diff --git a/metaflow/_vendor/vendor_any.txt b/metaflow/_vendor/vendor_any.txt
index 3c14abc1933..9c48802aae6 100644
--- a/metaflow/_vendor/vendor_any.txt
+++ b/metaflow/_vendor/vendor_any.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 click==7.1.2
-packaging==23.0
\ No newline at end of file
+packaging==23.0
diff --git a/metaflow/click_api.py b/metaflow/click_api.py
index 5588b6e831d..7ef84870076 100644
--- a/metaflow/click_api.py
+++ b/metaflow/click_api.py
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+import sys
+
+if sys.version_info < (3, 7):
+    raise RuntimeError(
+        """
+        The Metaflow Programmatic API requires 'typeguard', which is not supported for python 3.5 and 3.6.
+    """
+    )
+
 import inspect
 import importlib
 import itertools
@@ -17,6 +26,7 @@
 from metaflow._vendor import click
 from metaflow.parameters import JSONTypeClass
 from metaflow.includefile import FilePathClass
+from metaflow._vendor.typeguard import check_type, TypeCheckError
 from metaflow._vendor.click.types import (
     StringParamType,
     IntParamType,
@@ -30,17 +40,6 @@
     File,
 )
 
-try:
-    from typeguard import check_type, TypeCheckError
-except ImportError:
-    raise ImportError(
-        """
-        The Metaflow Programmatic API requires 'typeguard', which is not installed or available.
-        Please try installing with `pip install typeguard`. This package and thus, the programmatic API
-        functionality is unavailable for python 3.5 and 3.6.
-    """
-    )
-
 click_to_python_types = {
     StringParamType: str,
     IntParamType: int,