diff --git a/crates/ledger-core/Cargo.toml b/crates/ledger-core/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e143c90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/ledger-core/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+[package]
+name = "ledger-core"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition.workspace = true
+license.workspace = true
+repository.workspace = true
+description = "Canonical double-entry bookkeeping semantics: the engine everything else is built on."
+
+[dependencies]
+rust_decimal = { version = "1", features = ["serde"] }
+thiserror = "2"
+chrono = { version = "0.4", features = ["serde"] }
+serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
+serde_json = "1"
+
+[lints]
+workspace = true