diff --git a/jbake-core/build.gradle b/jbake-core/build.gradle
index 706d070b..e6b9c4ad 100644
--- a/jbake-core/build.gradle
+++ b/jbake-core/build.gradle
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ dependencies {
     api "commons-io:commons-io:$commonsIoVersion"
     api "org.apache.commons:commons-configuration2:$commonsConfigurationVersion"
     implementation "commons-beanutils:commons-beanutils:$commonsBeanutilsVersion"
-    implementation "org.apache.commons:commons-vfs2:$commonsVfs2Version"
+    implementation "org.apache.commons:commons-vfs2:$commonsVfs2Version", optional
     implementation "org.apache.commons:commons-lang3:$commonsLangVersion"
     implementation("com.googlecode.json-simple:json-simple:$jsonSimpleVersion") {
         exclude group: "junit", module: "junit"