="Compile sources">
+    <mkdir dir="bin" />
+    <javac source="17"
+           target="17"
+           srcdir="src" destdir="bin"
+           encoding="UTF-8"
+           includeAntRuntime="false"
+           nowarn="true">
+    </javac>
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="build" depends="compile" description="Build utils library">
+    <jar basedir="bin" destfile="library/utils.jar" />
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="clean" description="Clean the build directories">
+    <delete dir="bin" />
+    <delete file="library/utils.jar" />
+  </target>
+</project>
diff --git a/build/build.xml b/build/build.xml
index f1247b511..2f1f22128 100644
--- a/build/build.xml
+++ b/build/build.xml
@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@
   <!-- also need to copy these to the bundleapp task for macos -->
   <fileset dir=".." id="runtime.jars">
     <include name="app/pde.jar" />
+    <include name="app/utils/library/utils.jar" />
     <include name="app/lib/jna.jar" />
     <include name="app/lib/jna-platform.jar" />
     <include name="app/lib/ant.jar" />
@@ -294,6 +295,7 @@
 
   <target name="subprojects-clean">
     <subant buildpath="../core" target="clean"/>
+    <subant buildpath="../app/utils" target="clean"/>
     <subant buildpath="../app" target="clean"/>
     <subant buildpath="../java/libraries/dxf" target="clean"/>
     <subant buildpath="../java/libraries/io" target="clean"/>
@@ -315,6 +317,7 @@
 
   <target name="subprojects-build">
     <subant buildpath="../core" target="build"/>
+    <subant buildpath="../app/utils" target="build"/>
     <subant buildpath="../app" target="build"/>
     <subant buildpath="../java/libraries/dxf" target="build"/>
     <subant buildpath="../java/libraries/net" target="build"/>
diff --git a/java/build.xml b/java/build.xml
index ca2e32f4f..5aeae7ac8 100644
--- a/java/build.xml
+++ b/java/build.xml
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@
     <pathelement location="../app/lib/apple.jar" />
     <pathelement location="../app/lib/jna.jar" />
     <pathelement location="../app/lib/jna-platform.jar" />
+    <pathelement location="../app/utils/library/utils.jar" />
 
     <pathelement location="mode/antlr-4.7.2-complete.jar" />
     <pathelement location="mode/classpath-explorer-1.0.jar" />