diff --git a/ofm_config_full.json b/ofm_config_full.json
index 7ae0469d..f182a774 100644
--- a/ofm_config_full.json
+++ b/ofm_config_full.json
@@ -7,12 +7,7 @@
         "/camera_stage_mapping/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.camera_stage_mapping:CameraStageMapper",
         "/system_control/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.system_control:SystemControlThing",
         "/settings/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.settings_manager:SettingsManager",
-        "/smart_scan/": {
-            "class": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.smart_scan:SmartScanThing",
-            "kwargs": {
-                "path_to_openflexure_stitch": "application/openflexure-stitching/.venv/bin/openflexure-stitch"
-            }
-        },
+        "/smart_scan/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.smart_scan:SmartScanThing",
         "/background_detect/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.background_detect:BackgroundDetectThing",
         "/capture/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.capture:CaptureThing"
     },
diff --git a/ofm_config_simulation.json b/ofm_config_simulation.json
index 62f427fb..0d06ad87 100644
--- a/ofm_config_simulation.json
+++ b/ofm_config_simulation.json
@@ -7,12 +7,7 @@
         "/camera_stage_mapping/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.camera_stage_mapping:CameraStageMapper",
         "/system_control/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.system_control:SystemControlThing",
         "/settings/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.settings_manager:SettingsManager",
-        "/smart_scan/": {
-            "class": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.smart_scan:SmartScanThing",
-            "kwargs": {
-                "path_to_openflexure_stitch": "application/openflexure-stitching/.venv/bin/openflexure-stitch"
-            }
-        },
+        "/smart_scan/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.smart_scan:SmartScanThing",
         "/background_detect/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.smart_scan:BackgroundDetectThing",
         "/api_test/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.test:APITestThing"
     },
diff --git a/ofm_config_stub.json b/ofm_config_stub.json
index 14aa1d3f..d312795e 100644
--- a/ofm_config_stub.json
+++ b/ofm_config_stub.json
@@ -7,12 +7,7 @@
         "/camera_stage_mapping/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.camera_stage_mapping:CameraStageMapper",
         "/system_control/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.system_control:SystemControlThing",
         "/settings/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.settings_manager:SettingsManager",
-        "/smart_scan/": {
-            "class": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.smart_scan:SmartScanThing",
-            "kwargs": {
-                "path_to_openflexure_stitch": "application/openflexure-stitching/.venv/bin/openflexure-stitch"
-            }
-        },
+        "/smart_scan/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.smart_scan:SmartScanThing",
         "/background_detect/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.smart_scan:BackgroundDetectThing",
         "/api_test/": "openflexure_microscope_server.things.test:APITestThing"
     },
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 1e4e4c77..fef6c92f 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ dependencies = [
   "labthings-sangaboard",
   "camera-stage-mapping ~= 0.1.10",
   "opencv-python ~= 4.11.0",
+  "openflexure-stitching[libvips]==0.1.0",
   "pillow ~= 10.4",
   "anyio ~= 4.0",
   "numpy ~= 2.2",
diff --git a/src/openflexure_microscope_server/things/smart_scan.py b/src/openflexure_microscope_server/things/smart_scan.py
index 92964145..3f11a7e7 100644
--- a/src/openflexure_microscope_server/things/smart_scan.py
+++ b/src/openflexure_microscope_server/things/smart_scan.py
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ JPEGBlob = blob_type("image/jpeg")
 ZipBlob = blob_type("application/zip")
 IMG_DIR_NAME = "images"
 SCAN_DATA_FILENAME = "scan_data.json"
+STITCHING_CMD = "openflexure-stitch"
 
 SCAN_ZERO_PAD_DIGITS = 4
 
@@ -112,8 +113,7 @@ def _scan_running(method):
 
 
 class SmartScanThing(Thing):
-    def __init__(self, path_to_openflexure_stitch: str):
-        self._stitching_script = path_to_openflexure_stitch
+    def __init__(self):
         self._preview_stitch_popen = None
         self._preview_stitch_popen_lock = threading.Lock()
         self._scan_lock = threading.Lock()
@@ -978,7 +978,7 @@ class SmartScanThing(Thing):
         with self._preview_stitch_popen_lock:
             self._preview_stitch_popen = Popen(
                 [
-                    self._stitching_script,
+                    STITCHING_CMD,
                     "--stitching_mode",
                     "only_stage_stitch",
                     "--minimum_overlap",
@@ -1092,7 +1092,7 @@ class SmartScanThing(Thing):
         self.run_subprocess(
             logger,
             [
-                self._stitching_script,
+                STITCHING_CMD,
                 "--stitching_mode",
                 "all",
                 f"{tiff_arg}",