diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fb142ae..d92e813 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -6,6 +6,16 @@ It keeps a small owned command surface for diagnostics and guidance, and
 delegates everything else to the native `aim` executable already available in
 the user's environment.
 
+## Installation
+
+```bash
+# Using uv (recommended)
+uv add aimx
+
+# Or using pip
+pip install aimx
+```
+
 ## What aimx owns
 
 - `aimx`
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 9285809..5a9616d 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "aimx"
-version = "0.1.0"
+version = "0.2.0"
 description = "A safe CLI-first companion for native Aim"
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.10,<3.13"
diff --git a/src/aimx/__init__.py b/src/aimx/__init__.py
index a05eb9a..ae3175a 100644
--- a/src/aimx/__init__.py
+++ b/src/aimx/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 __all__ = ["__version__"]
 
-__version__ = "0.1.0"
+__version__ = "0.2.0"
diff --git a/src/aimx/commands/query.py b/src/aimx/commands/query.py
index f579e9f..223c8f3 100644
--- a/src/aimx/commands/query.py
+++ b/src/aimx/commands/query.py
@@ -5,10 +5,6 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any
 
-from aim import Repo
-from aim.sdk.types import QueryReportMode
-
-
 SUPPORTED_TARGETS = {"metrics", "images"}
 
 
@@ -35,6 +31,18 @@ class QueryCommandResult:
     error_message: str | None = None
 
 
+def load_aim_query_support():
+    try:
+        from aim import Repo
+        from aim.sdk.types import QueryReportMode
+    except ModuleNotFoundError as error:
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            "`aimx query` requires the Python `aim` package in the current environment."
+        ) from error
+
+    return Repo, QueryReportMode
+
+
 def normalize_repo_path(path: Path) -> Path:
     if not path.exists():
         raise ValueError(f"Repository path does not exist: {path}")
@@ -108,6 +116,7 @@ def run_query_command(args: list[str]) -> QueryCommandResult:
 
 
 def collect_query_rows(invocation: QueryInvocation, repo_path: Path) -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
+    Repo, QueryReportMode = load_aim_query_support()
     repo = Repo(str(repo_path))
 
     if invocation.target == "metrics":
diff --git a/tests/integration/test_missing_python_aim_package.py b/tests/integration/test_missing_python_aim_package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6dc5d78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/integration/test_missing_python_aim_package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import importlib
+import sys
+
+
+def _reload_main_without_python_aim(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setitem(sys.modules, "aim", None)
+    monkeypatch.delitem(sys.modules, "aim.sdk", raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.delitem(sys.modules, "aim.sdk.types", raising=False)
+    sys.modules.pop("aimx.__main__", None)
+    sys.modules.pop("aimx.cli", None)
+    sys.modules.pop("aimx.commands.query", None)
+    return importlib.import_module("aimx.__main__").main
+
+
+def test_owned_commands_still_work_when_python_aim_package_is_missing(
+    capsys, monkeypatch
+) -> None:
+    monkeypatch.setenv("PATH", "")
+
+    main = _reload_main_without_python_aim(monkeypatch)
+    exit_code = main(["version"])
+
+    captured = capsys.readouterr()
+    assert exit_code == 0
+    assert "aimx 0.1.0" in captured.out
+
+
+def test_query_reports_actionable_error_when_python_aim_package_is_missing(
+    capsys, monkeypatch, tmp_path
+) -> None:
+    monkeypatch.setenv("PATH", "")
+
+    main = _reload_main_without_python_aim(monkeypatch)
+    exit_code = main(
+        ["query", "metrics", "metric.name == 'loss'", "--repo", str(tmp_path)]
+    )
+
+    captured = capsys.readouterr()
+    assert exit_code == 2
+    assert "requires the Python `aim` package" in captured.err