diff --git a/src/meson.build b/src/meson.build
index 8b16bf5..b6dd941 100644
--- a/src/meson.build
+++ b/src/meson.build
@@ -22,24 +22,35 @@ audrey_deps = [
   dependency('libsoup-3.0', version: '>= 3.6'),
 ]
 
-blueprints = custom_target(
-  'blueprints',
-  input: files('ui/play_queue.blp', 'ui/setup.blp', 'ui/window.blp'),
-  output: ['play_queue.ui', 'setup.ui', 'window.ui'],
-  command: [
-    find_program('blueprint-compiler'),
-    'batch-compile',
-    '@OUTDIR@',
-    '@CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR@',
-    '@INPUT@',
-  ],
-)
+subdir('ui')
 
 audrey_sources += gnome.compile_resources(
   'audrey-resources',
   'audrey.gresource.xml',
   c_name: 'audrey',
   dependencies: blueprints,
+  # this is a huge hack, as by default only src/ui to the 'blueprints' dep
+  # and ../src is passed, which means the ui/xyz.ui prefix will not be found
+  # anywhere, as src/ui already has the ui in the path.
+  # the reason we have to put blp in its own ui folder, is because:
+  # - blueprint-compiler batch-compile outputs in the same directory structure,
+  #   i.e. if you pass ui/x.blp outdir foo, it will create foo/ui/x.ui,
+  # - meson doesn't support output:[] with dir/ prefix
+  # .. which means, all the files are always dirty; meson will try find 'src/x.ui'
+  # as an output for dirty tracking, but blp is outputting src/ui/x.ui
+  # because of the directory structure.
+  # using manual blueprint-compiler invocations to put the output in the
+  # 'correct' tracked place doesn't work either,
+  # since then it will be in this dir and not in ui/ and so all the ui/ prefixes
+  # in gresources won't find it, and we can't put it in a ui/ output from the
+  # current dir due to the above and meson not letting you.
+  #so since we use ui/ prefix, we need a meson.build in ui/ and then this hack
+  # to ensure compile sees the ui/ prefix starting from this src/ dir still,
+  # despite the dependency normally doing this for you
+  # note that the 'documented' way to use blp is with outdir:[.] which is
+  # fundamentally broken as then nothing is tracked except the dirs existence, which
+  # is racy as the dependency is satistfied before anything is compiled
+  extra_args: ['--sourcedir', 'src'],
 )
 
 executable(
diff --git a/src/ui/meson.build b/src/ui/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b168e86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ui/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+blueprints = custom_target(
+  'blueprints',
+  input: files('play_queue.blp', 'setup.blp', 'window.blp'),
+  output: ['play_queue.ui', 'setup.ui', 'window.ui'],
+  command: [
+    find_program('blueprint-compiler'),
+    'batch-compile',
+    '@OUTDIR@',
+    '@CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR@',
+    '@INPUT@',
+  ],
+)