diff --git a/recipe/meta.yaml b/recipe/meta.yaml
index 1f86102..8ce5caf 100644
--- a/recipe/meta.yaml
+++ b/recipe/meta.yaml
@@ -9,7 +9,10 @@ package:
 source:
   - url: https://github.com/google/pytype/archive/refs/tags/{{ version }}.tar.gz
     sha256: 5ad6439e5631077310a3217442bc9f13e91910d66755356828dbf15a3aacd2db
-
+    patches:
+      - patches/patch-ninja-exe.patch
+      - patches/remove-ninja-req.patch
+ 
   - url: https://github.com/google/googletest/archive/e82d320.tar.gz
     sha256: 7acdbac36f80ca68126c9112cf1e60132372aff81db7a14f08cb49e6e00af536
     folder: googletest
@@ -21,7 +24,7 @@ source:
     folder: typeshed
 
 build:
-  number: 0
+  number: 1
   skip: true  # [win]
   # no windows builds here: https://pypi.org/project/pytype/#files
   entry_points:
@@ -59,6 +62,8 @@ test:
   imports:
     - pytype
     - pytype.overlays
+  files:
+    - run_pytype.py
   commands:
     - annotate-ast --help
     - merge-pyi --help
@@ -66,8 +71,7 @@ test:
     - pytype --help
     - pytype-single --help
     - pyxref --help
-    # enable after https://github.com/conda-forge/staged-recipes/pull/19098
-    # this fails; guarding against providing broken? pytype from now on
+    - python run_pytype.py # checks that pytype can actually run with a file input.
     - pip check
   requires:
     - pip
diff --git a/recipe/patches/patch-ninja-exe.patch b/recipe/patches/patch-ninja-exe.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f37dec8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/recipe/patches/patch-ninja-exe.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+From 53db9310cca269d6c65ebaaf92f560879b4202f8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: ngam <67342040+ngam@users.noreply.github.com>
+Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2023 22:53:58 -0500
+Subject: [PATCH] use ninja importability when python-ninja isn't available
+
+---
+ pytype/tools/analyze_project/pytype_runner.py | 4 +++-
+ 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
+
+diff --git a/pytype/tools/analyze_project/pytype_runner.py b/pytype/tools/analyze_project/pytype_runner.py
+index 9d09d8d0..c4579978 100644
+--- a/pytype/tools/analyze_project/pytype_runner.py
++++ b/pytype/tools/analyze_project/pytype_runner.py
+@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
+ """Use pytype to analyze and infer types for an entire project."""
+ 
++import importlib
+ import collections
+ import itertools
+ import logging
+@@ -46,7 +47,8 @@ def _get_executable(binary, module=None):
+               path_utils.abspath(path_utils.dirname(custom_bin)),
+               'pytype-single')
+       ])
+-  if sys.executable is not None:
++  importable = importlib.util.find_spec(module or binary)
++  if sys.executable is not None and importable is not None:
+     return [sys.executable, '-m', module or binary]
+   else:
+     return [binary]
diff --git a/recipe/patches/remove-ninja-req.patch b/recipe/patches/remove-ninja-req.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e44797d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/recipe/patches/remove-ninja-req.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
+--- setup.cfg
++++ setup.cfg
+@@ -35,9 +35,8 @@
+     importlab>=0.8
+     jinja2>=3.1.2
+     libcst>=0.4.9
+     networkx<2.8.4
+-    ninja>=1.10.0.post2
+     pydot>=1.4.2
+     tabulate>=0.8.10
+     toml>=0.10.2
+     typed_ast>=1.5.0; python_version < '3.8'
diff --git a/recipe/run_pytype.py b/recipe/run_pytype.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd19208
--- /dev/null
+++ b/recipe/run_pytype.py
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+"""
+A short script to run pytype with a real file to check
+
+This should catch whether you can actually run pytype
+
+(in particular if pytypw works with the conda-installed ninja)
+
+NOTE: I suppose it would be more robust to see if it actually
+      does the check correctly, but that's really pytype's problem
+"""
+import sys
+import subprocess
+from pathlib import Path
+
+TEST_FILE = """
+
+def fun(x: int):
+    return x * 2
+
+# this should type check with no errors
+y = fun(2)
+
+# this should type check with an error
+# z = fun(2.0)
+"""
+
+filepath = Path("python_test_file.py")
+
+with open(filepath, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as pyfile:
+    pyfile.write(TEST_FILE)
+
+try:
+    subprocess.check_call(("pytype", str(filepath)))
+    # it worked
+    sys.exit(0)
+except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
+    # something went wrong
+    print("Something went wrong running pytype")
+    raise
+finally:
+    filepath.unlink(missing_ok=False)
+
+
+