diff --git a/.github/workflows/docs_drift_check.yml b/.github/workflows/docs_drift_check.yml
index bf3e980d..93fcc7ab 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docs_drift_check.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docs_drift_check.yml
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ on:
       - 'examples/**'
       - '**/*.md'
       - 'pyproject.toml'
-      - 'dev_requirements.txt'
       - '.github/workflows/docs_drift_check.yml'
   workflow_dispatch:
     inputs:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/lint.yml b/.github/workflows/lint.yml
index 25c17cfb..9404bb3c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/lint.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/lint.yml
@@ -22,13 +22,10 @@ jobs:
         with:
           python-version: 3.12
 
-      - name: Upgrade Setuptools
-        run: pip install --upgrade setuptools wheel
-
       - name: Install requirements
         run: |
-          pip install -r dev_requirements.txt
-          pip install .
+          pip install --upgrade pip
+          pip install . --group dev
 
       - name: Run lint
         run: make lint
diff --git a/.github/workflows/steps_local_testing.yml b/.github/workflows/steps_local_testing.yml
index 51dfdb9c..114bf3c2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/steps_local_testing.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/steps_local_testing.yml
@@ -53,7 +53,9 @@ jobs:
           python-version: ${{ inputs.python-version }}
 
       - name: Install requirements
-        run: pip3 install . -r dev_requirements.txt
+        run: |
+          pip3 install --upgrade pip
+          pip3 install . --group dev
 
       - name: Run HTTP tests
         env:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test_cloud.yml b/.github/workflows/test_cloud.yml
index 7a96ea50..d163c034 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test_cloud.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test_cloud.yml
@@ -33,7 +33,9 @@ jobs:
           python-version: '3.11'
 
       - name: Install requirements
-        run: pip3 install . -r dev_requirements.txt
+        run: |
+          pip3 install --upgrade pip
+          pip3 install . --group dev
 
       - name: Run HTTP tests
         env:
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c7226899..b9eb1952 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -98,4 +98,7 @@ dbt-tut
 dev/
 .python-version
 *_project/
-.user.yml
\ No newline at end of file
+.user.yml
+
+# uv
+uv.lock
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f549dd3c..9723ecbe 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 ### Unreleased
 
+#### Improvements
+* `dbt-core` is now capped at `<2.0`, and `dbt-common` and `agate` are declared as direct dependencies, matching dbt-labs adapters ([#776](https://github.com/ClickHouse/dbt-clickhouse/pull/776)).
+
 #### Repository maintenance
 * The shard-local table name of distributed materializations is now resolved in one place, `clickhouse_local_relation`, instead of being rebuilt inline in each materialization and incremental strategy ([#753](https://github.com/ClickHouse/dbt-clickhouse/pull/753)).
 
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 85ffda1c..a2e52c56 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -15,10 +15,11 @@ Start by forking the repository on GitHub. This will create a copy of the reposi
 
 * Make sure Python is installed locally, please refer to [dbt's python compatibility](https://docs.getdbt.com/faqs/Core/install-python-compatibility) (We recommend using version 3.12+).
 * Create a dedicated virtual environment (optional but recommended)
-* Install all the development requirements and the local project as an editable package:
+* Install the local project as an editable package with the `dev` dependency group from `pyproject.toml`:
 
     ```bash
-    pip install -e . -r dev_requirements.txt
+    # using pip 25.1+:
+    pip install -e . --group dev
     ```
 
 * Verify the package was installed successfully:
diff --git a/dbt/adapters/clickhouse/connections.py b/dbt/adapters/clickhouse/connections.py
index 666f6309..0099159b 100644
--- a/dbt/adapters/clickhouse/connections.py
+++ b/dbt/adapters/clickhouse/connections.py
@@ -4,11 +4,11 @@
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Optional, Tuple, Union
 
-import dbt.exceptions
 from dbt.adapters.clickhouse.dbclient import ChRetryableException, get_db_client
 from dbt.adapters.clickhouse.logger import logger
 from dbt.adapters.contracts.connection import AdapterResponse, Connection
 from dbt.adapters.sql import SQLConnectionManager
+from dbt_common.exceptions import DbtRuntimeError
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     import agate
@@ -30,9 +30,9 @@ def exception_handler(self, sql):
             yield
         except Exception as exp:
             logger.debug('Error running SQL: {}', sql)
-            if isinstance(exp, dbt.exceptions.DbtRuntimeError):
+            if isinstance(exp, DbtRuntimeError):
                 raise
-            raise dbt.exceptions.DbtRuntimeError('ClickHouse exception:  ' + str(exp)) from exp
+            raise DbtRuntimeError('ClickHouse exception:  ' + str(exp)) from exp
 
     @classmethod
     def open(cls, connection):
diff --git a/dev_requirements.txt b/dev_requirements.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index bd94e7b8..00000000
--- a/dev_requirements.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-dbt-core==1.12.*
-dbt-tests-adapter>=1.10,<2.0
-pytest>=7.2.0
-pytest-dotenv==0.5.2
-pytest-timeout==2.4.0
-ruff==0.16.0
-mypy==1.19.1
-yamllint==1.37.1
-requests~=2.34.2
-setuptools>=69.2.0
-types-setuptools>=69.2.0
-ipdb
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 3153f973..56d9c939 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -23,8 +23,12 @@ classifiers = [
 ]
 requires-python = ">=3.10"
 dependencies = [
-    "dbt-core>=1.9",
     "dbt-adapters>=1.22.0,<1.25.0",  # This version should be dbt-adapters<2.0, but keeping it fixed for now to avoid unexpected issues. We need to frequently update it.
+    # installed via dbt-adapters but used directly
+    "dbt-common>=1.36,<2.0",
+    "agate>=1.0,<2.0",
+    # add dbt-core to ensure backwards compatibility of installation, this is not a functional dependency
+    "dbt-core>=1.9,<2.0",
     "clickhouse-connect>=0.10.0",
     "clickhouse-driver>=0.2.10"
 ]
@@ -38,6 +42,19 @@ Documentation = "https://github.com/ClickHouse/dbt-clickhouse#documentation"
 Changelog = "https://github.com/ClickHouse/dbt-clickhouse/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md"
 Slack = "https://clickhouse.com/slack"
 
+[dependency-groups]
+dev = [
+    "dbt-core==1.12.*",
+    "dbt-tests-adapter>=1.10,<2.0",
+    "pytest>=7.2.0",
+    "pytest-dotenv==0.5.2",
+    "pytest-timeout==2.4.0",
+    "ruff==0.16.0",
+    "mypy==1.19.1",
+    "yamllint==1.37.1",
+    "requests~=2.34.2",
+]
+
 [tool.setuptools]
 packages = {find = {include = ["dbt", "dbt.*"], namespaces = true}}