diff --git a/marimo/_mcp/server/main.py b/marimo/_mcp/server/main.py
index 656fbbb1e69..25cf946854f 100644
--- a/marimo/_mcp/server/main.py
+++ b/marimo/_mcp/server/main.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 
 from marimo._ai._tools.base import ToolContext
 from marimo._ai._tools.tools_registry import SUPPORTED_BACKEND_AND_MCP_TOOLS
+from marimo._dependencies.dependencies import DependencyManager
 from marimo._loggers import marimo_logger
 
 LOGGER = marimo_logger()
@@ -33,6 +34,12 @@ def setup_mcp_server(app: Starlette) -> None:
     Returns:
         StreamableHTTPSessionManager: MCP session manager
     """
+    if not DependencyManager.mcp.has():
+        from click import ClickException
+
+        msg = "MCP dependencies not available. Install with `pip install marimo[mcp]` or `uv add marimo[mcp]`"
+        raise ClickException(msg)
+
     from mcp.server.fastmcp import FastMCP
     from starlette.middleware.base import BaseHTTPMiddleware
     from starlette.responses import JSONResponse