diff --git a/python/packages/autogen-core/docs/src/user-guide/core-user-guide/framework/distributed-agent-runtime.ipynb b/python/packages/autogen-core/docs/src/user-guide/core-user-guide/framework/distributed-agent-runtime.ipynb
index 833799c2096..b0b9c5e3f1f 100644
--- a/python/packages/autogen-core/docs/src/user-guide/core-user-guide/framework/distributed-agent-runtime.ipynb
+++ b/python/packages/autogen-core/docs/src/user-guide/core-user-guide/framework/distributed-agent-runtime.ipynb
@@ -21,6 +21,13 @@
     "It also advertises the agents which they support to the host service,\n",
     "so the host service can deliver messages to the correct worker.\n",
     "\n",
+    "````{note}\n",
+    "The distributed agent runtime requires extra dependencies, install them using:\n",
+    "```bash\n",
+    "pip install autogen-core[grpc]==0.4.0.dev6\n",
+    "```\n",
+    "````\n",
+    "\n",
     "We can start a host service using {py:class}`~autogen_core.application.WorkerAgentRuntimeHost`."
    ]
   },
diff --git a/python/packages/autogen-core/pyproject.toml b/python/packages/autogen-core/pyproject.toml
index 9d564ded4b8..d0dd291e636 100644
--- a/python/packages/autogen-core/pyproject.toml
+++ b/python/packages/autogen-core/pyproject.toml
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ dependencies = [
     "aiohttp",
     "typing-extensions",
     "pydantic<3.0.0,>=2.0.0",
-    "grpcio~=1.62.0",
     "protobuf~=4.25.1",
     "tiktoken",
     "opentelemetry-api~=1.27.0",
@@ -28,6 +27,11 @@ dependencies = [
     "jsonref~=1.1.0",
 ]
 
+[project.optional-dependencies]
+grpc = [
+    "grpcio~=1.62.0",
+]
+
 [tool.uv]
 dev-dependencies = [
     "aiofiles",
diff --git a/python/packages/autogen-core/src/autogen_core/application/_utils.py b/python/packages/autogen-core/src/autogen_core/application/_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..10fbfd1b8c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/packages/autogen-core/src/autogen_core/application/_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+GRPC_IMPORT_ERROR_STR = (
+    "Distributed runtime features require additional dependencies. Install them with: pip install autogen-core[grpc]"
+)
diff --git a/python/packages/autogen-core/src/autogen_core/application/_worker_runtime.py b/python/packages/autogen-core/src/autogen_core/application/_worker_runtime.py
index ac3e00e4a4a..2c405710876 100644
--- a/python/packages/autogen-core/src/autogen_core/application/_worker_runtime.py
+++ b/python/packages/autogen-core/src/autogen_core/application/_worker_runtime.py
@@ -27,16 +27,11 @@
     cast,
 )
 
-import grpc
-from grpc.aio import StreamStreamCall
 from opentelemetry.trace import TracerProvider
 from typing_extensions import Self, deprecated
 
-from autogen_core.base import JSON_DATA_CONTENT_TYPE
-from autogen_core.base._serialization import MessageSerializer, SerializationRegistry
-from autogen_core.base._type_helpers import ChannelArgumentType
-
 from ..base import (
+    JSON_DATA_CONTENT_TYPE,
     Agent,
     AgentId,
     AgentInstantiationContext,
@@ -50,11 +45,19 @@
     SubscriptionInstantiationContext,
     TopicId,
 )
+from ..base._serialization import MessageSerializer, SerializationRegistry
+from ..base._type_helpers import ChannelArgumentType
 from ..components import TypeSubscription
 from ._helpers import SubscriptionManager, get_impl
+from ._utils import GRPC_IMPORT_ERROR_STR
 from .protos import agent_worker_pb2, agent_worker_pb2_grpc
 from .telemetry import MessageRuntimeTracingConfig, TraceHelper, get_telemetry_grpc_metadata
 
+try:
+    import grpc.aio
+except ImportError as e:
+    raise ImportError(GRPC_IMPORT_ERROR_STR) from e
+
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from .protos.agent_worker_pb2_grpc import AgentRpcAsyncStub
 
