diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -17,12 +17,12 @@
 .vscode/
 .directory
 node_modules/
-swh/web/static/*.*
-swh/web/static/js/
-swh/web/static/css/
-swh/web/static/fonts/
-swh/web/static/jssources/
-swh/web/static/img/thirdParty/
+static/*.*
+static/js/
+static/css/
+static/fonts/
+static/jssources/
+static/img/thirdParty/
 .cache-loader/
 build/
 dist/
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
-include Makefile
 include pytest.ini
 include README.md
 include requirements*.txt
 include tox.ini
 include version.txt
 recursive-include swh py.typed
+
 recursive-include swh/web/assets *
-recursive-include swh/web/static *
 recursive-include swh/web/templates *
 recursive-include swh/web/tests/resources *
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
-# Copyright (C) 2015-2018  The Software Heritage developers
+# Copyright (C) 2015-2019  The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU Affero General Public License v3 or later
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
+import os
+
 from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 
 from os import path
@@ -35,6 +37,12 @@
     return requirements
 
 
+# package generated static assets as module data files
+data_files = []
+for root, _, files in os.walk('static/'):
+    root_files = [os.path.join(root, i) for i in files]
+    data_files.append((os.path.join('share/swh/web', root), root_files))
+
 setup(
     name='swh.web',
     description='Software Heritage Web UI',
@@ -63,4 +71,5 @@
         'Funding': 'https://www.softwareheritage.org/donate',
         'Source': 'https://forge.softwareheritage.org/source/swh-web',
     },
+    data_files=data_files
 )
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/arrow-up-small.png b/static/img/arrow-up-small.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/arrow-up-small.png
rename to static/img/arrow-up-small.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/icons/swh-logo-32x32.png b/static/img/icons/swh-logo-32x32.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/icons/swh-logo-32x32.png
rename to static/img/icons/swh-logo-32x32.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/icons/swh-logo-archive-180x180.png b/static/img/icons/swh-logo-archive-180x180.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/icons/swh-logo-archive-180x180.png
rename to static/img/icons/swh-logo-archive-180x180.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/icons/swh-logo-archive-192x192.png b/static/img/icons/swh-logo-archive-192x192.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/icons/swh-logo-archive-192x192.png
rename to static/img/icons/swh-logo-archive-192x192.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/icons/swh-logo-archive-270x270.png b/static/img/icons/swh-logo-archive-270x270.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/icons/swh-logo-archive-270x270.png
rename to static/img/icons/swh-logo-archive-270x270.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/logos/bitbucket.png b/static/img/logos/bitbucket.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/logos/bitbucket.png
rename to static/img/logos/bitbucket.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/logos/debian.png b/static/img/logos/debian.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/logos/debian.png
rename to static/img/logos/debian.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/logos/framagit.png b/static/img/logos/framagit.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/logos/framagit.png
rename to static/img/logos/framagit.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/logos/github.png b/static/img/logos/github.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/logos/github.png
rename to static/img/logos/github.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/logos/gitlab.svg b/static/img/logos/gitlab.svg
rename from swh/web/static/img/logos/gitlab.svg
rename to static/img/logos/gitlab.svg
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/logos/gitorious.png b/static/img/logos/gitorious.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/logos/gitorious.png
rename to static/img/logos/gitorious.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/logos/gnu.png b/static/img/logos/gnu.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/logos/gnu.png
rename to static/img/logos/gnu.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/logos/googlecode.png b/static/img/logos/googlecode.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/logos/googlecode.png
rename to static/img/logos/googlecode.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/logos/hal.png b/static/img/logos/hal.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/logos/hal.png
rename to static/img/logos/hal.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/logos/inria.jpg b/static/img/logos/inria.jpg
rename from swh/web/static/img/logos/inria.jpg
rename to static/img/logos/inria.jpg
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/logos/npm.png b/static/img/logos/npm.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/logos/npm.png
rename to static/img/logos/npm.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/logos/pypi.svg b/static/img/logos/pypi.svg
rename from swh/web/static/img/logos/pypi.svg
rename to static/img/logos/pypi.svg
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/swh-api.png b/static/img/swh-api.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/swh-api.png
rename to static/img/swh-api.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/swh-browse.png b/static/img/swh-browse.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/swh-browse.png
rename to static/img/swh-browse.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/swh-logo-white.svg b/static/img/swh-logo-white.svg
rename from swh/web/static/img/swh-logo-white.svg
rename to static/img/swh-logo-white.svg
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/swh-logo.png b/static/img/swh-logo.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/swh-logo.png
rename to static/img/swh-logo.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/swh-logo.svg b/static/img/swh-logo.svg
rename from swh/web/static/img/swh-logo.svg
rename to static/img/swh-logo.svg
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/swh-spinner-small.gif b/static/img/swh-spinner-small.gif
rename from swh/web/static/img/swh-spinner-small.gif
rename to static/img/swh-spinner-small.gif
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/swh-spinner.gif b/static/img/swh-spinner.gif
rename from swh/web/static/img/swh-spinner.gif
rename to static/img/swh-spinner.gif
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/swh-support.png b/static/img/swh-support.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/swh-support.png
rename to static/img/swh-support.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/img/swh-vault.png b/static/img/swh-vault.png
rename from swh/web/static/img/swh-vault.png
rename to static/img/swh-vault.png
diff --git a/swh/web/static/xml/swh-opensearch.xml b/static/xml/swh-opensearch.xml
rename from swh/web/static/xml/swh-opensearch.xml
rename to static/xml/swh-opensearch.xml
diff --git a/swh/web/assets/config/webpack.config.development.js b/swh/web/assets/config/webpack.config.development.js
--- a/swh/web/assets/config/webpack.config.development.js
+++ b/swh/web/assets/config/webpack.config.development.js
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@
   entry: bundles,
   // assets output configuration
   output: {
-    path: path.resolve('./swh/web/static/'),
+    path: path.resolve('./static/'),
     filename: 'js/[name].[chunkhash].js',
     chunkFilename: 'js/[name].[chunkhash].js',
     publicPath: publicPath,
@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@
     }),
     // needed in order to use django_webpack_loader
     new BundleTracker({
-      filename: './swh/web/static/webpack-stats.json'
+      filename: './static/webpack-stats.json'
     }),
     // for generating the robots.txt file
     new RobotstxtPlugin({
@@ -371,7 +371,7 @@
     new webpack.IgnorePlugin(/^\.\/pdf.worker.js$/),
     new CopyWebpackPlugin([{
       from: path.resolve(nodeModules, 'pdfjs-dist/build/pdf.worker.min.js'),
-      to: path.resolve(__dirname, '../../static/js/')
+      to: path.resolve(__dirname, '../../../../static/js/')
     }]),
     new GenerateWebLabelsPlugin({
       outputType: 'json',
diff --git a/swh/web/settings/common.py b/swh/web/settings/common.py
--- a/swh/web/settings/common.py
+++ b/swh/web/settings/common.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 """
 
