diff --git a/.github/workflows/push.yml b/.github/workflows/push.yml
index 39572d7..8dfb101 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/push.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/push.yml
@@ -43,7 +43,16 @@ jobs:
         continue-on-error: true
 
       - name: Build libraries
+        id: build
         run: npx nx affected -t build
+        continue-on-error: true
+
+      - name: Retry build with cache reset
+        if: steps.build.outcome == 'failure'
+        run: |
+          echo "Build failed, resetting NX cache and retrying..."
+          npx nx reset
+          npx nx affected -t build --skip-nx-cache
 
       - name: Test libraries
         run: npx nx affected -t test --passWithNoTests
diff --git a/docs/draft/docs/libraries/vectoriadb.mdx b/docs/draft/docs/libraries/vectoriadb.mdx
index cb41ab5..8e58a41 100644
--- a/docs/draft/docs/libraries/vectoriadb.mdx
+++ b/docs/draft/docs/libraries/vectoriadb.mdx
@@ -53,6 +53,12 @@ const db = new VectoriaDB({
 
 Uses Hugging Face transformers for higher quality embeddings.
 
+**Note:** Transformer embeddings require installing the optional dependency:
+
+```bash
+npm install @huggingface/transformers
+```
+
 ```typescript
 const db = new VectoriaDB({
   embedding: 'transformer',
diff --git a/docs/live/docs/libraries/vectoriadb.mdx b/docs/live/docs/libraries/vectoriadb.mdx
index cb41ab5..8e58a41 100644
--- a/docs/live/docs/libraries/vectoriadb.mdx
+++ b/docs/live/docs/libraries/vectoriadb.mdx
@@ -53,6 +53,12 @@ const db = new VectoriaDB({
 
 Uses Hugging Face transformers for higher quality embeddings.
 
+**Note:** Transformer embeddings require installing the optional dependency:
+
+```bash
+npm install @huggingface/transformers
+```
+
 ```typescript
 const db = new VectoriaDB({
   embedding: 'transformer',
diff --git a/libs/enclave-vm/eslint.config.mjs b/libs/enclave-vm/eslint.config.mjs
index c334bc0..e4b94fd 100644
--- a/libs/enclave-vm/eslint.config.mjs
+++ b/libs/enclave-vm/eslint.config.mjs
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ export default [
         'error',
         {
           ignoredFiles: ['{projectRoot}/eslint.config.{js,cjs,mjs,ts,cts,mts}'],
+          ignoredDependencies: ['@huggingface/transformers'], // Optional peer dependency loaded dynamically
         },
       ],
     },
diff --git a/libs/enclave-vm/package.json b/libs/enclave-vm/package.json
index 0b1d8ff..cd498bc 100644
--- a/libs/enclave-vm/package.json
+++ b/libs/enclave-vm/package.json
@@ -42,11 +42,8 @@
     "astring": "1.9.0",
     "zod": "^4.1.13"
   },
-  "optionalDependencies": {
-    "@huggingface/transformers": "^3.0.0"
-  },
   "peerDependencies": {
-    "@huggingface/transformers": "^3.0.0"
+    "@huggingface/transformers": "^3.2.2"
   },
   "peerDependenciesMeta": {
     "@huggingface/transformers": {
diff --git a/libs/enclave-vm/src/scoring/scorers/local-llm.scorer.ts b/libs/enclave-vm/src/scoring/scorers/local-llm.scorer.ts
index 002f28d..c564496 100644
--- a/libs/enclave-vm/src/scoring/scorers/local-llm.scorer.ts
+++ b/libs/enclave-vm/src/scoring/scorers/local-llm.scorer.ts
@@ -103,8 +103,10 @@ export class LocalLlmScorer extends BaseScorer {
    */
   private async _initialize(): Promise<void> {
     try {
-      // Dynamic import to avoid bundling issues
-      const { pipeline } = await import('@huggingface/transformers');
+      // Dynamic import using Function to avoid TypeScript checking for the optional dependency
+      // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
+      const transformers = await (Function('return import("@huggingface/transformers")')() as Promise<any>);
+      const { pipeline } = transformers;
 
       // Use feature-extraction pipeline for both modes
       // (classification mode uses embeddings + heuristics, similarity mode uses embeddings + VectoriaDB)
diff --git a/libs/vectoriadb/eslint.config.mjs b/libs/vectoriadb/eslint.config.mjs
index 5dccf30..5348377 100644
--- a/libs/vectoriadb/eslint.config.mjs
+++ b/libs/vectoriadb/eslint.config.mjs
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ export default [
         'error',
         {
           ignoredFiles: ['{projectRoot}/eslint.config.{js,cjs,mjs,ts,cts,mts}'],
+          ignoredDependencies: ['@huggingface/transformers'], // Optional peer dependency loaded dynamically
         },
       ],
     },
diff --git a/libs/vectoriadb/jest.setup.ts b/libs/vectoriadb/jest.setup.ts
index 4e9916f..72e44d6 100644
--- a/libs/vectoriadb/jest.setup.ts
+++ b/libs/vectoriadb/jest.setup.ts
@@ -1,79 +1,89 @@
 /**
  * Jest setup file for vectoria tests
- * Mocks the transformers.js library to avoid ONNX Runtime issues in test environment
+ * Injects a mock transformers module to avoid ONNX Runtime issues in test environment
  */
 
