diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fabcead9122
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "third_party/flatbuffers"]
+	path = cpp/thirdparty/flatbuffers
+	url = https://github.com/google/flatbuffers.git
diff --git a/cpp/thirdparty/flatbuffers b/cpp/thirdparty/flatbuffers
new file mode 160000
index 00000000000..5a401aef574
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cpp/thirdparty/flatbuffers
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 5a401aef57460a8a6c5b4e77dacea61a0085bbb5