diff --git a/circuitforge_core/__init__.py b/circuitforge_core/__init__.py
index 03d2650..2b6c6b4 100644
--- a/circuitforge_core/__init__.py
+++ b/circuitforge_core/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 __version__ = "0.10.0"
 
-from circuitforge_core.community import CommunityDB, CommunityPost, SharedStore
-
-__all__ = ["CommunityDB", "CommunityPost", "SharedStore"]
+try:
+    from circuitforge_core.community import CommunityDB, CommunityPost, SharedStore
+    __all__ = ["CommunityDB", "CommunityPost", "SharedStore"]
+except ImportError:
+    # psycopg2 not installed — install with: pip install circuitforge-core[community]
+    pass
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 94771fb..6b2682d 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -11,10 +11,12 @@ dependencies = [
     "pyyaml>=6.0",
     "requests>=2.31",
     "openai>=1.0",
-    "psycopg2>=2.9",
 ]
 
 [project.optional-dependencies]
+community = [
+    "psycopg2>=2.9",
+]
 manage = [
     "platformdirs>=4.0",
     "typer[all]>=0.12",