-// Mock the transformers pipeline
-jest.mock('@huggingface/transformers', () => {
-  // Helper to extract and normalize words from text
-  const extractWords = (text: string): string[] => {
-    return text
-      .toLowerCase()
-      .replace(/[^\w\s]/g, '')
-      .split(/\s+/)
-      .filter((word) => word.length > 2); // Filter out short words like "a", "an", "in"
-  };
+import { EmbeddingService } from './src/embedding.service';
 
-  // Normalize word forms to their root (simple stemming)
-  const normalizeWord = (word: string): string => {
-    // Simple stemming - remove common suffixes
-    return word.replace(/ing$/, '').replace(/s$/, '').replace(/ed$/, '').replace(/er$/, '');
-  };
+// Helper to extract and normalize words from text
+const extractWords = (text: string): string[] => {
+  return text
+    .toLowerCase()
+    .replace(/[^\w\s]/g, '')
+    .split(/\s+/)
+    .filter((word) => word.length > 2); // Filter out short words like "a", "an", "in"
+};
 
-  // Create a mock pipeline function that returns consistent embeddings
-  const createMockPipeline = () => {
-    return async (text: string | string[]) => {
-      const textStr = text.toString();
-      const words = extractWords(textStr);
-      const normalizedWords = words.map(normalizeWord);
+// Normalize word forms to their root (simple stemming)
+const normalizeWord = (word: string): string => {
+  // Simple stemming - remove common suffixes
+  return word.replace(/ing$/, '').replace(/s$/, '').replace(/ed$/, '').replace(/er$/, '');
+};
 
-      // Create a 384-dimensional embedding (matching all-MiniLM-L6-v2)
-      const embedding = new Float32Array(384);
+// Create a mock pipeline function that returns consistent embeddings
+const createMockPipeline = () => {
+  return async (text: string | string[]) => {
+    const textStr = text.toString();
+    const words = extractWords(textStr);
+    const normalizedWords = words.map(normalizeWord);
 
-      // Each normalized word contributes to specific dimensions
-      // This ensures that texts with overlapping words have high similarity
-      normalizedWords.forEach((word) => {
-        // Calculate which dimensions this word affects
-        const wordHash = word.split('').reduce((acc, char) => acc + char.charCodeAt(0), 0);
+    // Create a 384-dimensional embedding (matching all-MiniLM-L6-v2)
+    const embedding = new Float32Array(384);
 
-        // Each word contributes to ~50 dimensions centered around its hash position
-        for (let offset = -25; offset < 25; offset++) {
-          const dim = (wordHash + offset) % 384;
-          // Use Gaussian-like contribution
-          const contribution = Math.exp(-(offset * offset) / 100);
-          embedding[dim] += contribution;
-        }
-      });
+    // Each normalized word contributes to specific dimensions
+    // This ensures that texts with overlapping words have high similarity
+    normalizedWords.forEach((word) => {
+      // Calculate which dimensions this word affects
+      const wordHash = word.split('').reduce((acc, char) => acc + char.charCodeAt(0), 0);
 
-      // Add small random-like component for uniqueness
-      for (let i = 0; i < 384; i++) {
-        // Deterministic "noise" based on text length and position
-        const noise = Math.sin(textStr.length * 100 + i) * 0.01;
-        embedding[i] += noise;
+      // Each word contributes to ~50 dimensions centered around its hash position
+      for (let offset = -25; offset < 25; offset++) {
+        const dim = (wordHash + offset) % 384;
+        // Use Gaussian-like contribution
+        const contribution = Math.exp(-(offset * offset) / 100);
+        embedding[dim] += contribution;
       }
+    });
 
-      // Normalize the embedding to unit length (as transformers.js does)
-      let norm = 0;
-      for (let i = 0; i < embedding.length; i++) {
-        norm += embedding[i] * embedding[i];
-      }
-      norm = Math.sqrt(norm);
+    // Add small random-like component for uniqueness
+    for (let i = 0; i < 384; i++) {
+      // Deterministic "noise" based on text length and position
+      const noise = Math.sin(textStr.length * 100 + i) * 0.01;
+      embedding[i] += noise;
+    }
+
+    // Normalize the embedding to unit length (as transformers.js does)
+    let norm = 0;
+    for (let i = 0; i < embedding.length; i++) {
+      norm += embedding[i] * embedding[i];
+    }
+    norm = Math.sqrt(norm);
 
-      if (norm > 0) {
-        for (let i = 0; i < embedding.length; i++) {
-          embedding[i] /= norm;
-        }
+    if (norm > 0) {
+      for (let i = 0; i < embedding.length; i++) {
+        embedding[i] /= norm;
       }
+    }
 
