diff --git a/bec_lib/bec_lib/utils/__init__.py b/bec_lib/bec_lib/utils/__init__.py
index 1662e9c18..1791ee625 100644
--- a/bec_lib/bec_lib/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/bec_lib/bec_lib/utils/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,26 @@
-from bec_lib.utils.rpc_utils import user_access
-from bec_lib.utils.scan_utils import scan_to_csv, scan_to_dict
-from bec_lib.utils.threading_utils import threadlocked
+from importlib import import_module
+from typing import Any
+
+_LAZY_EXPORTS = {
+    "lazy_import": ("bec_lib.utils.import_utils", "lazy_import"),
+    "lazy_import_from": ("bec_lib.utils.import_utils", "lazy_import_from"),
+    "scan_to_csv": ("bec_lib.utils.scan_utils", "scan_to_csv"),
+    "scan_to_dict": ("bec_lib.utils.scan_utils", "scan_to_dict"),
+    "threadlocked": ("bec_lib.utils.threading_utils", "threadlocked"),
+    "user_access": ("bec_lib.utils.rpc_utils", "user_access"),
+}
+
+__all__ = sorted(_LAZY_EXPORTS)
+
+
+def __getattr__(name: str) -> Any:
+    if name not in _LAZY_EXPORTS:
+        raise AttributeError(f"module {__name__!r} has no attribute {name!r}")
+    module_name, attr_name = _LAZY_EXPORTS[name]
+    value = getattr(import_module(module_name), attr_name)
+    globals()[name] = value
+    return value
+
+
+def __dir__() -> list[str]:
+    return sorted(set(globals()) | set(__all__))
diff --git a/bec_lib/bec_lib/utils/import_utils.py b/bec_lib/bec_lib/utils/import_utils.py
index e0f0d8329..4b42e584b 100644
--- a/bec_lib/bec_lib/utils/import_utils.py
+++ b/bec_lib/bec_lib/utils/import_utils.py
@@ -1,28 +1,40 @@
-import inspect
-import sys
+from collections.abc import Iterable
 from importlib import import_module
-from typing import Any
+from typing import Any, overload
 
 from bec_lib.utils.proxy import Proxy
 
 
-def lazy_import(module_name):
+def lazy_import(module_name: str) -> Proxy:
     return Proxy(lambda: import_module(module_name), init_once=True)
 
 
-def lazy_import_from(module_name, from_list):
-    ret = (Proxy(lambda name=name: getattr(import_module(module_name), name)) for name in from_list)
-    if len(from_list) == 1:
-        return next(ret)
-    else:
-        return ret
+@overload
+def lazy_import_from(module_name: str, from_list: str) -> Proxy: ...
 
 
-def isinstance_based_on_class_name(obj: Any, full_class_name: str):
+@overload
+def lazy_import_from(module_name: str, from_list: Iterable[str]) -> tuple[Proxy, ...] | Proxy: ...
+
+
+def lazy_import_from(module_name: str, from_list: str | Iterable[str]) -> tuple[Proxy, ...] | Proxy:
+    names = (from_list,) if isinstance(from_list, str) else tuple(from_list)
+    proxies = tuple(
+        Proxy(lambda name=name: getattr(import_module(module_name), name), init_once=True)
+        for name in names
+    )
+    if len(proxies) == 1:
+        return proxies[0]
+    return proxies
+
+
+def isinstance_based_on_class_name(obj: Any, full_class_name: str) -> bool:
     """Return if object 'obj' is an instance of class named 'full_class_name'
 
