diff --git a/kotlin-format.hcl b/kotlin-format.hcl
index 439ff788..70e8a7ad 100644
--- a/kotlin-format.hcl
+++ b/kotlin-format.hcl
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 description = "A command-line tool designed to enforce consistent code formatting for Kotlin."
-runtime-dependencies = ["openjre-17.0.4.1_1"]
+# Conceptually using runtime-dependencies = ["openjre-17.0.4.1_1"] or such would be more correct,
+# but in practice any repo wanting to use this tool will have kotlin code and like already have
+# a JDK/JRE of some sort. Using requires = ["jre"] instead allows reusing that already-installed
+# java runtime instead of downloading a second one in the background just for this tool.
+requires = ["jre"]
 binaries = ["kotlin-format"]
 source = "https://github.com/block/kotlin-formatter/releases/download/${version}/kotlin-formatter-${version}-all.jar"
 dont-extract = true
@@ -21,4 +25,4 @@ version "1.0.0" "1.0.1" {
   auto-version {
     github-release = "block/kotlin-formatter"
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}