diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/changed-20261010-000108-fewer-runtime-dependencies.yaml b/.changes/unreleased/changed-20261010-000108-fewer-runtime-dependencies.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..29b05f69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/unreleased/changed-20261010-000108-fewer-runtime-dependencies.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+kind: changed
+body: |
+  Installing the SDK no longer installs `setuptools`, `google`, `deprecation` or `Faker`, or their dependencies `beautifulsoup4`, `soupsieve` and `packaging`. The SDK imports none of them. The SDK also no longer pins your environment to `setuptools` 82.x. If your code imports one of these packages without declaring it, add it to your own dependencies.
+time: '2026-10-10T00:01:08.292217+00:00'
+custom:
+  Breaking: 'No'
+  Ticket: ''
+  Migration: ''
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/changed-20261010-000507-minimum-python-3-10.yaml b/.changes/unreleased/changed-20261010-000507-minimum-python-3-10.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8fd8a436
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/unreleased/changed-20261010-000507-minimum-python-3-10.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+kind: changed
+body: |
+  The SDK now declares Python 3.10 as its minimum supported version (`python_requires=">=3.10"`); the README previously listed 3.8. Working installs are unaffected: the previous release's dependencies, such as `grpcio` 1.81, already required Python 3.10.
+time: '2026-10-10T00:05:07.307370+00:00'
+custom:
+  Breaking: 'No'
+  Ticket: ''
+  Migration: ''
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/fixed-20261010-000108-python-3-10-import.yaml b/.changes/unreleased/fixed-20261010-000108-python-3-10-import.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..60f2eacf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/unreleased/fixed-20261010-000108-python-3-10-import.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+kind: fixed
+body: |
+  `import scalekit` no longer fails on Python 3.10. Previously it raised `TypeError: typing.Optional requires a single type`; the SDK now imports and runs on Python 3.10.
+time: '2026-10-10T00:01:08.210495+00:00'
+custom:
+  Breaking: 'No'
+  Ticket: ''
+  Migration: ''
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 9074bbef..9dca6efa 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ PROTOC_DIR := protoc_gen_openapiv2
 setup: create-venv
 	@echo "Installing SDK dependencies in $(VENV_DIR)..."
 	$(VENV_PIP) install --upgrade pip
-	$(VENV_PIP) install -e ".[flask,fastapi,django]"
+	$(VENV_PIP) install -e ".[flask,fastapi,django,dev]"
 
 create-venv:
 	@if [ ! -d "$(VENV_DIR)" ]; then \
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9a06851b..b838a71d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -80,9 +80,7 @@ To use the Scalekit Python SDK, you must have the following:
 
 | Component | Version |
 | --------- | ------- |
-| Python    | 3.8+    |
-
-> **Tip:** Although Python 3.8 meets the minimum requirement, using a more recent version (such as Python 3.9 or later) is advisable.
+| Python    | 3.10+   |
 
 
 ## Examples - SSO with FastAPI
diff --git a/scalekit/organization.py b/scalekit/organization.py
index 0ed153bd..345e0d16 100644
--- a/scalekit/organization.py
+++ b/scalekit/organization.py
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+# Postponed annotations: Optional[TimeUnit] wraps a protobuf enum wrapper
+# object, which typing rejects at import time on Python 3.10.
+from __future__ import annotations
+
 from typing import Optional, List, Dict
 
 from google.protobuf import wrappers_pb2
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b4b2aa82..dd0ea533 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -12,18 +12,15 @@
     install_requires=[
         "grpcio>=1.81.0,<2.0",
         "protobuf>=5.29.5,<8.0.0",
-        "google>=3.0",
         "requests>=2.34.0",
         "PyJWT>=2.13.0",
-        "cffi>=1.15.1",
         "cryptography>=50.0.0",
-        "setuptools>=82.0.1,<83.0",
         "grpcio-status>=1.81.0,<2.0",
         "protoc-gen-openapiv2>=0.0.1",
         "googleapis-common-protos>=1.75.0",
-        "deprecation>=2.1.0",
+        # Not imported by the SDK, but kept: docs and customer code call
+        # load_dotenv() relying on the SDK to install it.
         "python-dotenv>=1.2.2,<2.0",
-        "Faker>=33.0.0,<41.0",
         "pydantic>=2.13.4",
         "mcp>=1.27.2",
     ],
@@ -34,6 +31,9 @@
         "flask": ["flask>=2.0"],
         "fastapi": ["fastapi>=0.100"],
         "django": ["django>=4.2"],
+        # Test-only dependencies (several tests generate fixtures with Faker).
+        # Installed by `make setup`.
+        "dev": ["Faker>=33.0.0,<41.0"],
     },
     url="https://github.com/scalekit-inc/scalekit-sdk-python",
     license="MIT",
@@ -42,8 +42,16 @@
     description="Scalekit official Python SDK",
     long_description=open("README.md").read(),
     long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
+    # grpcio, protobuf and mcp all require Python 3.10+.
+    python_requires=">=3.10",
     classifiers=[
         "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
+        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: Only",
+        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
+        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11",
+        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12",
+        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13",
+        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14",
         "License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License",
         "Operating System :: OS Independent",
     ],
diff --git a/tests/TEST_README.md b/tests/TEST_README.md
index 960b29ec..48377479 100644
--- a/tests/TEST_README.md
+++ b/tests/TEST_README.md
@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@
 To run the test cases for this project, follow the steps below:
 
 ### Prerequisites
-1. Ensure you have Python 3.8 or higher installed.
-2. Install the required dependencies by running:
+1. Ensure you have Python 3.10 or higher installed.
+2. Install the SDK with its framework and test dependencies (or run `make setup`, which does the same in a virtual environment):
    ```sh
-   python3 setup.py install
+   python3 -m pip install -e ".[flask,fastapi,django,dev]"
    ```
 
 ### Setting Up Environment Variables