diff --git a/examples/twilio-chatbot/templates/streams.xml b/examples/twilio-chatbot/templates/streams.xml
index 1ab00a0e8..3d81d53d7 100644
--- a/examples/twilio-chatbot/templates/streams.xml
+++ b/examples/twilio-chatbot/templates/streams.xml
@@ -4,4 +4,4 @@
     <Stream url="wss://<your server url>/ws"></Stream>
   </Connect>
   <Pause length="40"/>
-</Response>
\ No newline at end of file
+</Response>
diff --git a/src/pipecat/transports/network/websocket_server.py b/src/pipecat/transports/network/websocket_server.py
index db10855a3..63fd2a541 100644
--- a/src/pipecat/transports/network/websocket_server.py
+++ b/src/pipecat/transports/network/websocket_server.py
@@ -4,11 +4,9 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD 2-Clause License
 #
 
-
 import asyncio
 import io
 import wave
-import websockets
 
 from typing import Awaitable, Callable
 from pydantic.main import BaseModel
@@ -23,6 +21,13 @@ from pipecat.transports.base_transport import BaseTransport, TransportParams
 
 from loguru import logger
 
+try:
+    import websockets
+except ModuleNotFoundError as e:
+    logger.error(f"Exception: {e}")
+    logger.error("In order to use websockets, you need to `pip install pipecat-ai[websocket]`.")
+    raise Exception(f"Missing module: {e}")
+
 
 class WebsocketServerParams(TransportParams):
     add_wav_header: bool = False