diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index d340d5c8ab..e9f526f0e2 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -320,14 +320,12 @@ else()
     endif()
 endif()
 find_package(ZLIB REQUIRED)
-include_directories(${ZLIB_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 
 set(USE_SYSTEM_SDL2 OFF CACHE BOOL "Set to ON to use the system SDL2 headers.")
 
 if(BUILD_LIBRARY)
     if(USE_SYSTEM_SDL2)
         find_package(SDL2 REQUIRED CONFIG REQUIRED COMPONENTS SDL2)
-        include_directories(${SDL2_INCLUDE_DIRS})
     else()
         # Download SDL release and extract into depends in the build dir
         # all we need are the header files (including generated headers), so the same release package
@@ -342,7 +340,7 @@ if(BUILD_LIBRARY)
             ${SDL_ZIP_MD5})
         file(ARCHIVE_EXTRACT INPUT ${SDL_ZIP_PATH}${SDL_ZIP_FILE}
             DESTINATION ${SDL_ZIP_PATH})
-        include_directories(${SDL_ZIP_PATH}/SDL2-${SDL_VERSION}/include)
+        set(SDL2_INCLUDE_DIRS ${SDL_ZIP_PATH}/SDL2-${SDL_VERSION}/include)
     endif()
 endif()
 
@@ -404,10 +402,6 @@ endif()
 
 #### expose depends ####
 
-include_directories(depends/protobuf)
-include_directories(depends/lua/include)
-include_directories(depends/md5)
-
 # Support linking against external tinyxml
 # If we find an external tinyxml, set the DFHACK_TINYXML variable to "tinyxml"
 # Otherwise, set it to "dfhack-tinyxml"
@@ -419,14 +413,9 @@ if(EXTERNAL_TINYXML)
     endif()
     set(DFHACK_TINYXML "tinyxml")
 else()
-    include_directories(depends/tinyxml)
     set(DFHACK_TINYXML "dfhack-tinyxml")
 endif()
 
-include_directories(depends/lodepng)
-include_directories(depends/clsocket/src)
-include_directories(depends/xlsxio/include)
-
 if(BUILD_LIBRARY)
     add_subdirectory(depends)
 endif()
diff --git a/depends/CMakeLists.txt b/depends/CMakeLists.txt
index f40ef5d590..41996294c6 100644
--- a/depends/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/depends/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ add_subdirectory(lodepng)
 add_subdirectory(lua)
 add_subdirectory(md5)
 add_subdirectory(protobuf)
+target_include_directories(protobuf-lite INTERFACE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/protobuf)
 
 if(UNIX)
     set_target_properties(lua PROPERTIES COMPILE_FLAGS "-Wno-deprecated-declarations -Wno-deprecated-enum-enum-conversion")
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ add_subdirectory(googletest)
 # Don't build tinyxml if it's being externally linked against.
 if(NOT TinyXML_FOUND)
     add_subdirectory(tinyxml)
+    target_include_directories(dfhack-tinyxml INTERFACE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/tinyxml)
 endif()
 
 option(JSONCPP_WITH_TESTS "Compile and (for jsoncpp_check) run JsonCpp test executables" OFF)
@@ -87,3 +89,5 @@ if(MSVC)
     target_compile_options(xlsxio_read_STATIC PRIVATE /wd4013 /wd4244)
     target_compile_options(xlsxio_write_STATIC PRIVATE /wd4013 /wd4244)
 endif()
+target_include_directories(xlsxio_read_STATIC INTERFACE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/xlsxio/include)
+target_include_directories(xlsxio_write_STATIC INTERFACE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/xlsxio/include)
diff --git a/depends/lua/CMakeLists.txt b/depends/lua/CMakeLists.txt
index 116c7a22af..44b16e56cc 100644
--- a/depends/lua/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/depends/lua/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ list(APPEND SRC_LIBLUA ${HDR_LIBLUA})
 add_library(lua SHARED ${SRC_LIBLUA})
 set_target_properties(lua PROPERTIES OUTPUT_NAME lua53)
 target_link_libraries(lua ${LIBS})
+target_include_directories(lua INTERFACE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/include)
 
 if(MSVC)
     # need no space to prevent /FI from being stripped: https://github.com/DFHack/dfhack/issues/1455
diff --git a/depends/md5/CMakeLists.txt b/depends/md5/CMakeLists.txt
index 747963c454..55c0bf6c1b 100644
--- a/depends/md5/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/depends/md5/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 project(dfhack-md5)
 add_library(dfhack-md5 STATIC EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL md5.cpp md5wrapper.cpp)
+target_include_directories(dfhack-md5 INTERFACE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
 ide_folder(dfhack-md5 "Depends")
 if(UNIX)
     set_target_properties(dfhack-md5 PROPERTIES COMPILE_FLAGS "-Wno-strict-aliasing")
diff --git a/library/CMakeLists.txt b/library/CMakeLists.txt
index c24a4cedbb..6127e83d26 100644
--- a/library/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/library/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -39,14 +39,10 @@ endif()
 
 add_custom_target(generate_headers DEPENDS ${CODEGEN_OUT})
 
-include_directories(include)
-
 add_subdirectory(xml)
 
 if(BUILD_LIBRARY)
 
