diff --git a/testng-core-api/testng-core-api-build.gradle.kts b/testng-core-api/testng-core-api-build.gradle.kts
index 403e316889..be08b1cf24 100644
--- a/testng-core-api/testng-core-api-build.gradle.kts
+++ b/testng-core-api/testng-core-api-build.gradle.kts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ java {
 
 dependencies {
     api(projects.testngCollections)
-    api("com.github.spotbugs:spotbugs:_")
+    compileOnly("com.github.spotbugs:spotbugs:_")
     "guiceApi"(platform("com.google.inject:guice-bom:_"))
     "guiceApi"("com.google.inject:guice")
 
diff --git a/testng-core/testng-core-build.gradle.kts b/testng-core/testng-core-build.gradle.kts
index 57c5220e10..aea422557e 100644
--- a/testng-core/testng-core-build.gradle.kts
+++ b/testng-core/testng-core-build.gradle.kts
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ java {
 dependencies {
     api(projects.testngCoreApi)
     // Annotations have to be available on the compile classpath for the proper compilation
-    api("com.github.spotbugs:spotbugs:_")
+    compileOnly("com.github.spotbugs:spotbugs:_")
     api("com.beust:jcommander:_")
 
     "guiceApi"(platform("com.google.inject:guice-bom:_"))
diff --git a/testng-runner-api/testng-runner-api-build.gradle.kts b/testng-runner-api/testng-runner-api-build.gradle.kts
index c664be9634..cdc9b73cec 100644
--- a/testng-runner-api/testng-runner-api-build.gradle.kts
+++ b/testng-runner-api/testng-runner-api-build.gradle.kts
@@ -4,4 +4,5 @@ plugins {
 
 dependencies {
     api(projects.testngCoreApi)
+    compileOnly("com.github.spotbugs:spotbugs:_")
 }