diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index e7cc512..e2298ab 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -45,14 +45,21 @@ setup(
         'tricycle',
         'trio_typing',
 
+        # tooling
         'colorlog',
         'wrapt',
         'pdbpp',
 
         # serialization
         'msgpack',
-        'msgspec',
+
     ],
+    extras_require={
+
+        # serialization
+        'msgspec': ['msgspec; python_version >= 3.9'],
+
+    },
     tests_require=['pytest'],
     python_requires=">=3.7",
     keywords=[
diff --git a/tractor/_ipc.py b/tractor/_ipc.py
index 13bceb0..88f9d2d 100644
--- a/tractor/_ipc.py
+++ b/tractor/_ipc.py
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ from typing import Any, Tuple, Optional
 
 from tricycle import BufferedReceiveStream
 import msgpack
-import msgspec
 import trio
 from async_generator import asynccontextmanager
 
@@ -103,8 +102,6 @@ class MsgspecTCPStream(MsgpackTCPStream):
     using ``msgspec``.
 
     '''
-    ms_encode = msgspec.Encoder().encode
-
     def __init__(
         self,
         stream: trio.SocketStream,
@@ -115,10 +112,15 @@ class MsgspecTCPStream(MsgpackTCPStream):
         self.recv_stream = BufferedReceiveStream(transport_stream=stream)
         self.prefix_size = prefix_size
 
+        import msgspec
+
+        # TODO: struct aware messaging coders
+        self.encode = msgspec.Encoder().encode
+        self.decode = msgspec.Decoder().decode  # dict[str, Any])
+
     async def _iter_packets(self) -> typing.AsyncGenerator[dict, None]:
         """Yield packets from the underlying stream.
         """
-        decoder = msgspec.Decoder()  # dict[str, Any])
 
         while True:
             try:
@@ -141,12 +143,12 @@ class MsgspecTCPStream(MsgpackTCPStream):
             msg_bytes = await self.recv_stream.receive_exactly(size)
 
             log.trace(f"received {msg_bytes}")  # type: ignore
-            yield decoder.decode(msg_bytes)
+            yield self.decode(msg_bytes)
 
     async def send(self, data: Any) -> None:
         async with self._send_lock:
 
-            bytes_data = self.ms_encode(data)
+            bytes_data = self.encode(data)
 
             # supposedly the fastest says,
             # https://stackoverflow.com/a/54027962
@@ -168,13 +170,19 @@ class Channel:
         auto_reconnect: bool = False,
         stream: trio.SocketStream = None,  # expected to be active
 
-        # stream_serializer_type: type = MsgspecTCPStream,
-        stream_serializer_type: type = MsgpackTCPStream,
-
     ) -> None:
 
         self._recon_seq = on_reconnect
         self._autorecon = auto_reconnect
+
+        try:
+            # if installed load the msgspec transport since it's faster
+            import msgspec  # noqa
+            stream_serializer_type: type = MsgspecTCPStream
+
+        except ImportError:
+            stream_serializer_type: type = MsgpackTCPStream
+
         self.stream_serializer_type = stream_serializer_type
         self.msgstream: Optional[type] = stream_serializer_type(
             stream) if stream else None