diff --git a/panel/package-lock.json b/panel/package-lock.json
index 099268c102..6d29382b16 100644
--- a/panel/package-lock.json
+++ b/panel/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "@holoviz/panel",
-  "version": "1.3.0-a.8",
+  "version": "1.3.0-a.9",
   "lockfileVersion": 2,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "@holoviz/panel",
-      "version": "1.3.0-a.8",
+      "version": "1.3.0-a.9",
       "license": "BSD-3-Clause",
       "dependencies": {
         "@bokeh/bokehjs": "~3.3.0",
diff --git a/panel/package.json b/panel/package.json
index 3bdde38e49..99eba2cb23 100644
--- a/panel/package.json
+++ b/panel/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@holoviz/panel",
-  "version": "1.3.0-a.8",
+  "version": "1.3.0-a.9",
   "description": "The powerful data exploration & web app framework for Python.",
   "license": "BSD-3-Clause",
   "repository": {
diff --git a/panel/tests/widgets/test_chat.py b/panel/tests/widgets/test_chat.py
index 63b483dbf4..1ba33ca5a8 100644
--- a/panel/tests/widgets/test_chat.py
+++ b/panel/tests/widgets/test_chat.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 from panel.layout import Column, Row, Tabs
 from panel.pane.image import SVG, Image
 from panel.pane.markup import HTML, Markdown
-from panel.tests.util import mpl_figure
+from panel.tests.util import mpl_available, mpl_figure
 from panel.widgets.button import Button
 from panel.widgets.chat import (
     ChatEntry, ChatFeed, ChatInterface, ChatReactionIcons, _FileInputMessage,
@@ -227,6 +227,7 @@ def test_does_not_turn_widget_into_str(self):
         entry = ChatEntry(value=button)
         assert entry.value == button
 
+    @mpl_available
     def test_can_display_any_python_object_that_panel_can_display(self):
         # For example matplotlib figures
         ChatEntry(value=mpl_figure())