diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index fa3b9324..e9ef4e9f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -76,9 +76,36 @@ jobs:
     - name: Pyleft Check
       run: pyleft luxonis_train
 
-  tests:
+  # Tests that the `luxonis-train.config.Config` works
+  # even when the dependencies of `luxonis-train` are
+  # not installed.
+  config-test:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     needs:
       - type-check
+
+    steps:
+    - name: Checkout
+      uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      with:
+        ref: ${{ github.head_ref }}
+
+    - name: Set up Python
+      uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+      with:
+        python-version: '3.10'
+        cache: pip
+
+    - name: Test config without dependencies
+      run: |
+        pip install luxonis-ml[utils]
+        pip install -e . --no-deps
+        python -c 'from luxonis_train.config import Config; \
+                   Config.get_config("configs/complex_model.yaml")'
+
+  tests:
+    needs:
+      - config-test
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
diff --git a/luxonis_train/config/predefined_models/ocr_recognition_model.py b/luxonis_train/config/predefined_models/ocr_recognition_model.py
index ffbf8e07..ba88d7f2 100644
--- a/luxonis_train/config/predefined_models/ocr_recognition_model.py
+++ b/luxonis_train/config/predefined_models/ocr_recognition_model.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from typing import Literal, TypeAlias
 
+from loguru import logger
 from pydantic import BaseModel
 
 from luxonis_train.config import (
@@ -9,10 +10,20 @@
     ModelNodeConfig,
     Params,
 )
-from luxonis_train.utils.ocr import AlphabetName
 
 from .base_predefined_model import BasePredefinedModel
 
+AlphabetName: TypeAlias = Literal[
+    "english",
+    "english_lowercase",
+    "numeric",
+    "alphanumeric",
+    "alphanumeric_lowercase",
+    "punctuation",
+    "ascii",
+]
+
+
 VariantLiteral: TypeAlias = Literal["light", "heavy"]
 
 
@@ -72,7 +83,8 @@ def __init__(
         self.head_params = head_params or var_config.head_params
 
         self.backbone_params["max_text_len"] = max_text_len
-        self.head_params["alphabet"] = alphabet
+
+        self.head_params["alphabet"] = self._generate_alphabet(alphabet)
         self.head_params["ignore_unknown"] = ignore_unknown
         self.loss_params = loss_params or {}
         self.visualizer_params = visualizer_params or {}
@@ -139,3 +151,34 @@ def visualizers(self) -> list[AttachedModuleConfig]:
                 params=self.visualizer_params,
             )
         ]
+
+    def _generate_alphabet(
+        self, alphabet: list[str] | AlphabetName
+    ) -> list[str]:
+        alphabets = {
+            "english": list(
+                "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
+            ),
+            "english_lowercase": list("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"),
+            "numeric": list("0123456789"),
+            "alphanumeric": list(
+                "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789"
+            ),
+            "alphanumeric_lowercase": list(
+                "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789"
+            ),
+            "punctuation": list(" !\"#$%&'()*+,-./:;<=>?@[\\]^_`{|}~"),
+            "ascii": list("".join(chr(i) for i in range(32, 127))),
+        }
+
+        if isinstance(alphabet, str):
+            if alphabet not in alphabets:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    f"Invalid alphabet name '{alphabet}'. "
+                    f"Available options are: {list(alphabets.keys())}. "
+                    f"Alternatively, you can provide a custom alphabet as a list of characters."
+                )
+            logger.info(f"Using predefined alphabet '{alphabet}'.")
+            alphabet = alphabets[alphabet]
+
+        return alphabet
diff --git a/luxonis_train/nodes/heads/ocr_ctc_head.py b/luxonis_train/nodes/heads/ocr_ctc_head.py
index 5b07e42c..0876b6f2 100644
--- a/luxonis_train/nodes/heads/ocr_ctc_head.py
+++ b/luxonis_train/nodes/heads/ocr_ctc_head.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 from luxonis_train.nodes.heads import BaseHead
 from luxonis_train.tasks import Tasks
 from luxonis_train.utils import OCRDecoder, OCREncoder
-from luxonis_train.utils.ocr import AlphabetName
 
 
 class OCRCTCHead(BaseHead[Tensor, Tensor]):
@@ -18,7 +17,7 @@ class OCRCTCHead(BaseHead[Tensor, Tensor]):
 
     def __init__(
         self,
-        alphabet: list[str] | AlphabetName = "english",
+        alphabet: list[str],
         ignore_unknown: bool = True,
         fc_decay: float = 0.0004,
         mid_channels: int | None = None,
@@ -34,8 +33,8 @@ def __init__(
         @license: U{Apache License, Version 2.0
             <https://github.com/PaddlePaddle/PaddleOCR/blob/main/LICENSE
             >}
-        @type alphabet: list[str] | AlphabetName
-        @param alphabet: List of characters or a name of the alphabet.
+        @type alphabet: list[str]
+        @param alphabet: List of characters.
         @type ignore_unknown: bool
         @param ignore_unknown: Whether to ignore unknown characters.
             Defaults to True.
diff --git a/luxonis_train/utils/ocr.py b/luxonis_train/utils/ocr.py
index 8f9d18ed..5c4806fa 100644
--- a/luxonis_train/utils/ocr.py
+++ b/luxonis_train/utils/ocr.py
@@ -1,32 +1,7 @@
-from typing import Literal, TypeAlias
-
 import numpy as np
 import torch
-from loguru import logger
 from torch import Tensor
 
-ALPHABETS = {
-    "english": list("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"),
-    "english_lowercase": list("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"),
-    "numeric": list("0123456789"),
-    "alphanumeric": list(
-        "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789"
-    ),
-    "alphanumeric_lowercase": list("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789"),
-    "punctuation": list(" !\"#$%&'()*+,-./:;<=>?@[\\]^_`{|}~"),
-    "ascii": list("".join(chr(i) for i in range(32, 127))),
-}
-
-AlphabetName: TypeAlias = Literal[
-    "english",
-    "english_lowercase",
-    "numeric",
-    "alphanumeric",
-    "alphanumeric_lowercase",
-    "punctuation",
-    "ascii",
-]
-
 
 class OCRDecoder:
     """OCR decoder for converting model predictions to text."""
@@ -104,29 +79,18 @@ class OCREncoder:
 
     def __init__(
         self,
-        alphabet: list[str] | AlphabetName = "english",
+        alphabet: list[str],
         ignore_unknown: bool = True,
     ):
         """Initializes the OCR encoder.
 
-        @type alphabet: list[str] | AlphabetName
-        @param alphabet: A list of characters in the alphabet or a name
-            of a predefined alphabet. Defaults to "english".
+        @type alphabet: list[str]
+        @param alphabet: A list of characters in the alphabet.
         @type ignore_unknown: bool
         @param ignore_unknown: Whether to ignore unknown characters.
             Defaults to True.
         """
 
-        if isinstance(alphabet, str):
-            if alphabet not in ALPHABETS:
-                raise ValueError(
-                    f"Invalid alphabet name '{alphabet}'. "
-                    f"Available options are: {list(ALPHABETS.keys())}. "
-                    f"Alternatively, you can provide a custom alphabet as a list of characters."
-                )
-            alphabet = ALPHABETS[alphabet]
-            logger.info(f"Using predefined alphabet '{alphabet}'.")
-
         self._alphabet = [""] + list(np.unique(alphabet))
         self.char_to_int = {char: i for i, char in enumerate(self._alphabet)}