Metal-binding natural products contribute to metal acquisition and bacterial virulence, but their roles in metal stress response are underexplored. We show that a five-enzyme pathway in synthesizes a small-molecule copper complex, fluopsin C, in response to elevated copper concentrations. Fluopsin C is a broad-spectrum antibiotic that contains a copper ion chelated by two minimal thiohydroxamates. Biosynthesis of the thiohydroxamate begins with cysteine and requires two lyases, two iron-dependent enzymes, and a methyltransferase. The iron-dependent enzymes remove the carboxyl group and the α carbon from cysteine through decarboxylation, N-hydroxylation, and methylene excision. Conservation of the pathway in and other bacteria suggests a common role for fluopsin C in the copper stress response, which involves fusing copper into an antibiotic against other microbes.