diff --git a/deltachat-rpc-client/README.md b/deltachat-rpc-client/README.md
index 52fd83c2cc..9777e06189 100644
--- a/deltachat-rpc-client/README.md
+++ b/deltachat-rpc-client/README.md
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ $ pip install .
 ## Testing
 
 1. Build `deltachat-rpc-server` with `cargo build -p deltachat-rpc-server`.
-2. Run `CHATMAIL_DOMAIN=nine.testrun.org PATH="../target/debug:$PATH" tox`.
+2. Install tox `pip install -U tox`
+3. Run `CHATMAIL_DOMAIN=nine.testrun.org PATH="../target/debug:$PATH" tox`.
 
 Additional arguments to `tox` are passed to pytest, e.g. `tox -- -s` does not capture test output.
 
diff --git a/deltachat-rpc-client/pyproject.toml b/deltachat-rpc-client/pyproject.toml
index 3b3c790409..7d02450a56 100644
--- a/deltachat-rpc-client/pyproject.toml
+++ b/deltachat-rpc-client/pyproject.toml
@@ -24,9 +24,6 @@ classifiers = [
     "Topic :: Communications :: Email"
 ]
 readme = "README.md"
-dependencies = [
-    "imap-tools",
-]
 
 [tool.setuptools.package-data]
 deltachat_rpc_client = [
diff --git a/deltachat-rpc-client/src/deltachat_rpc_client/direct_imap.py b/deltachat-rpc-client/tests/conftest.py
similarity index 96%
rename from deltachat-rpc-client/src/deltachat_rpc_client/direct_imap.py
rename to deltachat-rpc-client/tests/conftest.py
index 196afabae4..bb8ba24e80 100644
--- a/deltachat-rpc-client/src/deltachat_rpc_client/direct_imap.py
+++ b/deltachat-rpc-client/tests/conftest.py
@@ -1,7 +1,3 @@
-"""
-Internal Python-level IMAP handling used by the tests.
-"""
-
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import imaplib
@@ -11,17 +7,11 @@
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 
-from imap_tools import (
-    AND,
-    Header,
-    MailBox,
-    MailMessage,
-    MailMessageFlags,
-    errors,
-)
+import pytest
+from imap_tools import AND, Header, MailBox, MailMessage, MailMessageFlags, errors
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
-    from . import Account
+    from deltachat_rpc_client import Account
 
 FLAGS = b"FLAGS"
 FETCH = b"FETCH"
@@ -29,6 +19,8 @@
 
 
 class DirectImap:
+    """Internal Python-level IMAP handling."""
+
     def __init__(self, account: Account) -> None:
         self.account = account
         self.logid = account.get_config("displayname") or id(account)
@@ -212,3 +204,8 @@ def wait_for_seen(self, timeout=None) -> int:
     def done(self):
         """send idle-done to server if we are currently in idle mode."""
         return self.direct_imap.conn.idle.stop()
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def direct_imap():
+    return DirectImap
diff --git a/deltachat-rpc-client/tests/test_something.py b/deltachat-rpc-client/tests/test_something.py
index a53e8376ad..cf1d422f29 100644
--- a/deltachat-rpc-client/tests/test_something.py
+++ b/deltachat-rpc-client/tests/test_something.py
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
 
 from deltachat_rpc_client import Contact, EventType, Message, events
 from deltachat_rpc_client.const import DownloadState, MessageState
-from deltachat_rpc_client.direct_imap import DirectImap
 from deltachat_rpc_client.rpc import JsonRpcError
 
 
@@ -536,7 +535,7 @@ def test_reaction_to_partially_fetched_msg(acfactory, tmp_path):
     assert list(reactions.reactions_by_contact.values())[0] == [react_str]
 
 
-def test_reactions_for_a_reordering_move(acfactory):
+def test_reactions_for_a_reordering_move(acfactory, direct_imap):
     """When a batch of messages is moved from Inbox to DeltaChat folder with a single MOVE command,
     their UIDs may be reordered (e.g. Gmail is known for that) which led to that messages were
     processed by receive_imf in the wrong order, and, particularly, reactions were processed before
@@ -560,7 +559,7 @@ def test_reactions_for_a_reordering_move(acfactory):
     msg1.send_reaction(react_str).wait_until_delivered()
 
     logging.info("moving messages to ac2's DeltaChat folder in the reverse order")
-    ac2_direct_imap = DirectImap(ac2)
+    ac2_direct_imap = direct_imap(ac2)
     ac2_direct_imap.connect()
     for uid in sorted([m.uid for m in ac2_direct_imap.get_all_messages()], reverse=True):
         ac2_direct_imap.conn.move(uid, "DeltaChat")
diff --git a/deltachat-rpc-client/tox.ini b/deltachat-rpc-client/tox.ini
index 843e09c00a..2c3b0cb4ef 100644
--- a/deltachat-rpc-client/tox.ini
+++ b/deltachat-rpc-client/tox.ini
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ deps =
     pytest
     pytest-timeout
     pytest-xdist
+    imap-tools
 
 [testenv:lint]
 skipsdist = True