diff --git a/backend/MANIFEST.in b/backend/MANIFEST.in
deleted file mode 100644
index ca9ff8d3..00000000
--- a/backend/MANIFEST.in
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,20 +0,0 @@
-graft src/kitconcept
-graft docs
-graft news
-graft tests
-graft scripts
-include .coveragerc
-include .dockerignore
-include .editorconfig
-include *.txt
-include *.yml
-include *.md
-exclude *-mxdev.txt
-exclude Dockerfile
-exclude Dockerfile.*
-exclude mx.ini
-exclude Makefile
-recursive-exclude frontend *
-exclude instance.yaml
-global-exclude *.pyc
-global-exclude .DS_Store
diff --git a/backend/news/+exclude_example_content.internal b/backend/news/+exclude_example_content.internal
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fcfd4e31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/news/+exclude_example_content.internal
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Convert MANIFEST.in to pyproject.toml. Exclude example content from the package build. @sneridagh @fredvd
diff --git a/backend/pyproject.toml b/backend/pyproject.toml
index 3a368b66..b83be6b3 100644
--- a/backend/pyproject.toml
+++ b/backend/pyproject.toml
@@ -80,12 +80,55 @@ path = "src/kitconcept/intranet/__init__.py"
 strict-naming = true
 
 [tool.hatch.build.targets.sdist]
+include = [
+  "src/kitconcept/**",
+  "docs/**",
+  "news/**",
+  "tests/**",
+  "scripts/**",
+  ".coveragerc",
+  ".dockerignore",
+  ".editorconfig",
+  "*.txt",
+  "*.yml",
+  "*.md",
+]
 exclude = [
-  "/.github",
+  "*-mxdev.txt",
+  "Dockerfile*",
+  "mx.ini",
+  "Makefile",
+  "instance.yaml",
+  "src/kitconcept/intranet/distributions/intranet/content/content/**",
+  "*.pyc",
+  ".DS_Store",
 ]
 
 [tool.hatch.build.targets.wheel]
 packages = ["src/kitconcept"]
+include = [
+  "src/kitconcept/**",
+  "docs/**",
+  "news/**",
+  "tests/**",
+  "scripts/**",
+  ".coveragerc",
+  ".dockerignore",
+  ".editorconfig",
+  "*.txt",
+  "*.yml",
+  "*.md",
+]
+exclude = [
+  "*-mxdev.txt",
+  "Dockerfile*",
+  "mx.ini",
+  "Makefile",
+  "instance.yaml",
+  "src/kitconcept/intranet/distributions/intranet/content/content/**",
+  "*.pyc",
+  ".DS_Store",
+]
 
 [tool.coverage.run]
 source_pkgs = ["kitconcept.intranet", "tests"]