diff --git a/requirements-test.txt b/requirements-test.txt
--- a/requirements-test.txt
+++ b/requirements-test.txt
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@
 types-flask
 types-pyyaml
 types-requests
+types-Deprecated
diff --git a/swh/scheduler/celery_backend/runner.py b/swh/scheduler/celery_backend/runner.py
--- a/swh/scheduler/celery_backend/runner.py
+++ b/swh/scheduler/celery_backend/runner.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import logging
 from typing import Dict, List, Tuple
 
+from deprecated import deprecated
 from kombu.utils.uuid import uuid
 
 from swh.core.statsd import statsd
@@ -151,6 +152,7 @@
         all_backend_tasks.extend(backend_tasks)
 
 
+@deprecated(version="0.18", reason="Use `swh scheduler start-runner` instead")
 def main():
     from .config import app as main_app