diff --git a/conda-recipe/meta.yaml b/conda-recipe/meta.yaml
index cf402f9d..9137633b 100644
--- a/conda-recipe/meta.yaml
+++ b/conda-recipe/meta.yaml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ requirements:
   - python >=3.7
   - apischema
   - archapp >=1.1.0
-  - bluesky
+  - bluesky-base
   - bluesky-queueserver >=0.0.19
   - bluesky-widgets
   # databroker >2 incompatible with pydantic v2
diff --git a/docs/source/releases.rst b/docs/source/releases.rst
index 526ee607..31125475 100644
--- a/docs/source/releases.rst
+++ b/docs/source/releases.rst
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ Maintenance
 -----------
 - Pins numpy<2.0 to avoid issues with upstream incompatibilities
 - Refactors find-replace logic and dataclasses into a separate module from the widgets that display them
+- Specify bluesky-base in conde dependnecies to avoid matplotlib
 
 Contributors
 ------------