diff --git a/.codegen/__init__.py.tmpl b/.codegen/__init__.py.tmpl
index c52b8ed65..a8e730af0 100644
--- a/.codegen/__init__.py.tmpl
+++ b/.codegen/__init__.py.tmpl
@@ -17,6 +17,22 @@ from databricks.sdk.service.{{.Package.Name}} import {{.PascalName}}API{{end}}
   {{- getOrDefault $mixins $genApi $genApi -}}
 {{- end -}}
 
+def _make_dbutils(config: client.Config):
+    # We try to directly check if we are in runtime, instead of
+    # trying to import from databricks.sdk.runtime. This is to prevent
+    # remote dbutils from being created without the config, which is both
+    # expensive (will need to check all credential providers) and can
+    # throw errors (when no env vars are set).
+    try:
+        from dbruntime import UserNamespaceInitializer
+    except ImportError:
+        return dbutils.RemoteDbUtils(config)
+
+    # We are in runtime, so we can use the runtime dbutils
+    from databricks.sdk.runtime import dbutils as runtime_dbutils
+    return runtime_dbutils
+
+
 class WorkspaceClient:
     def __init__(self, *{{range $args}}, {{.}}: str = None{{end}},
                  debug_truncate_bytes: int = None,
@@ -33,7 +49,7 @@ class WorkspaceClient:
             product=product,
             product_version=product_version)
         self.config = config.copy()
-        self.dbutils = dbutils.RemoteDbUtils(self.config)
+        self.dbutils = _make_dbutils(self.config)
         self.api_client = client.ApiClient(self.config)
         self.files = FilesMixin(self.api_client)
         {{- range .Services}}{{if not .IsAccounts}}
diff --git a/databricks/sdk/__init__.py b/databricks/sdk/__init__.py
index f364ad2ff..c1c3d189c 100755
--- a/databricks/sdk/__init__.py
+++ b/databricks/sdk/__init__.py
@@ -59,6 +59,22 @@
                                               SecretsAPI, WorkspaceAPI)
 
 
+def _make_dbutils(config: client.Config):
+    # We try to directly check if we are in runtime, instead of
+    # trying to import from databricks.sdk.runtime. This is to prevent
+    # remote dbutils from being created without the config, which is both
+    # expensive (will need to check all credential providers) and can
+    # throw errors (when no env vars are set).
+    try:
+        from dbruntime import UserNamespaceInitializer
+    except ImportError:
+        return dbutils.RemoteDbUtils(config)
+
+    # We are in runtime, so we can use the runtime dbutils
+    from databricks.sdk.runtime import dbutils as runtime_dbutils
+    return runtime_dbutils
+
+
 class WorkspaceClient:
 
     def __init__(self,
@@ -108,7 +124,7 @@ def __init__(self,
                                    product=product,
                                    product_version=product_version)
         self.config = config.copy()
-        self.dbutils = dbutils.RemoteDbUtils(self.config)
+        self.dbutils = _make_dbutils(self.config)
         self.api_client = client.ApiClient(self.config)
         self.files = FilesMixin(self.api_client)
         self.account_access_control_proxy = AccountAccessControlProxyAPI(self.api_client)