diff --git a/src/dspy_cli/commands/serve.py b/src/dspy_cli/commands/serve.py
index 0a5ff8f..9c45798 100644
--- a/src/dspy_cli/commands/serve.py
+++ b/src/dspy_cli/commands/serve.py
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
 
 import click
 
-from dspy_cli.server.runner import main as runner_main
 from dspy_cli.utils.venv import (
     detect_venv_python,
     has_package,
@@ -118,6 +117,7 @@ def serve(port, host, logs_dir, reload, save_openapi, openapi_format, python, sy
         dspy-cli serve --python /path/to/venv/bin/python
     """
     if system:
+        from dspy_cli.server.runner import main as runner_main
         runner_main(
             port=port,
             host=host,
@@ -195,6 +195,7 @@ def serve(port, host, logs_dir, reload, save_openapi, openapi_format, python, sy
 
         _exec_clean(target_python, args)
     else:
+        from dspy_cli.server.runner import main as runner_main
         runner_main(
             port=port,
             host=host,
diff --git a/tests/test_commands_smoke.py b/tests/test_commands_smoke.py
index 636774f..d508541 100644
--- a/tests/test_commands_smoke.py
+++ b/tests/test_commands_smoke.py
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ def test_cli_e2e_smoke(runner, tmp_cwd, monkeypatch):
     def fake_runner_main(**kwargs):
         calls.update(kwargs)
     
-    monkeypatch.setattr("dspy_cli.commands.serve.runner_main", fake_runner_main)
+    monkeypatch.setattr("dspy_cli.server.runner.main", fake_runner_main)
     
     res = runner.invoke(
         main,