diff --git a/.cargo/config.toml b/.cargo/config.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b01400
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.cargo/config.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+[alias]
+xtask = "run --manifest-path xtask/Cargo.toml --"
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 96d4f30..25f0f3d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -13,4 +13,5 @@
 # Generated by Cargo
 /target/
 /libvlc-sys/target
+/xtask/target
 Cargo.lock
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 58c2317..9d39c33 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ crate-type = ["rlib"]
 libc = "0.2"
 libvlc-sys = { path = "libvlc-sys" }
 
-[features]
-default = []
-use-bindgen = ["libvlc-sys/use-bindgen"]
+# `xtask` contains maintenance tools; keep it out of the workspace so normal
+# builds never compile it.
+[workspace]
+exclude = ["xtask"]
diff --git a/libvlc-sys/Cargo.toml b/libvlc-sys/Cargo.toml
index 51f88aa..b263112 100644
--- a/libvlc-sys/Cargo.toml
+++ b/libvlc-sys/Cargo.toml
@@ -22,12 +22,7 @@ crate-type = ["rlib"]
 libc = "0.2"
 
 [build-dependencies]
-bindgen = { version = "0.72", optional = true }
 pkg-config = "0.3"
 
 [target.'cfg(target_os = "windows")'.build-dependencies]
 vswhom = "0.1.0"
-
-[features]
-default = []
-use-bindgen = ["bindgen"]
diff --git a/libvlc-sys/build.rs b/libvlc-sys/build.rs
index 3405043..dd3eb63 100644
--- a/libvlc-sys/build.rs
+++ b/libvlc-sys/build.rs
@@ -1,54 +1,8 @@
-use std::env;
-use std::path::PathBuf;
-use pkg_config;
+//! Build script for `libvlc-sys`, locates and links libvlc.
 
 /// Minimum supported libvlc version.
 const MIN_LIBVLC_VERSION: &str = "3.0.0";
 
-#[cfg(feature = "bindgen")]
-fn generate_bindings(library: &pkg_config::Library) {
-    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=wrapper.h");
-
-    let mut bindings = bindgen::Builder::default()
-        .header("wrapper.h")
-        // For no_std
-        .use_core()
-        // Use libc
-        .ctypes_prefix("libc")
-        // Allowlist every (lib)vlc symbol.
-        .allowlist_item("(lib|LIB)?(vlc|VLC)_.*")
-        // Required by the Windows `legacy_stdio_definitions` link workaround
-        // (see `windows::link_vlc`).
-        .allowlist_function("vsnprintf")
-        .parse_callbacks(Box::new(bindgen::CargoCallbacks::new()));
-
-    // Set header include paths from the pkg-config probe.
-    for include_path in &library.include_paths {
-        bindings = bindings.clang_arg(format!("-I{}", include_path.display()));
-    }
-
-    let bindings = bindings.generate().expect("Unable to generate bindings");
-
-    let out_path = PathBuf::from(env::var("OUT_DIR").unwrap());
-    bindings
-        .write_to_file(out_path.join("bindings.rs"))
-        .expect("Couldn't write bindings!");
-}
-
-#[cfg(not(feature = "bindgen"))]
-fn copy_pregenerated_bindings()
-{
-    use std::fs;
-
-    let out_path = PathBuf::from(env::var("OUT_DIR").unwrap());
-    let crate_path = PathBuf::from(env::var("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR").unwrap());
-    fs::copy(
-        crate_path.join("bindings.rs"),
-        out_path.join("bindings.rs"),
-    )
-    .expect("Couldn't find pregenerated bindings!");
-}
-
 /// Locate libvlc via pkg-config.
 fn probe_libvlc() -> Result<pkg_config::Library, pkg_config::Error> {
     pkg_config::Config::new()
@@ -142,8 +96,11 @@ mod windows {
                     }
                 ),
             ])
-            .spawn()
-            .unwrap();
+            .status()
+            .expect("Failed to run lib.exe")
+            .success()
+            .then_some(())
+            .expect("lib.exe failed to generate the vlc import library");
     }
 
