diff --git a/mempalace/project_scanner.py b/mempalace/project_scanner.py
index e078b6e..c03b883 100644
--- a/mempalace/project_scanner.py
+++ b/mempalace/project_scanner.py
@@ -28,7 +28,10 @@ from typing import Optional
 try:
     import tomllib  # Python 3.11+
 except ImportError:  # pragma: no cover
-    tomllib = None  # type: ignore
+    try:
+        import tomli as tomllib  # Python 3.9/3.10 backport
+    except ImportError:
+        tomllib = None  # type: ignore
 
 
 SKIP_DIRS = {
@@ -130,7 +133,7 @@ def _parse_toml(path: Path) -> dict:
     try:
         with open(path, "rb") as f:
             return tomllib.load(f)
-    except (OSError, Exception):
+    except (OSError, tomllib.TOMLDecodeError):
         return {}
 
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 8733ec3..617c067 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ classifiers = [
 dependencies = [
     "chromadb>=1.5.4,<2",
     "pyyaml>=6.0,<7",
+    "tomli>=2.0.0; python_version < '3.11'",
 ]
 
 [project.urls]