diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index a948ab7..16cb9e8 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ dependencies = [
     "click>=8.1",
     "rich>=13.0",
     "pyyaml>=6.0",
-    "revenueholdings-license>=0.1.0",
 ]
 
 [project.optional-dependencies]
@@ -23,6 +22,7 @@ dev = [
     "pytest>=7.0",
     "pytest-cov>=4.0",
 ]
+license = ["revenueholdings-license>=0.1.0"]
 
 [project.scripts]
 deploydiff = "deploydiff.cli:main"
diff --git a/src/deploydiff/cli.py b/src/deploydiff/cli.py
index 0f24701..b64e8a5 100644
--- a/src/deploydiff/cli.py
+++ b/src/deploydiff/cli.py
@@ -20,8 +20,12 @@
 @click.version_option(package_name="deploydiff")
 def main():
     """DeployDiff - Preview infrastructure changes with cost impact and rollback."""
-    from revenueholdings_license import require_license
-    require_license("deploydiff")
+    try:
+        from revenueholdings_license import require_license
+        require_license("deploydiff")
+    except ImportError:
+        import warnings
+        warnings.warn("revenueholdings-license not installed; license checks skipped", stacklevel=2)
     pass