diff --git a/agentstack/repo.py b/agentstack/repo.py
index f1e10465..0ead48b0 100644
--- a/agentstack/repo.py
+++ b/agentstack/repo.py
@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
 from typing import Optional
+from types import ModuleType
 from pathlib import Path
 import shutil
-import git
 from agentstack import conf, log
 from agentstack.exceptions import EnvironmentError
 
-
 MAIN_BRANCH_NAME = "main"
 
 AUTOMATION_NOTE = "\n\n(This commit was made automatically by AgentStack)"
@@ -15,6 +14,14 @@
 _USE_GIT = None  # global state to disable git for this run
 
 
+# The python git module prints an excessive error message when git is not 
+# installed. We always want to allow git support to fail silently.
+try:
+    import git
+except ImportError:
+    _USE_GIT = False
+
+
 def should_track_changes() -> bool:
     """
     If git has been disabled for this run, return False. Next, look for the value