diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ae0e522c..4efc8e7e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 # Changelog
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Fixed
+
+- Added `cachetools` as an explicit dependency (was only available transitively, causing `ModuleNotFoundError` for some installations)
+
 ## [0.30.1] - 2026-02-17
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/haiku_rag_slim/pyproject.toml b/haiku_rag_slim/pyproject.toml
index cea10603..81f9c1f4 100644
--- a/haiku_rag_slim/pyproject.toml
+++ b/haiku_rag_slim/pyproject.toml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ classifiers = [
 ]
 
 dependencies = [
+    "cachetools>=5.5.0",
     "docling-core==2.65.1",
     "httpx>=0.28.1",
     "jsonpatch>=1.33",
diff --git a/uv.lock b/uv.lock
index 20cd04ea..5a28020e 100644
--- a/uv.lock
+++ b/uv.lock
@@ -1447,6 +1447,7 @@ name = "haiku-rag-slim"
 version = "0.30.1"
 source = { editable = "haiku_rag_slim" }
 dependencies = [
+    { name = "cachetools" },
     { name = "docling-core" },
     { name = "httpx" },
     { name = "jsonpatch" },
@@ -1507,6 +1508,7 @@ zeroentropy = [
 
 [package.metadata]
 requires-dist = [
+    { name = "cachetools", specifier = ">=5.5.0" },
     { name = "cohere", marker = "extra == 'cohere'", specifier = ">=5.20.1" },
     { name = "docling", marker = "extra == 'docling'", specifier = "==2.73.1" },
     { name = "docling-core", specifier = "==2.65.1" },
@@ -5261,16 +5263,16 @@ wheels = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "virtualenv"
-version = "20.37.0"
+version = "20.38.0"
 source = { registry = "https://pypi.org/simple" }
 dependencies = [
     { name = "distlib" },
     { name = "filelock" },
     { name = "platformdirs" },
 ]
-sdist = { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/c1/ef/d9d4ce633df789bf3430bd81fb0d8b9d9465dfc1d1f0deb3fb62cd80f5c2/virtualenv-20.37.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:6f7e2064ed470aa7418874e70b6369d53b66bcd9e9fd5389763e96b6c94ccb7c", size = 5864710, upload-time = "2026-02-16T16:17:59.42Z" }
+sdist = { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/d2/03/a94d404ca09a89a7301a7008467aed525d4cdeb9186d262154dd23208709/virtualenv-20.38.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:94f39b1abaea5185bf7ea5a46702b56f1d0c9aa2f41a6c2b8b0af4ddc74c10a7", size = 5864558, upload-time = "2026-02-19T07:48:02.385Z" }
 wheels = [
-    { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/42/4b/6cf85b485be7ec29db837ec2a1d8cd68bc1147b1abf23d8636c5bd65b3cc/virtualenv-20.37.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:5d3951c32d57232ae3569d4de4cc256c439e045135ebf43518131175d9be435d", size = 5837480, upload-time = "2026-02-16T16:17:57.341Z" },
+    { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/42/d7/394801755d4c8684b655d35c665aea7836ec68320304f62ab3c94395b442/virtualenv-20.38.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:d6e78e5889de3a4742df2d3d44e779366325a90cf356f15621fddace82431794", size = 5837778, upload-time = "2026-02-19T07:47:59.778Z" },
 ]
 
 [[package]]