diff --git a/project.clj b/project.clj
index 56ae74f0..837d4ec4 100644
--- a/project.clj
+++ b/project.clj
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
                  "deps.clj/src" "deps.clj/resources"]
   ;; for debugging Reflector.java code:
   ;; :java-source-paths ["sci/reflector/src-java"]
-  :java-source-paths ["src-java"]
   :resource-paths ["resources" "sci/resources"]
   :dependencies [[org.clojure/clojure "1.11.0-alpha1"]
                  [borkdude/edamame "0.0.11"]
@@ -75,7 +74,9 @@
                     :feature/selmer
                     {:dependencies [[com.clojure-goes-fast/clj-async-profiler "0.4.1"]
                                     [com.opentable.components/otj-pg-embedded "0.13.3"]]}]
-             :uberjar {:global-vars {*assert* false}
+             :uberjar {:java-source-paths ["src-java"]
+                       :dependencies [[org.graalvm.nativeimage/svm "21.1.0"]]
+                       :global-vars {*assert* false}
                        :jvm-opts ["-Dclojure.compiler.direct-linking=true"
                                   "-Dclojure.spec.skip-macros=true"
                                   "-Dborkdude.dynaload.aot=true"]
diff --git a/src-java/babashka/impl/Graal.java b/src-java/babashka/impl/Graal.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6321a9d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src-java/babashka/impl/Graal.java
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+package babashka.impl;
+
+import org.graalvm.nativeimage.c.function.CFunction;
+import org.graalvm.nativeimage.c.function.CFunction.Transition;
+import org.graalvm.nativeimage.c.function.CLibrary;
+import org.graalvm.nativeimage.c.CContext;
+import org.graalvm.nativeimage.c.type.CCharPointer;
+import com.oracle.svm.core.c.ProjectHeaderFile;
+import org.graalvm.nativeimage.c.type.CTypeConversion;
+import org.graalvm.nativeimage.c.type.CTypeConversion.CCharPointerHolder;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Collections;
+
+@CContext(Graal.MyDirectives.class)
+public class Graal {
+
+    static class MyDirectives implements CContext.Directives {
+
+        @Override
+        public List<String> getHeaderFiles() {
+            return Collections.singletonList("<stdlib.h>");
+        }
+    }
+
+    @CFunction
+    private static native int setenv(CCharPointer name, CCharPointer value, int overwrite);
+
+    // API
+    public static void setEnv(String name, String value) {
+        try (CCharPointerHolder nameHolder = CTypeConversion.toCString(name);
+             CCharPointerHolder valueHolder = CTypeConversion.toCString(value)) {
+            setenv(nameHolder.get(), valueHolder.get(), 1);
+        }
+    }
+
+    // public static void main(String[] args) {
+    //     setEnv(args[0], args[1]);
+    //     System.out.println(System.getenv(args[0]));
+    // }
+}
+
diff --git a/src/babashka/impl/utils.clj b/src/babashka/impl/utils.clj
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d9b8b046
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/babashka/impl/utils.clj
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+(ns babashka.impl.utils
+  {:no-doc true}
+  (:require [babashka.utils :as utils]
+            [sci.core :as sci]))
+
+(def uns (sci/create-ns 'babashka.utils nil))
+
+(def utils-namespace
+  {'set-env (sci/copy-var utils/set-env uns)})
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/src/babashka/main.clj b/src/babashka/main.clj
index b0328a8a..f13a0780 100644
--- a/src/babashka/main.clj
+++ b/src/babashka/main.clj
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
    [babashka.impl.tasks :as tasks :refer [tasks-namespace]]
    [babashka.impl.test :as t]
    [babashka.impl.tools.cli :refer [tools-cli-namespace]]
+   [babashka.impl.utils :refer [utils-namespace]]
    [babashka.nrepl.server :as nrepl-server]
    [babashka.wait :as wait]
    [clojure.edn :as edn]
@@ -314,6 +315,7 @@ Use bb run --help to show this help output.
        'clojure.java.shell shell-namespace
        'babashka.wait {'wait-for-port wait/wait-for-port
                        'wait-for-path wait/wait-for-path}
+       'babashka.utils utils-namespace
        'babashka.signal {'pipe-signal-received? pipe-signal-received?}
        'clojure.java.io io-namespace
        'cheshire.core cheshire-core-namespace
diff --git a/src/babashka/utils.clj b/src/babashka/utils.clj
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dd748138
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/babashka/utils.clj
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+(ns babashka.utils)
+
+(defmacro when-graal [& body]
+  (when (resolve 'babashka.impl.Graal)
+    `(do ~@body)))
+
+(defn set-env [name value]
+  (when-graal
+      (babashka.impl.Graal/setEnv name value)))