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Filamentous fungi are highly productive cell factories, many of which are industrial producers of enzymes, organic acids, and secondary metabolites. The increasing number of sequenced fungal genomes revealed a vast and unexplored biosynthetic potential in the form of transcriptionally silent secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). Various strategies have been carried out to explore and mine this untapped source of bioactive molecules, and with the advent of synthetic biology, novel applications, and tools have been developed for filamentous fungi. Here we summarize approaches aiming for the expression of endogenous or exogenous natural product BGCs, including synthetic transcription factors, assembly of artificial transcription units, gene cluster refactoring, fungal shuttle vectors, and platform strains., Competing Interests: Author RALB was employed by the company DSM Biotechnology Center. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Mózsik, Iacovelli, Bovenberg and Driessen.)