diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -11,4 +11,5 @@
 force_sort_within_sections = true
 
 [build-system]
+# the tree_sitter version must match the versions declared in the requirements.txt and setup.py files
 requires = ["setuptools", "wheel", "tree_sitter"]
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@
         [swh.cli.subcommands]
         search=swh.search.cli
     """,
-    setup_requires=["setuptools-scm", "tree-sitter==0.19.0"],
+    setup_requires=["setuptools-scm", "tree-sitter"],
     use_scm_version=True,
     extras_require={"testing": parse_requirements("test")},
     include_package_data=True,