     'full_class_name' must be a string like 'class_module.class_name', the corresponding class does not need to be imported at the caller module level
     """
+    import inspect
+
     return full_class_name in [
         f"{klass.__module__}.{klass.__name__}" for klass in inspect.getmro(type(obj))
     ]
diff --git a/bec_lib/tests/test_import_utils.py b/bec_lib/tests/test_import_utils.py
index 1f0f5cc7d..35bdcd089 100644
--- a/bec_lib/tests/test_import_utils.py
+++ b/bec_lib/tests/test_import_utils.py
@@ -1,9 +1,106 @@
-from bec_lib.device import DeviceBase
-from bec_lib.utils.import_utils import isinstance_based_on_class_name
+import os
+import subprocess
+import sys
+from types import SimpleNamespace
+
+from bec_lib.utils import import_utils
+
+
+class DummyBase:
+    pass
+
+
+class DummyChild(DummyBase):
+    pass
+
+
+def _clean_pythonpath() -> str:
+    return os.pathsep.join(str(path) for path in sys.path if path)
 
 
 def test_isinstance_based_on_class_name():
-    obj = DeviceBase(name="test_obj")
+    obj = DummyChild()
+    assert import_utils.isinstance_based_on_class_name(
+        obj, f"{DummyBase.__module__}.{DummyBase.__name__}"
+    )
+    assert import_utils.isinstance_based_on_class_name(
+        obj, f"{DummyChild.__module__}.{DummyChild.__name__}"
+    )
+    assert not import_utils.isinstance_based_on_class_name(obj, "builtins.dict")
+
+
+def test_lazy_import_from_accepts_string_input():
+    json_decoder = import_utils.lazy_import_from("json", "JSONDecoder")
+    assert json_decoder.__name__ == "JSONDecoder"
+
+
+def test_lazy_import_from_single_tuple_returns_single_proxy():
+    json_decoder = import_utils.lazy_import_from("json", ("JSONDecoder",))
+    assert json_decoder.__name__ == "JSONDecoder"
+
+
+def test_lazy_import_from_multiple_names_returns_tuple():
+    proxies = import_utils.lazy_import_from("json", ("JSONDecoder", "JSONEncoder"))
+    assert isinstance(proxies, tuple)
+    assert [proxy.__name__ for proxy in proxies] == ["JSONDecoder", "JSONEncoder"]
+
+
+def test_lazy_import_from_materializes_once(monkeypatch):
+    calls = []
+
+    def fake_import(module_name):
+        calls.append(module_name)
+        return SimpleNamespace(DemoClass=type("DemoClass", (), {}))
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(import_utils, "import_module", fake_import)
+
+    demo_class = import_utils.lazy_import_from("demo.module", "DemoClass")
+    assert demo_class.__name__ == "DemoClass"
+    assert demo_class.__name__ == "DemoClass"
+    assert calls == ["demo.module"]
+
+
+def test_lazy_import_does_not_import_module_until_use(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    module_name = "lazy_target_module"
+    module_path = tmp_path / "lazy_target_module.py"
+    module_path.write_text("VALUE = 123\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    monkeypatch.syspath_prepend(str(tmp_path))
+    sys.modules.pop(module_name, None)
+
+    mod = import_utils.lazy_import(module_name)
+
+    assert module_name not in sys.modules
+    assert mod.VALUE == 123
+    assert module_name in sys.modules
+
+
+def test_lazy_import_from_does_not_import_module_until_use(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    module_name = "lazy_from_target_module"
+    module_path = tmp_path / "lazy_from_target_module.py"
+    module_path.write_text("class DemoClass:\n" "    VALUE = 456\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    monkeypatch.syspath_prepend(str(tmp_path))
+    sys.modules.pop(module_name, None)
+
+    demo_cls = import_utils.lazy_import_from(module_name, "DemoClass")
+
+    assert module_name not in sys.modules
+    assert demo_cls.VALUE == 456
+    assert module_name in sys.modules
+
 
-    assert isinstance_based_on_class_name(obj, "bec_lib.device.DeviceBase")
-    assert not isinstance_based_on_class_name(obj, "bec_lib.device.Status")
+def test_importing_import_utils_does_not_import_scan_utils():
+    # This needs a clean interpreter because sys.modules is shared by the test process.
+    env = os.environ | {"PYTHONPATH": _clean_pythonpath()}
+    proc = subprocess.run(
+        [
+            sys.executable,
+            "-c",
+            "from bec_lib.utils.import_utils import lazy_import_from; import sys; "
+            "print('bec_lib.utils.scan_utils' in sys.modules)",
+        ],
+        check=True,
+        capture_output=True,
+        text=True,
+        env=env,
+    )
+    assert proc.stdout.strip() == "False"