diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 956f8a7..6b503d5
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -19,15 +19,20 @@ if mountpoint -q "$HOME/pCloudDrive" 2>/dev/null; then
   mkdir -p "$PCLOUD_TARGET"
 fi
 
-# Install dependencies
-echo "Installing dependencies..."
-if ! pip install --user requests requests-mock pytest 2>&1 | tail -5; then
-  echo "ERROR: pip install --user failed (PEP 668 externally-managed environment?)."
-  echo "To install in a virtualenv instead, run:"
-  echo "  python3 -m venv ~/tools/coe-mirror/.venv"
-  echo "  source ~/tools/coe-mirror/.venv/bin/activate"
-  echo "  pip install requests requests-mock pytest"
-  exit 1
+# Install runtime dependency (requests) if missing. Dev deps (pytest, requests-mock)
+# are only needed by the test suite — install them separately in a venv if you plan to test.
+if python3 -c "import requests" 2>/dev/null; then
+  echo "Runtime dep 'requests' already importable system-wide; skipping pip install."
+else
+  echo "Installing runtime dependency: requests"
+  if ! pip install --user requests 2>&1 | tail -5; then
+    echo "ERROR: pip install --user failed (PEP 668 externally-managed environment?)."
+    echo "To install in a virtualenv instead:"
+    echo "  python3 -m venv $TOOL_DIR/.venv"
+    echo "  $TOOL_DIR/.venv/bin/pip install requests"
+    echo "  # then edit systemd/coe-mirror.service ExecStart to point at the venv python"
+    exit 1
+  fi
 fi
 
 # Copy unit files