diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index d56f14e3e3..9481180e55 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
   "productName": "OpenLens",
   "description": "OpenLens - Open Source IDE for Kubernetes",
   "homepage": "https://github.com/lensapp/lens",
-  "version": "6.1.17",
+  "version": "6.1.18",
   "main": "static/build/main.js",
   "copyright": "© 2022 OpenLens Authors",
   "license": "MIT",
diff --git a/src/extensions/extension-installer/extension-installer.ts b/src/extensions/extension-installer/extension-installer.ts
index f217f91bb9..de97c71f00 100644
--- a/src/extensions/extension-installer/extension-installer.ts
+++ b/src/extensions/extension-installer/extension-installer.ts
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ const baseNpmInstallArgs = [
   "install",
   "--audit=false",
   "--fund=false",
+  // NOTE: we do not omit the `optional` dependencies because that is how we specify the non-bundled extensions
   "--omit=dev",
-  "--omit=optional",
   "--omit=peer",
   "--prefer-offline",
 ];