-include_directories(proto)
-
 set(MAIN_HEADERS
     include/Internal.h
     include/DFHack.h
@@ -347,6 +343,7 @@ set_property(TARGET dfhack-version APPEND PROPERTY COMPILE_DEFINITIONS
     DFHACK_ABI_VERSION=${DFHACK_ABI_VERSION}
     DFHACK_RUN_URL="${DFHACK_RUN_URL}"
 )
+target_include_directories(dfhack-version PRIVATE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/include)
 if(DFHACK_PRERELEASE)
     set_property(TARGET dfhack-version APPEND PROPERTY COMPILE_DEFINITIONS
         DFHACK_PRERELEASE=1
@@ -369,13 +366,19 @@ if(EXISTS ${dfhack_SOURCE_DIR}/.git/index AND EXISTS ${dfhack_SOURCE_DIR}/.git/m
 endif()
 
 add_library(dfhack SHARED ${PROJECT_SOURCES})
+target_include_directories(dfhack PUBLIC ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/include ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/proto)
+
+get_target_property(xlsxio_INCLUDES xlsxio_read_STATIC INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES)
+target_include_directories(dfhack PRIVATE ${xlsxio_INCLUDES} ${SDL2_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 add_dependencies(dfhack generate_proto_core)
 add_dependencies(dfhack generate_headers)
 
 add_library(dfhack-client SHARED RemoteClient.cpp ColorText.cpp MiscUtils.cpp Error.cpp ${PROJECT_PROTO_SRCS} ${CONSOLE_SOURCES})
+target_include_directories(dfhack-client PRIVATE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/include ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/proto)
 add_dependencies(dfhack-client dfhack)
 
 add_executable(dfhack-run dfhack-run.cpp)
+target_include_directories(dfhack-run PRIVATE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/include ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/proto)
 
 add_executable(binpatch binpatch.cpp)
 target_link_libraries(binpatch dfhack-md5)
diff --git a/package/CMakeLists.txt b/package/CMakeLists.txt
index 2df2f1d8d3..c2da95369d 100644
--- a/package/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/package/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -30,13 +30,13 @@ if(BUILD_DFLAUNCH)
         set(STEAMAPI_SHARED_LIBRARY "${STEAMAPI_LIBRARY}")
     endif()
 
-    include_directories(${STEAMAPI_SOURCE_DIR})
     link_libraries(${STEAMAPI_LIBRARY})
     if(WIN32)
         add_executable(launchdf WIN32 launchdf.cpp)
     else()
         add_executable(launchdf launchdf.cpp)
     endif()
+    target_include_directories(launchdf PRIVATE ${STEAMAPI_SOURCE_DIR})
     install(TARGETS launchdf DESTINATION ${DFHACK_DATA_DESTINATION})
     install(FILES ${STEAMAPI_SHARED_LIBRARY} DESTINATION ${DFHACK_DATA_DESTINATION})
 endif()
diff --git a/plugins/Plugins.cmake b/plugins/Plugins.cmake
index e058d22812..0b66e8c4c1 100644
--- a/plugins/Plugins.cmake
+++ b/plugins/Plugins.cmake
@@ -119,22 +119,16 @@ macro(dfhack_plugin)
         add_library(${PLUGIN_NAME} MODULE ${PLUGIN_SOURCES})
         ide_folder(${PLUGIN_NAME} "Plugins")
 
-        target_include_directories(${PLUGIN_NAME} PRIVATE "${dfhack_SOURCE_DIR}/library/include")
-        target_include_directories(${PLUGIN_NAME} PRIVATE "${dfhack_SOURCE_DIR}/library/proto")
-        target_include_directories(${PLUGIN_NAME} PRIVATE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/proto")
-        target_include_directories(${PLUGIN_NAME} PRIVATE "${dfhack_SOURCE_DIR}/library/depends/xgetopt")
-
         if(NUM_PROTO)
             add_dependencies(${PLUGIN_NAME} generate_proto_${PLUGIN_NAME})
-            target_link_libraries(${PLUGIN_NAME} dfhack protobuf-lite dfhack-version ${PLUGIN_LINK_LIBRARIES})
-        else()
-            target_link_libraries(${PLUGIN_NAME} dfhack dfhack-version ${PLUGIN_LINK_LIBRARIES})
+            target_include_directories(${PLUGIN_NAME} PRIVATE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/proto")
+            target_link_libraries(${PLUGIN_NAME} protobuf-lite)
         endif()
+        target_link_libraries(${PLUGIN_NAME} dfhack dfhack-version ${PLUGIN_LINK_LIBRARIES})
 
-        add_dependencies(${PLUGIN_NAME} dfhack-version)
-
-        # Make sure the source is generated before the executable builds.
-        add_dependencies(${PLUGIN_NAME} generate_proto)
+        # since PluginManager currently uses Lua headers, even when Lua is not used
+        get_target_property(lua_INCLUDES lua INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES)
+        target_include_directories(${PLUGIN_NAME} PRIVATE ${lua_INCLUDES})
 
         if(UNIX)
             set(PLUGIN_COMPILE_FLAGS "${PLUGIN_COMPILE_FLAGS} ${PLUGIN_COMPILE_FLAGS_GCC}")
diff --git a/plugins/channel-safely/CMakeLists.txt b/plugins/channel-safely/CMakeLists.txt
index 36c7307e45..36b25f4c70 100644
--- a/plugins/channel-safely/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/plugins/channel-safely/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 project(channel-safely)
 
-include_directories(include)
 SET(SOURCES
         channel-groups.cpp
         channel-manager.cpp
diff --git a/plugins/remotefortressreader/CMakeLists.txt b/plugins/remotefortressreader/CMakeLists.txt
index 37aa64b239..caa81707f0 100644
--- a/plugins/remotefortressreader/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/plugins/remotefortressreader/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -30,3 +30,6 @@ endif()
 
 # this makes sure all the stuff is put in proper places and linked to dfhack
 dfhack_plugin(RemoteFortressReader ${PROJECT_SRCS} LINK_LIBRARIES ${PROJECT_LIBS} PROTOBUFS ${PROJECT_PROTO})
+if(BUILD_PLUGINS)
+    target_include_directories(RemoteFortressReader PRIVATE ${SDL2_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+endif()