diff --git a/client-kotlin/build.gradle.kts b/client-kotlin/build.gradle.kts
index 591651dd..96aca77f 100644
--- a/client-kotlin/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/client-kotlin/build.gradle.kts
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ plugins {
 description = "Restate Client to interact with services from within other Kotlin applications"
 
 dependencies {
-  api(project(":client"))
-  implementation(libs.kotlinx.coroutines.core)
+  api(project(":client")) { exclude("dev.restate", "sdk-serde-jackson") }
+  api(project(":sdk-serde-kotlinx"))
 
-  runtimeOnly(project(":sdk-serde-kotlinx"))
+  implementation(libs.kotlinx.coroutines.core)
 }
diff --git a/client/build.gradle.kts b/client/build.gradle.kts
index 575467ac..026d6b65 100644
--- a/client/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/client/build.gradle.kts
@@ -11,9 +11,8 @@ dependencies {
   compileOnly(libs.jspecify)
 
   api(project(":common"))
+  api(project(":sdk-serde-jackson"))
 
   implementation(libs.jackson.core)
   implementation(libs.log4j.api)
-
-  runtimeOnly(project(":sdk-serde-jackson"))
 }