diff --git a/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/chunker.py b/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/chunker.py
index f478d64c..fce09df5 100644
--- a/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/chunker.py
+++ b/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/chunker.py
@@ -1,12 +1,18 @@
 from typing import ClassVar
 
 import tiktoken
-from docling.chunking import HybridChunker  # type: ignore
 from docling_core.transforms.chunker.tokenizer.openai import OpenAITokenizer
 from docling_core.types.doc.document import DoclingDocument
-
 from haiku.rag.config import Config
 
+# Check if docling is available
+try:
+    import docling  # noqa: F401
+
+    DOCLING_AVAILABLE = True
+except ImportError:
+    DOCLING_AVAILABLE = False
+
 
 class Chunker:
     """A class that chunks text into smaller pieces for embedding and retrieval.
@@ -24,6 +30,13 @@ class Chunker:
         self,
         chunk_size: int = Config.processing.chunk_size,
     ):
+        if not DOCLING_AVAILABLE:
+            raise ImportError(
+                "Docling is required for chunking. "
+                "Install with: pip install haiku.rag-slim[docling]"
+            )
+        from docling.chunking import HybridChunker  # type: ignore
+
         self.chunk_size = chunk_size
         tokenizer = OpenAITokenizer(
             tokenizer=tiktoken.encoding_for_model("gpt-4o"), max_tokens=chunk_size
diff --git a/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/reader.py b/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/reader.py
index 8e7fba2c..c710be49 100644
--- a/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/reader.py
+++ b/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/reader.py
@@ -1,11 +1,17 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import ClassVar
 
-from docling.document_converter import DocumentConverter
 from docling_core.types.doc.document import DoclingDocument
-
 from haiku.rag.utils import text_to_docling_document
 
+# Check if docling is available
+try:
+    import docling  # noqa: F401
+
+    DOCLING_AVAILABLE = True
+except ImportError:
+    DOCLING_AVAILABLE = False
+
 
 class FileReader:
     # Extensions supported by docling
@@ -95,6 +101,13 @@ class FileReader:
 
             if file_extension in FileReader.docling_extensions:
                 # Use docling for complex document formats
+                if not DOCLING_AVAILABLE:
+                    raise ImportError(
+                        "Docling is required for processing this file type. "
+                        "Install with: pip install haiku.rag-slim[docling]"
+                    )
+                from docling.document_converter import DocumentConverter
+
                 converter = DocumentConverter()
                 result = converter.convert(path)
                 return result.document
diff --git a/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/utils.py b/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/utils.py
index 228aa7c2..950cfe87 100644
--- a/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/utils.py
+++ b/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/utils.py
@@ -103,9 +103,16 @@ def text_to_docling_document(text: str, name: str = "content.md"):
     Returns:
         A DoclingDocument created from the text content.
     """
-    # Lazy import docling deps to keep import-time light
-    from docling.document_converter import DocumentConverter  # type: ignore
-    from docling_core.types.io import DocumentStream  # type: ignore
+    try:
+        import docling  # noqa: F401
+    except ImportError as e:
+        raise ImportError(
+            "Docling is required for document conversion. "
+            "Install with: pip install haiku.rag-slim[docling]"
+        ) from e
+
+    from docling.document_converter import DocumentConverter
+    from docling_core.types.io import DocumentStream
 
     bytes_io = BytesIO(text.encode("utf-8"))
     doc_stream = DocumentStream(name=name, stream=bytes_io)
@@ -168,11 +175,15 @@ def load_callable(path: str):
 def prefetch_models():
     """Prefetch runtime models (Docling + Ollama as configured)."""
     import httpx
-    from docling.utils.model_downloader import download_models
-
     from haiku.rag.config import Config
 
-    download_models()
+    try:
+        from docling.utils.model_downloader import download_models
+
+        download_models()
+    except ImportError:
+        # Docling not installed, skip downloading docling models
+        pass
 
     # Collect Ollama models from config
     required_models: set[str] = set()
diff --git a/haiku_rag_slim/pyproject.toml b/haiku_rag_slim/pyproject.toml
index 6d5ff663..1e867157 100644
--- a/haiku_rag_slim/pyproject.toml
+++ b/haiku_rag_slim/pyproject.toml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ classifiers = [
 ]
 
 dependencies = [
+    "docling-core>=2.48.4",
     "fastmcp>=2.13.0.2",
     "httpx>=0.28.1",
     "lancedb>=0.25.2",
diff --git a/uv.lock b/uv.lock
index 8a5ed5e6..549468d5 100644
--- a/uv.lock
+++ b/uv.lock
@@ -1222,6 +1222,7 @@ name = "haiku-rag-slim"
 version = "0.13.3"
 source = { editable = "haiku_rag_slim" }
 dependencies = [
+    { name = "docling-core" },
     { name = "fastmcp" },
     { name = "httpx" },
     { name = "lancedb" },
@@ -1261,6 +1262,7 @@ zeroentropy = [
 requires-dist = [
     { name = "cohere", marker = "extra == 'cohere'", specifier = ">=5.0.0" },
     { name = "docling", marker = "extra == 'docling'", specifier = ">=2.58.0" },
+    { name = "docling-core", specifier = ">=2.48.4" },
     { name = "fasta2a", marker = "extra == 'a2a'", specifier = ">=0.1.0" },
     { name = "fastmcp", specifier = ">=2.13.0.2" },
     { name = "httpx", specifier = ">=0.28.1" },