-      return {
-        data: embedding,
-      };
+    return {
+      data: embedding,
     };
   };
+};
 
-  return {
-    pipeline: jest.fn(async () => {
-      return createMockPipeline();
-    }),
-  };
+// Create mock transformers module
+const mockTransformersModule = {
+  pipeline: jest.fn(async () => {
+    return createMockPipeline();
+  }),
+};
+
+// Inject mock transformers module before all tests
+beforeAll(() => {
+  EmbeddingService.setTransformersModule(mockTransformersModule);
+});
+
+// Clear the mock after all tests
+afterAll(() => {
+  EmbeddingService.clearTransformersModule();
 });
diff --git a/libs/vectoriadb/package.json b/libs/vectoriadb/package.json
index 44ed5ed..ad7df84 100644
--- a/libs/vectoriadb/package.json
+++ b/libs/vectoriadb/package.json
@@ -37,9 +37,14 @@
       "default": "./dist/src/index.js"
     }
   },
-  "dependencies": {
+  "peerDependencies": {
     "@huggingface/transformers": "^3.2.2"
   },
+  "peerDependenciesMeta": {
+    "@huggingface/transformers": {
+      "optional": true
+    }
+  },
   "devDependencies": {
     "typescript": "^5.9.3"
   }
diff --git a/libs/vectoriadb/src/embedding.service.ts b/libs/vectoriadb/src/embedding.service.ts
index ae2ea15..0850ff9 100644
--- a/libs/vectoriadb/src/embedding.service.ts
+++ b/libs/vectoriadb/src/embedding.service.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,34 @@
-import { pipeline } from '@huggingface/transformers';
-import { EmbeddingError } from './errors';
+import { EmbeddingError, ConfigurationError } from './errors';
 
 /**
  * Service for generating embeddings using transformers.js
+ *
+ * NOTE: This service requires @huggingface/transformers to be installed.
+ * Install it with: npm install @huggingface/transformers
+ *
+ * For a zero-dependency alternative, use TFIDFEmbeddingService instead.
  */
 export class EmbeddingService {
+  // Static transformers module for dependency injection (used in testing)
+  private static _transformersModule: any = null;
+
+  /**
+   * Inject a transformers module (for testing purposes)
+   * @internal
+   */
+  static setTransformersModule(module: any): void {
+    EmbeddingService._transformersModule = module;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Clear the injected transformers module
+   * @internal
+   */
+  static clearTransformersModule(): void {
+    EmbeddingService._transformersModule = null;
+  }
+
+  // Using 'any' because @huggingface/transformers is an optional dependency
   private pipeline: any = null;
   private modelName: string;
   private cacheDir: string;
@@ -17,6 +41,30 @@ export class EmbeddingService {
     this.cacheDir = cacheDir;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Dynamically import @huggingface/transformers
+   * This allows the package to be optional - only loaded when actually used
+   */
+  private async loadTransformers(): Promise<any> {
+    // Use injected module if available (for testing)
+    if (EmbeddingService._transformersModule) {
+      return EmbeddingService._transformersModule.pipeline;
+    }
+
+    try {
+      // Dynamic import - package may not be installed
+      // Using Function() to bypass TypeScript's static analysis for optional dependency
+      const transformers = await (Function('return import("@huggingface/transformers")')() as Promise<any>);
+      return transformers.pipeline;
+    } catch (_error) {
+      throw new ConfigurationError(
+        '@huggingface/transformers is not installed. ' +
+          'Install it with: npm install @huggingface/transformers\n' +
+          'Or use TFIDFVectoria/TFIDFEmbeddingService for a zero-dependency alternative.',
+      );
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * Initialize the embedding model
    */
@@ -36,8 +84,11 @@ export class EmbeddingService {
 
   private async _initialize(): Promise<void> {
     try {
+      // Dynamically load transformers
+      const pipelineFn = await this.loadTransformers();
+
       // Create feature extraction pipeline
-      this.pipeline = await pipeline('feature-extraction', this.modelName, {
+      this.pipeline = await pipelineFn('feature-extraction', this.modelName, {
         // Use local models directory to cache models
         cache_dir: this.cacheDir,
         // // Don't require progress bars in production
@@ -54,6 +105,9 @@ export class EmbeddingService {
       this.isInitialized = true;
     } catch (error) {
       this.initializationPromise = null;
+      if (error instanceof ConfigurationError) {
+        throw error;
+      }
       throw new EmbeddingError(
         `Failed to initialize embedding model: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)}`,
         error instanceof Error ? error : undefined,
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index b3f81d2..b31826e 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -19,9 +19,6 @@
     "*.{json,css,scss,md,html,yml,yaml}": "prettier --write"
   },
   "private": true,
-  "dependencies": {
-    "@huggingface/transformers": "^3.2.2"
-  },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@eslint/js": "^9.8.0",
     "@mdx-js/mdx": "^3.1.1",