 import os
+import sys
 
 from swh.web.config import get_config
 
@@ -132,9 +133,12 @@
 # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.11/howto/static-files/
 
 STATIC_URL = '/static/'
-STATICFILES_DIRS = [
-    os.path.join(PROJECT_DIR, "../static")
-]
+# static folder location when swh-web has been installed with pip
+STATIC_DIR = os.path.join(sys.prefix, 'share/swh/web/static')
+if not os.path.exists(STATIC_DIR):
+    # static folder location when developping swh-web
+    STATIC_DIR = os.path.join(PROJECT_DIR, '../../../static')
+STATICFILES_DIRS = [STATIC_DIR]
 
 INTERNAL_IPS = ['127.0.0.1']
 
@@ -252,14 +256,14 @@
     },
 }
 
-WEBPACK_LOADER = { # noqa
+WEBPACK_LOADER = {
     'DEFAULT': {
         'CACHE': False,
         'BUNDLE_DIR_NAME': './',
-        'STATS_FILE': os.path.join(PROJECT_DIR, '../static/webpack-stats.json'), # noqa
+        'STATS_FILE': os.path.join(STATIC_DIR, 'webpack-stats.json'),
         'POLL_INTERVAL': 0.1,
         'TIMEOUT': None,
-        'IGNORE': ['.+\.hot-update.js', '.+\.map']
+        'IGNORE': ['.+\\.hot-update.js', '.+\\.map']
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/swh/web/tests/conftest.py b/swh/web/tests/conftest.py
--- a/swh/web/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/swh/web/tests/conftest.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import json
 import os
 import shutil
+import sys
 
 from subprocess import run, PIPE
 
@@ -54,7 +55,12 @@
     # So generate a dummy webpack-stats.json file to overcome
     # that issue.
     test_dir = os.path.dirname(__file__)
-    static_dir = os.path.join(test_dir, '../static')
+    # location of the static folder when running tests through tox
+    static_dir = os.path.join(sys.prefix, 'share/swh/web/static')
+
+    if not os.path.exists(static_dir):
+        # location of the static folder when running tests locally with pytest
+        static_dir = os.path.join(test_dir, '../../../static')
     webpack_stats = os.path.join(static_dir, 'webpack-stats.json')
     if os.path.exists(webpack_stats):
         return