diff --git a/src/openqaoa-core/openqaoa/backends/plugin_finder.py b/src/openqaoa-core/openqaoa/backends/plugin_finder.py
index d0d9b7d5..fd5d1122 100644
--- a/src/openqaoa-core/openqaoa/backends/plugin_finder.py
+++ b/src/openqaoa-core/openqaoa/backends/plugin_finder.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ def plugin_finder_dict() -> list:
     if sys.version_info >= (3, 10):
         available_plugins = entry_points().select(group="openqaoa.plugins")
     else:
-        available_plugins = entry_points()["openqaoa.plugins"]
+        available_plugins = entry_points().get("openqaoa.plugins", [])
 
     output_dict = dict()
     for each_plugin_entry_point in available_plugins:
diff --git a/src/openqaoa-core/requirements.txt b/src/openqaoa-core/requirements.txt
index 876a2b7d..2f114503 100644
--- a/src/openqaoa-core/requirements.txt
+++ b/src/openqaoa-core/requirements.txt
@@ -9,3 +9,4 @@ autograd>=1.4
 semantic_version>=2.10
 autoray>=0.3.1
 requests
+ipython>=8.2.0
diff --git a/src/openqaoa-core/requirements_test.txt b/src/openqaoa-core/requirements_test.txt
index 6194d46e..9ca19d8a 100644
--- a/src/openqaoa-core/requirements_test.txt
+++ b/src/openqaoa-core/requirements_test.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 pytest>=7.1.0
 pytest-xdist
 pytest-cov>=3.0.0
-ipython>=8.2.0
 nbconvert>=6.5.1
 pandas>=1.4.3
 plotly>=5.9.0