diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 95941b88e..ce5038af6 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ FetchContent_Declare(
   GIT_TAG 10.2.1
   EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
 FetchContent_MakeAvailable(fmt)
-target_link_libraries(mlx PRIVATE fmt::fmt-header-only)
+target_link_libraries(mlx PRIVATE $<BUILD_INTERFACE:fmt::fmt-header-only>)
 
 if(MLX_BUILD_PYTHON_BINDINGS)
   message(STATUS "Building Python bindings.")
@@ -241,7 +241,8 @@ install(
   DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR}
   COMPONENT headers
   FILES_MATCHING
-  PATTERN "*.h")
+  PATTERN "*.h"
+  PATTERN "backend/metal/kernels.h" EXCLUDE)
 
 # Install metal dependencies
 if(MLX_BUILD_METAL)