diff --git a/requirements-swh-journal.txt b/requirements-swh-journal.txt
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements-swh-journal.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+swh.journal >= 0.0.17
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -56,8 +56,10 @@
     setup_requires=['vcversioner'],
     install_requires=parse_requirements() + parse_requirements('swh'),
     extras_require={
-        'testing': parse_requirements('test'),
+        'testing': (parse_requirements('test') +
+                    parse_requirements('swh-journal')),
         'schemata': ['SQLAlchemy'],
+        'journal': parse_requirements('swh-journal'),
     },
     vcversioner={},
     include_package_data=True,
diff --git a/swh/storage/in_memory.py b/swh/storage/in_memory.py
--- a/swh/storage/in_memory.py
+++ b/swh/storage/in_memory.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 from swh.objstorage import get_objstorage
 from swh.objstorage.exc import ObjNotFoundError
 
-from .journal_writer import get_journal_writer
+from .storage import get_journal_writer
 
 # Max block size of contents to return
 BULK_BLOCK_CONTENT_LEN_MAX = 10000
diff --git a/swh/storage/journal_writer.py b/swh/storage/journal_writer.py
deleted file mode 100644
--- a/swh/storage/journal_writer.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,40 +0,0 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2019  The Software Heritage developers
-# See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
-# License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
-# See top-level LICENSE file for more information
-
-import copy
-from multiprocessing import Manager
-
-
-from swh.model.model import BaseModel
-
-
-class InMemoryJournalWriter:
-    def __init__(self):
-        # Share the list of objects across processes, for RemoteAPI tests.
-        self.manager = Manager()
-        self.objects = self.manager.list()
-
-    def write_addition(self, object_type, object_):
-        if isinstance(object_, BaseModel):
-            object_ = object_.to_dict()
-        self.objects.append((object_type, copy.deepcopy(object_)))
-
-    write_update = write_addition
-
-    def write_additions(self, object_type, objects):
-        for object_ in objects:
-            self.write_addition(object_type, object_)
-
-
-def get_journal_writer(cls, args={}):
-    if cls == 'inmemory':
-        JournalWriter = InMemoryJournalWriter
-    elif cls == 'kafka':
-        from swh.journal.direct_writer import DirectKafkaWriter \
-            as JournalWriter
-    else:
-        raise ValueError('Unknown storage class `%s`' % cls)
-
-    return JournalWriter(**args)
diff --git a/swh/storage/storage.py b/swh/storage/storage.py
--- a/swh/storage/storage.py
+++ b/swh/storage/storage.py
@@ -20,11 +20,14 @@
 from .db import Db
 from .exc import StorageDBError
 from .algos import diff
-from .journal_writer import get_journal_writer
 
 from swh.model.hashutil import ALGORITHMS, hash_to_bytes
 from swh.objstorage import get_objstorage
 from swh.objstorage.exc import ObjNotFoundError
+try:
+    from swh.journal.writer import get_journal_writer
+except ImportError:
+    get_journal_writer = None
 
 
 # Max block size of contents to return
@@ -61,6 +64,10 @@
 
         self.objstorage = get_objstorage(**objstorage)
         if journal_writer:
+            if get_journal_writer is None:
+                raise EnvironmentError(
+                    'You need the swh.journal package to use the '
+                    'journal_writer feature')
             self.journal_writer = get_journal_writer(**journal_writer)
         else:
             self.journal_writer = None
diff --git a/swh/storage/tests/test_api_client.py b/swh/storage/tests/test_api_client.py
--- a/swh/storage/tests/test_api_client.py
+++ b/swh/storage/tests/test_api_client.py
@@ -10,9 +10,7 @@
 import pytest
 
 from swh.core.api.tests.server_testing import ServerTestFixture
-import swh.storage.storage as storage
-from swh.storage.journal_writer import \
-    get_journal_writer, InMemoryJournalWriter
+from swh.journal import writer
 from swh.storage.in_memory import Storage as InMemoryStorage
 from swh.storage.api.client import RemoteStorage
 import swh.storage.api.server as server
@@ -24,13 +22,16 @@
 class RemotePgStorageFixture(StorageTestDbFixture, ServerTestFixture,
                              unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
+        journal_writer = writer.get_journal_writer(cls='inmemory')
+
         def mock_get_journal_writer(cls, args=None):
             assert cls == 'inmemory'
             return journal_writer
-        server.storage = None
-        storage.get_journal_writer = mock_get_journal_writer
-        journal_writer = InMemoryJournalWriter()
+
         self.journal_writer = journal_writer
+        server.storage = None
+        self.get_journal_writer = writer.get_journal_writer
+        writer.get_journal_writer = mock_get_journal_writer
 
         # ServerTestFixture needs to have self.objroot for
         # setUp() method, but this field is defined in
@@ -64,7 +65,7 @@
     def tearDown(self):
         super().tearDown()
         shutil.rmtree(self.storage_base)
-        storage.get_journal_writer = get_journal_writer
+        writer.get_journal_writer = self.get_journal_writer
 
     def reset_storage(self):
         excluded = {'dbversion', 'tool'}