diff --git a/README.ipynb b/README.ipynb
index 05422b5..8701f08 100644
--- a/README.ipynb
+++ b/README.ipynb
@@ -366,6 +366,34 @@
     "  * https://marshmallow-annotations.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ext/namedtuple.html#namedtuple-type-api\n",
     "  * https://pypi.org/project/marshmallow-dataclass"
    ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "markdown",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "# Tips and tricks\n",
+    "## Optional dependency\n",
+    "You can benefit from `cachew` even if you don't want to bloat your app's dependencies. Just use the following snippet:"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "import cachew.misc\n",
+    "dmd(f\"\"\"```python\n",
+    "{inspect.getsource(cachew.misc.mcachew)}\n",
+    "```\"\"\")"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "markdown",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "Now you can use `@mcachew` in place of `@cachew`, and be certain things don't break if `cachew` is missing."
+   ]
   }
  ],
  "metadata": {
diff --git a/src/cachew/misc.py b/src/cachew/misc.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9510a83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cachew/misc.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# TODO Ideally, needs doublewraps as well?
+def mcachew(*args, **kwargs):
+    """
+    Stands for 'Maybe cachew'.
+    Defensive wrapper around @cachew to make it an optional dependency.
+    """
+    try:
+        import cachew
+    except ModuleNotFoundError:
+        import warnings
+        warnings.warn('cachew library not found. You might want to install it to speed things up. See https://github.com/karlicoss/cachew')
+        return lambda orig_func: orig_func
+    else:
+        return cachew.cachew(*args, **kwargs)
+
diff --git a/src/cachew/tests/test_cachew.py b/src/cachew/tests/test_cachew.py
index aa2b7bd..a6980aa 100644
--- a/src/cachew/tests/test_cachew.py
+++ b/src/cachew/tests/test_cachew.py
@@ -614,3 +614,16 @@ def test_concurrent_reads(tmp_path: Path, fuzz_cachew_impl):
     # should be pretty instantaneous
     # if it takes more, most likely means that helper was called again
     assert taken < 5
+
+
+def test_mcachew(tmp_path: Path):
+    # TODO how to test for defensive behaviour?
+    from cachew.misc import mcachew
+
+    @mcachew(cache_path=tmp_path / 'cache')
+    def func() -> Iterator[str]:
+        yield 'one'
+        yield 'two'
+
+    assert list(func()) == ['one', 'two']
+    assert list(func()) == ['one', 'two']