diff --git a/requirements-dev.txt b/requirements-dev.txt
index 28b1e08..971b3d3 100644
--- a/requirements-dev.txt
+++ b/requirements-dev.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # Runtime (also in requirements.txt)
 PySide6>=6.6
+cryptography>=42.0   # catalog signature verification (bcc_core) + release checksum signing
 
 # Build / packaging
 pyinstaller>=6.0
@@ -8,4 +9,3 @@ pillow>=10.0        # generates icons/app.ico during CI (Windows build)
 # Test / lint
 pytest>=8.0
 ruff>=0.6
-cryptography>=42.0   # release checksum signing (scripts/sign_checksums.py)
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 1966c69..00ed33a 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 PySide6>=6.6
+cryptography>=42.0   # bcc_core imports it at load (catalog signature verification)