     fn vlc_path() -> PathBuf {
@@ -166,22 +123,9 @@ mod windows {
 }
 
 fn main() {
-    // Probe once and reuse the result for both binding generation (include
-    // paths) and linking (pkg-config emits the link directives on success).
-    let library = probe_libvlc();
-
-    // Binding generation
-    #[cfg(feature = "bindgen")]
-    generate_bindings(library.as_ref().expect(
-        "pkg-config is required to locate the libvlc headers with the `bindgen` feature",
-    ));
-
-    #[cfg(not(feature = "bindgen"))]
-    copy_pregenerated_bindings();
-
-    // Link. On success pkg-config has already emitted the link directives; only
-    // the failure path needs handling.
-    if let Err(err) = library {
+    // On success pkg-config has already emitted the link directives; only the
+    // failure path needs handling.
+    if let Err(err) = probe_libvlc() {
         #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
         windows::link_vlc();
 
diff --git a/libvlc-sys/src/lib.rs b/libvlc-sys/src/lib.rs
index da4a48d..12b7d82 100644
--- a/libvlc-sys/src/lib.rs
+++ b/libvlc-sys/src/lib.rs
@@ -3,4 +3,6 @@
 #![allow(non_snake_case)]
 #![no_std]
 
-include!(concat!(env!("OUT_DIR"), "/bindings.rs"));
+// The bindings are a committed source file, regenerated out of band with
+// `cargo xtask bindgen`.
+include!("../bindings.rs");
diff --git a/xtask/Cargo.toml b/xtask/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a02dd56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xtask/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[package]
+name = "xtask"
+version = "0.0.0"
+edition = "2021"
+publish = false
+
+[dependencies]
+bindgen = "0.72"
+pkg-config = "0.3"
+
+# Standalone from the vlc-rs workspace, kept out of the normal build graph.
+[workspace]
diff --git a/xtask/src/main.rs b/xtask/src/main.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6699e2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xtask/src/main.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+//! Maintenance tasks for vlc-rs, invoked via `cargo xtask <task>`.
+
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+use std::process::ExitCode;
+
+/// Minimum libvlc version the bindings target. Keep in sync with
+/// `libvlc-sys/build.rs`.
+const MIN_LIBVLC_VERSION: &str = "3.0.0";
+
+fn main() -> ExitCode {
+    match std::env::args().nth(1).as_deref() {
+        Some("bindgen") => {
+            generate_bindings();
+            ExitCode::SUCCESS
+        }
+        _ => {
+            eprintln!("usage: cargo xtask <task>\n");
+            eprintln!("tasks:");
+            eprintln!("    bindgen    regenerate libvlc-sys/bindings.rs from the system libvlc headers");
+            ExitCode::FAILURE
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+fn generate_bindings() {
+    let sys_dir = libvlc_sys_dir();
+    let header = sys_dir.join("wrapper.h");
+    let output = sys_dir.join("bindings.rs");
+
+    // Enforce the same minimum version the build script requires and pick up any
+    // header search paths.
+    let library = pkg_config::Config::new()
+        .atleast_version(MIN_LIBVLC_VERSION)
+        .cargo_metadata(false)
+        .probe("libvlc")
+        .unwrap_or_else(|e| panic!("libvlc >= {MIN_LIBVLC_VERSION} not found via pkg-config: {e}"));
+
+    let mut bindings = bindgen::Builder::default()
+        .header(header.to_str().expect("non-UTF-8 header path"))
+        // For no_std
+        .use_core()
+        // Use libc
+        .ctypes_prefix("libc")
+        // Allowlist every (lib)vlc symbol.
+        .allowlist_item("(lib|LIB)?(vlc|VLC)_.*")
+        // Required by the Windows `legacy_stdio_definitions` link workaround
+        // (see libvlc-sys/build.rs).
+        .allowlist_function("vsnprintf");
+
+    for path in &library.include_paths {
+        bindings = bindings.clang_arg(format!("-I{}", path.display()));
+    }
+
+    let generated = bindings
+        .generate()
+        .expect("unable to generate bindings")
+        .to_string();
+
+    std::fs::write(&output, generated).expect("couldn't write bindings");
+    println!("wrote {}", output.display());
+}
+
+/// Absolute path to the `libvlc-sys` crate directory, derived from this xtask's
+/// location so it works regardless of the current working directory.
+fn libvlc_sys_dir() -> PathBuf {
+    Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"))
+        .parent()
+        .expect("xtask has no parent directory")
+        .join("libvlc-sys")
+}