diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index 1a713547..5f1bbce3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -146,5 +146,5 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: unit test the web API
         run: |
-          pip install -e .[dev]
+          pip install httpx
           python test/test_web_api.py
diff --git a/bin/post_compile b/bin/post_compile
index 91e478e7..122cbb02 100755
--- a/bin/post_compile
+++ b/bin/post_compile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
 # Heroku expects to run your app in place, but doesn't actually do this for you
-pip install -e .
+pip install -e . --no-deps
diff --git a/readme-heroku.md b/readme-heroku.md
index 122700d6..82b61d8e 100644
--- a/readme-heroku.md
+++ b/readme-heroku.md
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ Updating dependencies:
        rm requirements.txt
        hatch env create prod
 
+   Then manually remove the soundswallower line, since it's not needed for the web api.
+
    It is also possible to edit it manually, e.g., to handle a critical vulnerability report,
    but an occasional full rebuild is a good idea, to keep things up to date.
 
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 3a756eab..def5ef23 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -100,7 +100,6 @@ requests==2.32.3
     # via hatch.envs.prod
 sniffio==1.3.1
     # via anyio
-soundswallower==0.6.5
     # via hatch.envs.prod
 starlette==0.41.3
     # via fastapi