diff --git a/studio/backend/core/training/training.py b/studio/backend/core/training/training.py
index 34bb4331a7..290b4090ec 100644
--- a/studio/backend/core/training/training.py
+++ b/studio/backend/core/training/training.py
@@ -24,9 +24,10 @@ from datetime import datetime, timezone
 from loggers import get_logger
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Optional, Tuple, Any
+from typing import Optional, Tuple, Any, TYPE_CHECKING
 
-import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
 from utils.hardware import prepare_gpu_selection
 from utils.native_path_leases import (
     native_path_secret_removed_for_child_start,
@@ -36,6 +37,30 @@ from utils.paths import outputs_root
 
 logger = get_logger(__name__)
 
+_pyplot = None
+_pyplot_failed = False
+
+
+def _load_pyplot():
+    """Lazily import matplotlib.pyplot (headless Agg); return it, or None if
+    matplotlib is unavailable. Deferred so a blocked native wheel (e.g. Windows
+    Smart App Control) never breaks server startup, only loss plotting.
+    """
+    global _pyplot, _pyplot_failed
+    if _pyplot is not None or _pyplot_failed:
+        return _pyplot
+    try:
+        import matplotlib
+
+        matplotlib.use("Agg")  # headless backend
+        import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+
+        _pyplot = plt
+    except Exception as e:
+        _pyplot_failed = True
+        logger.warning("matplotlib unavailable; loss plots disabled", error = str(e))
+    return _pyplot
+
 
 def _coerce_seed(value, default = 3407) -> int:
     """Normalize None / non-int to `default` (transformers.set_seed(None) raises)."""
@@ -655,7 +680,7 @@ class TrainingBackend:
         plot = self._create_loss_plot(progress, theme)
         return (plot, progress)
 
-    def refresh_plot_for_theme(self, theme: str) -> Optional[plt.Figure]:
+    def refresh_plot_for_theme(self, theme: str) -> "Optional[plt.Figure]":
         """Refresh plot with new theme."""
         if theme and isinstance(theme, str) and theme in ["light", "dark"]:
             self.current_theme = theme
@@ -1090,8 +1115,14 @@ class TrainingBackend:
         self,
         progress: TrainingProgress,
         theme: str = "light",
-    ) -> plt.Figure:
-        """Create training loss plot with theme-aware styling."""
+    ) -> "Optional[plt.Figure]":
+        """Create training loss plot with theme-aware styling.
+
+        matplotlib is loaded lazily; returns None if it is unavailable.
+        """
+        plt = _load_pyplot()
+        if plt is None:
+            return None
         plt.close("all")
 
         LIGHT_STYLE = {
diff --git a/studio/backend/requirements/extras.txt b/studio/backend/requirements/extras.txt
index 40737b0876..b56c2dfa40 100644
--- a/studio/backend/requirements/extras.txt
+++ b/studio/backend/requirements/extras.txt
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ ftfy
 importlib-resources
 librosa
 markdown2
-matplotlib
+matplotlib==3.10.9
 pystoi
 soundfile
 tensorboard
diff --git a/studio/backend/requirements/studio.txt b/studio/backend/requirements/studio.txt
index 96fef60471..9efa10faef 100644
--- a/studio/backend/requirements/studio.txt
+++ b/studio/backend/requirements/studio.txt
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ fastapi
 uvicorn
 pydantic
 packaging
-matplotlib
+matplotlib==3.10.9
 pandas
 nest_asyncio
 datasets==4.3.0