diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index 8bb145b..318f704 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ name = "ansible-core"
 version = "2.11.10"
 description = "Radically simple IT automation"
 category = "main"
-optional = false
+optional = true
 python-versions = ">=2.7,!=3.0.*,!=3.1.*,!=3.2.*,!=3.3.*,!=3.4.*"
 
 [package.dependencies]
@@ -100,7 +100,6 @@ python-versions = ">=3.6.2"
 
 [package.dependencies]
 click = ">=7.1.2"
-dataclasses = {version = ">=0.6", markers = "python_version < \"3.7\""}
 mypy-extensions = ">=0.4.3"
 pathspec = ">=0.9.0,<1"
 platformdirs = ">=2"
@@ -287,14 +286,6 @@ sdist = ["setuptools_rust (>=0.11.4)"]
 ssh = ["bcrypt (>=3.1.5)"]
 test = ["pytest (>=6.2.0)", "pytest-cov", "pytest-subtests", "pytest-xdist", "pretend", "iso8601", "pytz", "hypothesis (>=1.11.4,!=3.79.2)"]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "dataclasses"
-version = "0.8"
-description = "A backport of the dataclasses module for Python 3.6"
-category = "dev"
-optional = false
-python-versions = ">=3.6, <3.7"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "decorator"
 version = "5.1.1"
@@ -515,7 +506,7 @@ name = "jinja2"
 version = "3.0.3"
 description = "A very fast and expressive template engine."
 category = "main"
-optional = false
+optional = true
 python-versions = ">=3.6"
 
 [package.dependencies]
@@ -582,7 +573,7 @@ name = "markupsafe"
 version = "2.0.1"
 description = "Safely add untrusted strings to HTML/XML markup."
 category = "main"
-optional = false
+optional = true
 python-versions = ">=3.6"
 
 [[package]]
@@ -1050,7 +1041,7 @@ name = "resolvelib"
 version = "0.5.5"
 description = "Resolve abstract dependencies into concrete ones"
 category = "main"
-optional = false
+optional = true
 python-versions = "*"
 
 [package.extras]
@@ -1311,10 +1302,13 @@ python-versions = ">=3.6"
 docs = ["sphinx", "jaraco.packaging (>=8.2)", "rst.linker (>=1.9)"]
 testing = ["pytest (>=4.6)", "pytest-checkdocs (>=2.4)", "pytest-flake8", "pytest-cov", "pytest-enabler (>=1.0.1)", "jaraco.itertools", "func-timeout", "pytest-black (>=0.3.7)", "pytest-mypy"]
 
+[extras]
+ansible = ["ansible-core"]
+
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "1.1"
 python-versions = "^3.6.1"
-content-hash = "26a32824ee45942149c4ed1ec478f8a7fc20dff8d810cfbfeeeb483f140b79b4"
+content-hash = "bc881be2658a33012a14c8a965709cd8ddbd2a794c5c96c8d037e85db2faccc1"
 
 [metadata.files]
 ansible-core = [
@@ -1523,10 +1517,6 @@ cryptography = [
     {file = "cryptography-36.0.2-pp38-pypy38_pp73-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:e167b6b710c7f7bc54e67ef593f8731e1f45aa35f8a8a7b72d6e42ec76afd4b3"},
     {file = "cryptography-36.0.2.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:70f8f4f7bb2ac9f340655cbac89d68c527af5bb4387522a8413e841e3e6628c9"},
 ]
-dataclasses = [
-    {file = "dataclasses-0.8-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:0201d89fa866f68c8ebd9d08ee6ff50c0b255f8ec63a71c16fda7af82bb887bf"},
-    {file = "dataclasses-0.8.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:8479067f342acf957dc82ec415d355ab5edb7e7646b90dc6e2fd1d96ad084c97"},
-]
 decorator = [
     {file = "decorator-5.1.1-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:b8c3f85900b9dc423225913c5aace94729fe1fa9763b38939a95226f02d37186"},
     {file = "decorator-5.1.1.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:637996211036b6385ef91435e4fae22989472f9d571faba8927ba8253acbc330"},
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 2d09c0b..14dc2f5 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -33,10 +33,13 @@ classifiers = [
 [tool.poetry.scripts]
 vault2vault = "vault2vault:main"
 
+[tool.poetry.extras]
+ansible = ["ansible-core"]
+
 [tool.poetry.dependencies]
 python = "^3.6.1"
 "ruamel.yaml" = "^0.17.16"
-ansible-core = "^2.11.5"
+ansible-core = {version = "^2.11.5", optional = true}
 
 [tool.poetry.dev-dependencies]
 bandit = "^1.6.2"
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 669c64c..2a7a6cc 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ skip_missing_interpreters = true
 description = Run the tests
 require_locked_deps = true
 require_poetry = true
+extras =
+    ansible
 locked_deps =
     pytest
     pytest-cov
diff --git a/vault2vault.py b/vault2vault.py
index 5b528c4..7d914ff 100644
--- a/vault2vault.py
+++ b/vault2vault.py
@@ -12,10 +12,17 @@ from typing import List
 from typing import Tuple
 from typing import Union
 
-import ansible.constants
-import ansible.parsing.vault
 import ruamel.yaml
 
+try:
+    import ansible.constants
+    import ansible.parsing.vault
+except ImportError:
+    print(
+        "FATAL: No supported version of Ansible could be imported under the current python interpreter"
+    )
+    sys.exit(1)
+
 
 __title__ = "vault2vault"
 __summary__ = "Recursively rekey ansible-vault encrypted files and in-line variables"