diff --git a/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/utils.py b/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bad5f060fb8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/litellm/proxy/_experimental/mcp_server/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+import importlib
+
+
+def is_mcp_available() -> bool:
+    """
+    Returns True if the MCP module is available, False otherwise
+    """
+    try:
+        importlib.import_module("mcp")
+        return True
+    except ImportError:
+        return False
diff --git a/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py b/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
index 633e6d086f4..c54d3c08dc9 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
@@ -2786,6 +2786,14 @@ class ProxyConfig:
             )
 
     async def _init_mcp_servers_in_db(self):
+        from litellm.proxy._experimental.mcp_server.utils import is_mcp_available
+
+        if not is_mcp_available():
+            verbose_proxy_logger.debug(
+                "MCP module not available, skipping MCP server initialization"
+            )
+            return
+
         from litellm.proxy._experimental.mcp_server.mcp_server_manager import (
             global_mcp_server_manager,
         )