diff --git a/agent-node/VERSION b/agent-node/VERSION
index 238d6e8..b0f3d96 100644
--- a/agent-node/VERSION
+++ b/agent-node/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.0.7
+1.0.8
diff --git a/agent-node/bootstrap_installer.py b/agent-node/bootstrap_installer.py
index 8275c9e..d1bfde5 100644
--- a/agent-node/bootstrap_installer.py
+++ b/agent-node/bootstrap_installer.py
@@ -111,13 +111,39 @@
     if not os.path.exists(req_file):
         _print("No requirements.txt found — skipping dependency install.")
         return
+    
+    _print("Checking for pip...")
+    pip_found = False
+    try:
+        subprocess.check_call([sys.executable, "-m", "pip", "--version"], stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL)
+        pip_found = True
+    except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
+        _print("pip not found. Attempting to bootstrap pip via ensurepip...")
+        try:
+            subprocess.check_call([sys.executable, "-m", "ensurepip", "--default-pip"], stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL)
+            pip_found = True
+            _print("pip bootstrapped successfully.")
+        except Exception as e:
+            _print(f"Warning: Failed to bootstrap pip: {e}. If dependencies fail, please install python3-pip manually.")
+
     _print("Installing Python dependencies (resilient mode) ...")
-    # Using --ignore-installed to bypass "no RECORD file found" metadata errors common on Mac/Anaconda
-    subprocess.check_call(
-        [sys.executable, "-m", "pip", "install", "-r", req_file, "--quiet", "--ignore-installed"],
-        cwd=install_dir
-    )
-    _print("Dependencies installed.")
+    try:
+        # Using --ignore-installed to bypass "no RECORD file found" metadata errors common on Mac/Anaconda
+        # and --user if we don't have root (though usually we do on NAS)
+        args = [sys.executable, "-m", "pip", "install", "-r", req_file, "--quiet", "--ignore-installed"]
+        
+        # Try a quick check for root/write access to site-packages
+        try:
+            subprocess.check_call(args, cwd=install_dir)
+        except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
+            _print("Standard install failed. Trying --user install...")
+            args.append("--user")
+            subprocess.check_call(args, cwd=install_dir)
+            
+        _print("Dependencies installed.")
+    except Exception as e:
+        _print(f"ERROR: Failed to install dependencies: {e}")
+        _print("The agent might fail to start if core libraries (grpcio, psutil) are missing.")
 
 
 def _write_config(install_dir: str, node_id: str, hub_url: str, token: str, grpc_endpoint: str, secret_key: str = None):