diff --git a/metaflow_extensions/deepspeed/toplevel/toplevel.py b/metaflow_extensions/deepspeed/toplevel/toplevel.py
index 37d4757..6a788cd 100644
--- a/metaflow_extensions/deepspeed/toplevel/toplevel.py
+++ b/metaflow_extensions/deepspeed/toplevel/toplevel.py
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 __mf_extensions__ = "deepspeed"
 
 
-import pkg_resources
 
 try:
+    import pkg_resources
     __version__ = pkg_resources.get_distribution("metaflow-deepspeed").version
 except:
     # this happens on remote environments since the job package
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 2665efd..fd7490d 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 from setuptools import setup, find_namespace_packages
 
-version = "0.0.8"
+version = "0.0.9"
 
 setup(
     name="metaflow-deepspeed",