diff --git a/autogen/agentchat/contrib/retrieve_user_proxy_agent.py b/autogen/agentchat/contrib/retrieve_user_proxy_agent.py
index b24249bbe96..a9e85b55963 100644
--- a/autogen/agentchat/contrib/retrieve_user_proxy_agent.py
+++ b/autogen/agentchat/contrib/retrieve_user_proxy_agent.py
@@ -1,18 +1,12 @@
 import re
-
-try:
-    import chromadb
-except ImportError:
-    raise ImportError("Please install dependencies first. `pip install pyautogen[retrievechat]`")
+from typing import Callable, Dict, Optional, Union, List, Tuple, Any
+from IPython import get_ipython
 from autogen.agentchat.agent import Agent
 from autogen.agentchat import UserProxyAgent
 from autogen.retrieve_utils import create_vector_db_from_dir, query_vector_db
 from autogen.token_count_utils import count_token
 from autogen.code_utils import extract_code
 
-from typing import Callable, Dict, Optional, Union, List, Tuple, Any
-from IPython import get_ipython
-
 try:
     from termcolor import colored
 except ImportError:
@@ -21,6 +15,15 @@ def colored(x, *args, **kwargs):
         return x
 
 
+try:
+    import chromadb
+except ImportError:
+
+    class chromadb:
+        class Client:
+            pass
+
+
 PROMPT_DEFAULT = """You're a retrieve augmented chatbot. You answer user's questions based on your own knowledge and the
 context provided by the user. You should follow the following steps to answer a question:
 Step 1, you estimate the user's intent based on the question and context. The intent can be a code generation task or
diff --git a/autogen/retrieve_utils.py b/autogen/retrieve_utils.py
index bc4fdfb7597..42b264b0296 100644
--- a/autogen/retrieve_utils.py
+++ b/autogen/retrieve_utils.py
@@ -3,18 +3,30 @@
 import requests
 from urllib.parse import urlparse
 import glob
-import chromadb
-
-if chromadb.__version__ < "0.4.15":
-    from chromadb.api import API
-else:
-    from chromadb.api import ClientAPI as API
-from chromadb.api.types import QueryResult
-import chromadb.utils.embedding_functions as ef
 import logging
-import pypdf
 from autogen.token_count_utils import count_token
 
+try:
+    import chromadb
+
+    if chromadb.__version__ < "0.4.15":
+        from chromadb.api import API
+    else:
+        from chromadb.api import ClientAPI as API
+    from chromadb.api.types import QueryResult
+    import chromadb.utils.embedding_functions as ef
+
+    HAS_CHROMADB = True
+except ImportError:
+    HAS_CHROMADB = False
+
+    class API:
+        pass
+
+    class QueryResult(dict):
+        pass
+
+
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 TEXT_FORMATS = [
     "txt",
@@ -88,6 +100,8 @@ def split_text_to_chunks(
 
 def extract_text_from_pdf(file: str) -> str:
     """Extract text from PDF files"""
+    import pypdf
+
     text = ""
     with open(file, "rb") as f:
         reader = pypdf.PdfReader(f)
@@ -240,6 +254,8 @@ def create_vector_db_from_dir(
     Returns:
         API: the chromadb client.
     """
+    if not HAS_CHROMADB:
+        raise ImportError("Please install dependencies first. `pip install pyautogen[retrievechat]`")
     if client is None:
         client = chromadb.PersistentClient(path=db_path)
     try:
@@ -314,6 +330,8 @@ class QueryResult(TypedDict):
                 metadatas: Optional[List[List[Metadata]]]
                 distances: Optional[List[List[float]]]
     """
+    if not HAS_CHROMADB:
+        raise ImportError("Please install dependencies first. `pip install pyautogen[retrievechat]`")
     if client is None:
         client = chromadb.PersistentClient(path=db_path)
     # the collection's embedding function is always the default one, but we want to use the one we used to create the
diff --git a/test/agentchat/contrib/test_qdrant_retrievechat.py b/test/agentchat/contrib/test_qdrant_retrievechat.py
index 1d3c5afd6af..8f9548887e5 100644
--- a/test/agentchat/contrib/test_qdrant_retrievechat.py
+++ b/test/agentchat/contrib/test_qdrant_retrievechat.py
@@ -35,6 +35,15 @@
     reason="do not run on MacOS or windows or dependency is not installed",
 )
 def test_retrievechat():
+    try:
+        # uninstall chromadb first
+        import chromadb
+
+        HAS_CHROMADB = True
+        os.system("pip uninstall -yq chromadb")
+    except ImportError:
+        HAS_CHROMADB = False
+
     conversations = {}
     # ChatCompletion.start_logging(conversations)  # deprecated in v0.2
 
@@ -71,9 +80,22 @@ def test_retrievechat():
     ragproxyagent.initiate_chat(assistant, problem=code_problem, silent=True)
     print(conversations)
 
+    # reinstall chromadb
+    if HAS_CHROMADB:
+        os.system("pip install -q chromadb")
+
 
 @pytest.mark.skipif(not QDRANT_INSTALLED, reason="qdrant_client is not installed")
 def test_qdrant_filter():
+    try:
+        # uninstall chromadb first
+        import chromadb
+
+        HAS_CHROMADB = True
+        os.system("pip uninstall -yq chromadb")
+    except ImportError:
+        HAS_CHROMADB = False
+
     client = QdrantClient(":memory:")
     create_qdrant_from_dir(dir_path="./website/docs", client=client, collection_name="autogen-docs")
     results = query_qdrant(
@@ -86,6 +108,10 @@ def test_qdrant_filter():
     )
     assert len(results["ids"][0]) == 4
 
+    # reinstall chromadb
+    if HAS_CHROMADB:
+        os.system("pip install -q chromadb")
+
 
 @pytest.mark.skipif(not QDRANT_INSTALLED, reason="qdrant_client is not installed")
 def test_qdrant_search():