diff --git a/lib/rs3.js b/lib/rs3.js
index 0926578e..ce73d99a 100644
--- a/lib/rs3.js
+++ b/lib/rs3.js
@@ -2,8 +2,7 @@ var Gun = require('../gun');
 var Radisk = require('./radisk');
 var fs = require('fs');
 var Radix = Radisk.Radix;
-var u;
-var AWS = require('aws-sdk');
+var u, AWS;
 
 Gun.on('opt', function(ctx){
 	this.to.next(ctx);
@@ -14,6 +13,12 @@ Gun.on('opt', function(ctx){
 	opt.thrash = opt.thrash || (1000 * 15);
 	opt.size = opt.size || (1024 * 1024 * 10); // 10MB
 
+	try{AWS = require('aws-sdk');
+	}catch(e){
+		console.log("aws-sdk is no longer included by default, you must add it to your package.json! `npm install aws-sdk`.");
+		AWS_SDK_NOT_INSTALLED;
+	}
+
 	var opts = opt.s3 || (opt.s3 = {});
 	opts.bucket = opts.bucket || process.env.AWS_S3_BUCKET;
 	opts.region = opts.region || process.AWS_REGION || "us-east-1";
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6c44e6cc..8b4aa695 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -48,7 +48,6 @@
     "node": ">=0.8.4"
   },
   "dependencies": {
-    "aws-sdk": ">=2.153.0",
     "ws": "~>4.0.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
@@ -66,6 +65,7 @@
     "panic-server": "^1.1.1",
     "text-encoding": "^0.6.4",
     "uglify-js": ">=2.8.22",
-    "uws": "~>0.14.1"
+    "uws": "~>0.14.1",
+    "aws-sdk": ">=2.153.0"
   }
 }