diff --git a/CODEOWNERS b/CODEOWNERS
index a4f85a04475..1869b38b7c9 100644
--- a/CODEOWNERS
+++ b/CODEOWNERS
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 
 # Bazel (excluding BUILD.bazel files)
 WORKSPACE.bazel @github/codeql-ci-reviewers
+MODULE.bazel @github/codeql-ci-reviewers
 .bazelversion @github/codeql-ci-reviewers
 .bazelrc @github/codeql-ci-reviewers
 **/*.bzl @github/codeql-ci-reviewers
diff --git a/WORKSPACE.bazel b/WORKSPACE.bazel
index 12e40472055..e6af3594b05 100644
--- a/WORKSPACE.bazel
+++ b/WORKSPACE.bazel
@@ -1,4 +1,2 @@
-# Please notice that any bazel targets and definitions in this repository are currently experimental
-# and for internal use only.
-
-workspace(name = "codeql")
+# plase use MODULE.bazel to add dependencies
+# this empty file is required by internal repositories, don't remove it