diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index f15b487da..091d32ce7 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -2133,7 +2133,7 @@
       "link": true
     },
     "node_modules/@dbos-inc/dbos-sdk": {
-      "resolved": ".",
+      "resolved": "",
       "link": true
     },
     "node_modules/@dbos-inc/dbos-sqs": {
@@ -4173,6 +4173,7 @@
     },
     "node_modules/@types/accepts": {
       "version": "1.3.7",
+      "dev": true,
       "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {
         "@types/node": "*"
@@ -4252,6 +4253,7 @@
     },
     "node_modules/@types/content-disposition": {
       "version": "0.5.8",
+      "dev": true,
       "license": "MIT"
     },
     "node_modules/@types/cookiejar": {
@@ -4261,6 +4263,7 @@
     },
     "node_modules/@types/cookies": {
       "version": "0.9.0",
+      "dev": true,
       "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {
         "@types/connect": "*",
@@ -4309,6 +4312,7 @@
     },
     "node_modules/@types/http-assert": {
       "version": "1.5.5",
+      "dev": true,
       "license": "MIT"
     },
     "node_modules/@types/http-cache-semantics": {
@@ -4362,10 +4366,12 @@
     },
     "node_modules/@types/keygrip": {
       "version": "1.0.6",
+      "dev": true,
       "license": "MIT"
     },
     "node_modules/@types/koa": {
       "version": "2.15.0",
+      "dev": true,
       "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {
         "@types/accepts": "*",
@@ -4396,6 +4402,7 @@
     },
     "node_modules/@types/koa-compose": {
       "version": "3.2.8",
+      "dev": true,
       "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {
         "@types/koa": "*"
@@ -6794,10 +6801,11 @@
       }
     },
     "node_modules/express": {
-      "version": "4.21.1",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/express/-/express-4.21.1.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha512-YSFlK1Ee0/GC8QaO91tHcDxJiE/X4FbpAyQWkxAvG6AXCuR65YzK8ua6D9hvi/TzUfZMpc+BwuM1IPw8fmQBiQ==",
+      "version": "4.21.2",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/express/-/express-4.21.2.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-28HqgMZAmih1Czt9ny7qr6ek2qddF4FclbMzwhCREB6OFfH+rXAnuNCwo1/wFvrtbgsQDb4kSbX9de9lFbrXnA==",
       "dev": true,
+      "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {
         "accepts": "~1.3.8",
         "array-flatten": "1.1.1",
@@ -6818,7 +6826,7 @@
         "methods": "~1.1.2",
         "on-finished": "2.4.1",
         "parseurl": "~1.3.3",
-        "path-to-regexp": "0.1.10",
+        "path-to-regexp": "0.1.12",
         "proxy-addr": "~2.0.7",
         "qs": "6.13.0",
         "range-parser": "~1.2.1",
@@ -6833,6 +6841,10 @@
       },
       "engines": {
         "node": ">= 0.10.0"
+      },
+      "funding": {
+        "type": "opencollective",
+        "url": "https://opencollective.com/express"
       }
     },
     "node_modules/express/node_modules/cookie": {
@@ -6869,10 +6881,11 @@
       "dev": true
     },
     "node_modules/express/node_modules/path-to-regexp": {
-      "version": "0.1.10",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/path-to-regexp/-/path-to-regexp-0.1.10.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha512-7lf7qcQidTku0Gu3YDPc8DJ1q7OOucfa/BSsIwjuh56VU7katFvuM8hULfkwB3Fns/rsVF7PwPKVw1sl5KQS9w==",
-      "dev": true
+      "version": "0.1.12",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/path-to-regexp/-/path-to-regexp-0.1.12.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-RA1GjUVMnvYFxuqovrEqZoxxW5NUZqbwKtYz/Tt7nXerk0LbLblQmrsgdeOxV5SFHf0UDggjS/bSeOZwt1pmEQ==",
+      "dev": true,
+      "license": "MIT"
     },
     "node_modules/external-editor": {
       "version": "3.1.0",
@@ -9405,7 +9418,9 @@
       }
     },
     "node_modules/nanoid": {
-      "version": "3.3.7",
+      "version": "3.3.8",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/nanoid/-/nanoid-3.3.8.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-WNLf5Sd8oZxOm+TzppcYk8gVOgP+l58xNy58D0nbUnOxOWRWvlcCV4kUF7ltmI6PsrLl/BgKEyS4mqsGChFN0w==",
       "dev": true,
       "funding": [
         {
diff --git a/packages/dbos-cloud/applications/deploy-app-code.ts b/packages/dbos-cloud/applications/deploy-app-code.ts
index 5ad0bb487..177a419ad 100644
--- a/packages/dbos-cloud/applications/deploy-app-code.ts
+++ b/packages/dbos-cloud/applications/deploy-app-code.ts
@@ -135,13 +135,21 @@ export async function deployAppCode(
     }
   } else if (appLanguage === AppLanguages.Python as string) {
     logger.debug("Checking for requirements.txt...");
-    const requirementsTxtExists = existsSync(path.join(process.cwd(), "requirements.txt"));
+    const requirementsPath = path.join(process.cwd(), "requirements.txt")
+    const requirementsTxtExists = existsSync(requirementsPath);
     logger.debug(`  ... requirements.txt found: ${requirementsTxtExists}`);
 
     if (!requirementsTxtExists) {
       logger.error("No requirements.txt found. Please create one before deploying.");
       return 1;
     }
+
+    const content = fs.readFileSync(requirementsPath, 'utf8');
+    if (!content.includes("dbos")) {
+      logger.error("Your requirements.txt does not include 'dbos'. Please make sure you include all your dependencies.");
+      return 1;
+    }
+
   } else {
     logger.error(`dbos-config.yaml contains invalid language ${appLanguage}`)
     return 1;