diff --git a/lib/galaxy_ext/expressions/handle_job.py b/lib/galaxy_ext/expressions/handle_job.py
index fc9838d381b9..e125501757d1 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy_ext/expressions/handle_job.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy_ext/expressions/handle_job.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 
 def run(environment_path=None):
     if expression is None:
-        raise Exception("Python library cwltool must be available to evaluate expressions.")
+        raise Exception("Python library cwl-utils must be available to evaluate expressions.")
 
     if environment_path is None:
         environment_path = os.environ.get("GALAXY_EXPRESSION_INPUTS")
diff --git a/packages/app/setup.cfg b/packages/app/setup.cfg
index 1e6b7ca57d3f..80a292225e7c 100644
--- a/packages/app/setup.cfg
+++ b/packages/app/setup.cfg
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ install_requires =
     bx-python
     celery
     cloudauthz==0.6.0
+    cwl-utils
     dparse
     gxformat2
     kombu>=5.3
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index be857e903b7f..08ba68afcd48 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "circus",
     "conda-package-streaming",
     "CT3>=3.3.3",  # Python 3.13 support
+    "cwl-utils>=0.13",
     "cwltool>=3.1.20230624081518",  # save time, minimum needed by cwl-1.0 branch
     "dictobj",
     "dnspython",