@@ -140,6 +143,8 @@ async def _connect(  # type: ignore
     ) -> None:
         stub: AgentRpcAsyncStub = agent_worker_pb2_grpc.AgentRpcStub(channel)  # type: ignore
 
+        from grpc.aio import StreamStreamCall
+
         # TODO: where do exceptions from reading the iterable go? How do we recover from those?
         recv_stream: StreamStreamCall[agent_worker_pb2.Message, agent_worker_pb2.Message] = stub.OpenChannel(  # type: ignore
             QueueAsyncIterable(send_queue)
diff --git a/python/packages/autogen-core/src/autogen_core/application/_worker_runtime_host.py b/python/packages/autogen-core/src/autogen_core/application/_worker_runtime_host.py
index e6585098bdb..d7fee07ff1f 100644
--- a/python/packages/autogen-core/src/autogen_core/application/_worker_runtime_host.py
+++ b/python/packages/autogen-core/src/autogen_core/application/_worker_runtime_host.py
@@ -3,11 +3,14 @@
 import signal
 from typing import Optional, Sequence
 
-import grpc
-
-from autogen_core.base._type_helpers import ChannelArgumentType
-
+from ..base._type_helpers import ChannelArgumentType
+from ._utils import GRPC_IMPORT_ERROR_STR
 from ._worker_runtime_host_servicer import WorkerAgentRuntimeHostServicer
+
+try:
+    import grpc
+except ImportError as e:
+    raise ImportError(GRPC_IMPORT_ERROR_STR) from e
 from .protos import agent_worker_pb2_grpc
 
 logger = logging.getLogger("autogen_core")
diff --git a/python/packages/autogen-core/src/autogen_core/application/_worker_runtime_host_servicer.py b/python/packages/autogen-core/src/autogen_core/application/_worker_runtime_host_servicer.py
index 1ed794c35f2..3da50c56f04 100644
--- a/python/packages/autogen-core/src/autogen_core/application/_worker_runtime_host_servicer.py
+++ b/python/packages/autogen-core/src/autogen_core/application/_worker_runtime_host_servicer.py
@@ -4,11 +4,16 @@
 from asyncio import Future, Task
 from typing import Any, Dict, Set
 
-import grpc
-
 from ..base import TopicId
 from ..components import TypeSubscription
 from ._helpers import SubscriptionManager
+from ._utils import GRPC_IMPORT_ERROR_STR
+
+try:
+    import grpc
+except ImportError as e:
+    raise ImportError(GRPC_IMPORT_ERROR_STR) from e
+
 from .protos import agent_worker_pb2, agent_worker_pb2_grpc
 
 logger = logging.getLogger("autogen_core")
diff --git a/python/uv.lock b/python/uv.lock
index db9fd753a92..2a73eb34fb2 100644
--- a/python/uv.lock
+++ b/python/uv.lock
@@ -334,7 +334,6 @@ source = { editable = "packages/autogen-core" }
 dependencies = [
     { name = "aiohttp" },
     { name = "asyncio-atexit" },
-    { name = "grpcio" },
     { name = "jsonref" },
     { name = "openai" },
     { name = "opentelemetry-api" },
@@ -345,6 +344,11 @@ dependencies = [
     { name = "typing-extensions" },
 ]
 
+[package.optional-dependencies]
+grpc = [
+    { name = "grpcio" },
+]
+
 [package.dev-dependencies]
 dev = [
     { name = "aiofiles" },
@@ -390,7 +394,7 @@ dev = [
 requires-dist = [
     { name = "aiohttp" },
     { name = "asyncio-atexit" },
-    { name = "grpcio", specifier = "~=1.62.0" },
+    { name = "grpcio", marker = "extra == 'grpc'", specifier = "~=1.62.0" },
     { name = "jsonref", specifier = "~=1.1.0" },
     { name = "openai", specifier = ">=1.3" },
     { name = "opentelemetry-api", specifier = "~=1.27.0" },