diff --git a/cli/src/templates/binding.go b/cli/src/templates/binding.go
index 243a1160..9351f480 100644
--- a/cli/src/templates/binding.go
+++ b/cli/src/templates/binding.go
@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@ package tree_sitter_LOWER_PARSER_NAME
 
 // #cgo CFLAGS: -std=c11 -fPIC
 // #include "../../src/parser.c"
-// // NOTE: if your language has an external scanner, add it here.
+// #if __has_include("../../src/scanner.c")
+// #include "../../src/scanner.c"
+// #endif
 import "C"
 
 import "unsafe"
diff --git a/cli/src/templates/binding.gyp b/cli/src/templates/binding.gyp
index 9b7feebb..ebea1403 100644
--- a/cli/src/templates/binding.gyp
+++ b/cli/src/templates/binding.gyp
@@ -11,9 +11,14 @@
       "sources": [
         "bindings/node/binding.cc",
         "src/parser.c",
-        # NOTE: if your language has an external scanner, add it here.
       ],
+      "variables": {
+        "has_scanner": "<!(node -p \"fs.exists('src/scanner.c')\")"
+      },
       "conditions": [
+        ["has_scanner=='true'", {
+          "sources+": ["src/scanner.c"],
+        }],
         ["OS!='win'", {
           "cflags_c": [
             "-std=c11",
diff --git a/cli/src/templates/build.rs b/cli/src/templates/build.rs
index 99985b40..858e80c2 100644
--- a/cli/src/templates/build.rs
+++ b/cli/src/templates/build.rs
@@ -11,12 +11,11 @@ fn main() {
     c_config.file(&parser_path);
     println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed={}", parser_path.to_str().unwrap());
 
-    // NOTE: if your language uses an external scanner, uncomment this block:
-    /*
     let scanner_path = src_dir.join("scanner.c");
-    c_config.file(&scanner_path);
-    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed={}", scanner_path.to_str().unwrap());
-    */
+    if scanner_path.exists() {
+        c_config.file(&scanner_path);
+        println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed={}", scanner_path.to_str().unwrap());
+    }
 
     c_config.compile("tree-sitter-PARSER_NAME");
 }
diff --git a/cli/src/templates/package.swift b/cli/src/templates/package.swift
index d1053b46..b42ffc5c 100644
--- a/cli/src/templates/package.swift
+++ b/cli/src/templates/package.swift
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 // swift-tools-version:5.3
+
+import Foundation
 import PackageDescription
 
+var sources = ["src/parser.c"]
+if FileManager.default.fileExists(atPath: "src/scanner.c") {
+    sources.append("src/scanner.c")
+}
+
 let package = Package(
     name: "TreeSitterCAMEL_PARSER_NAME",
     products: [
@@ -14,10 +21,7 @@ let package = Package(
             name: "TreeSitterCAMEL_PARSER_NAME",
             dependencies: [],
             path: ".",
-            sources: [
-                "src/parser.c",
-                // NOTE: if your language has an external scanner, add it here.
-            ],
+            sources: sources,
             resources: [
                 .copy("queries")
             ],
diff --git a/cli/src/templates/setup.py b/cli/src/templates/setup.py
index eaac845c..ab6a7a47 100644
--- a/cli/src/templates/setup.py
+++ b/cli/src/templates/setup.py
@@ -1,15 +1,27 @@
-from os.path import isdir, join
+from os import path
 from platform import system
 
 from setuptools import Extension, find_packages, setup
 from setuptools.command.build import build
 from wheel.bdist_wheel import bdist_wheel
 
+sources = [
+    "bindings/python/tree_sitter_LOWER_PARSER_NAME/binding.c",
+    "src/parser.c",
+]
+if path.exists("src/scanner.c"):
+    sources.extend("src/scanner.c")
+
+if system() != "Windows":
+    cflags = ["-std=c11", "-fvisibility=hidden"]
+else:
+    cflags = ["/std:c11", "/utf-8"]
+
 
 class Build(build):
     def run(self):
-        if isdir("queries"):
-            dest = join(self.build_lib, "tree_sitter_PARSER_NAME", "queries")
+        if path.isdir("queries"):
+            dest = path.join(self.build_lib, "tree_sitter_PARSER_NAME", "queries")
             self.copy_tree("queries", dest)
         super().run()
 
@@ -33,18 +45,8 @@ setup(
     ext_modules=[
         Extension(
             name="_binding",
-            sources=[
-                "bindings/python/tree_sitter_LOWER_PARSER_NAME/binding.c",
-                "src/parser.c",
-                # NOTE: if your language uses an external scanner, add it here.
-            ],
-            extra_compile_args=[
-                "-std=c11",
-                "-fvisibility=hidden",
-            ] if system() != "Windows" else [
-                "/std:c11",
-                "/utf-8",
-            ],
+            sources=sources,
+            extra_compile_args=cflags,
             define_macros=[
                 ("Py_LIMITED_API", "0x03090000"),
                 ("PY_SSIZE_T_CLEAN", None),