diff --git a/assets/plugins/status-bar.wasm b/assets/plugins/status-bar.wasm
index f9c32980..1b82a5c0 100644
Binary files a/assets/plugins/status-bar.wasm and b/assets/plugins/status-bar.wasm differ
diff --git a/assets/plugins/strider.wasm b/assets/plugins/strider.wasm
index d82b57ca..46f272eb 100644
Binary files a/assets/plugins/strider.wasm and b/assets/plugins/strider.wasm differ
diff --git a/build.rs b/build.rs
index 2bea2727..85e997a6 100644
--- a/build.rs
+++ b/build.rs
@@ -134,20 +134,4 @@ fn main() {
     clap_app.gen_completions(BIN_NAME, Shell::Bash, &out_dir);
     clap_app.gen_completions(BIN_NAME, Shell::Zsh, &out_dir);
     clap_app.gen_completions(BIN_NAME, Shell::Fish, &out_dir);
-
-    // Install Default Plugins and Layouts
-    let assets = vec![
-        "plugins/status-bar.wasm",
-        "plugins/strider.wasm",
-        "layouts/default.yaml",
-        "layouts/strider.yaml",
-    ];
-    let project_dirs = ProjectDirs::from("org", "Zellij Contributors", "Zellij").unwrap();
-    let data_dir = project_dirs.data_dir();
-    fs::create_dir_all(data_dir.join("plugins")).unwrap();
-    fs::create_dir_all(data_dir.join("layouts")).unwrap();
-    for asset in assets {
-        fs::copy(Path::new("assets/").join(asset), data_dir.join(asset))
-            .expect("Failed to copy asset files");
-    }
 }
diff --git a/src/common/install.rs b/src/common/install.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cd00aa1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/common/install.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#[macro_export]
+macro_rules! asset_map {
+    ($($path:literal),+) => {
+        {
+            let mut assets = std::collections::HashMap::new();
+            $(
+                assets.insert($path, include_bytes!(concat!("../assets/", $path)).to_vec());
+            )+
+            assets
+        }
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/common/mod.rs b/src/common/mod.rs
index 00ee64fd..a256e3ef 100644
--- a/src/common/mod.rs
+++ b/src/common/mod.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ pub mod command_is_executing;
 pub mod errors;
 pub mod input;
 pub mod ipc;
+pub mod install;
 pub mod os_input_output;
 pub mod pty_bus;
 pub mod screen;
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 50c0b6f3..5c9a70ea 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -11,8 +11,9 @@ use common::{
     command_is_executing, errors, os_input_output, pty_bus, screen, start, utils, wasm_vm,
     ApiCommand,
 };
+use directories_next::ProjectDirs;
 
-use std::io::Write;
+use std::{fs, io::Write};
 use std::os::unix::net::UnixStream;
 
 use structopt::StructOpt;
@@ -27,6 +28,24 @@ use crate::utils::{
 };
 
 pub fn main() {
+    // First run installation of default plugins & layouts
+    let project_dirs = ProjectDirs::from("org", "Zellij Contributors", "Zellij").unwrap();
+    let data_dir = project_dirs.data_dir();
+    let assets = asset_map!{
+        "plugins/status-bar.wasm",
+        "plugins/strider.wasm",
+        "layouts/default.yaml",
+        "layouts/strider.yaml"
+    };
+
+    for (path, bytes) in assets {
+        let path = data_dir.join(path);
+        fs::create_dir_all(path.parent().unwrap()).unwrap();
+        if !path.exists() {
+            fs::write(path, bytes).expect("Failed to install default assets!");
+        }
+    }
+
     let opts = CliArgs::from_args();
     if let Some(split_dir) = opts.split {
         match split_dir {