diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..98c9d30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+
+
+[submodule "gds/readers/hdf5-gds-vfd"]
+	path = gds/readers/hdf5-gds-vfd
+	url = https://github.com/hpc-io/vfd-gds.git
diff --git a/gds/readers/hdf5-gds-vfd b/gds/readers/hdf5-gds-vfd
new file mode 160000
index 0000000..14fd429
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gds/readers/hdf5-gds-vfd
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 14fd429c6d9f1c97217a303c72af5510f6127b33