diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5244b400..fa61eb9a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+## v1.0.0-alpha.3
+
+* [replace peerDeps with runtime checks](/~https://github.com/Realytics/fork-ts-checker-webpack-plugin/pull/201)
+
 ## v1.0.0-alpha.2
 
 * [Add `useTypescriptIncrementalApi`](/~https://github.com/Realytics/fork-ts-checker-webpack-plugin/pull/198) (#196)
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 9920032c..0338904c 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "fork-ts-checker-webpack-plugin",
-  "version": "1.0.0-alpha.2",
+  "version": "1.0.0-alpha.3",
   "description": "Runs typescript type checker and linter on separate process.",
   "main": "lib/index.js",
   "types": "lib/index.d.ts",
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@
     "@types/micromatch": "^3.1.0",
     "@types/minimatch": "^3.0.1",
     "@types/node": "^8.10.38",
+    "@types/semver": "^5.5.0",
     "@types/webpack": "^4.4.19",
     "chai": "^4.2.0",
     "css-loader": "0.28.11",
@@ -78,17 +79,13 @@
     "vue-template-compiler": "^2.5.16",
     "webpack": "^5.0.0-alpha.0"
   },
-  "peerDependencies": {
-    "tslint": "^4.0.0 || ^5.0.0",
-    "typescript": "^2.1.0 || ^3.0.0",
-    "webpack": "^2.3.0 || ^3.0.0 || ^4.0.0"
-  },
   "dependencies": {
     "babel-code-frame": "^6.22.0",
     "chalk": "^2.4.1",
     "chokidar": "^2.0.4",
     "micromatch": "^3.1.10",
     "minimatch": "^3.0.4",
+    "semver": "^5.6.0",
     "tapable": "^1.0.0"
   },
   "husky": {
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index b7dcc751..2940cd6a 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import * as path from 'path';
 import * as process from 'process';
 import { performance } from 'perf_hooks';
 import * as childProcess from 'child_process';
+import * as semver from 'semver';
 import chalk, { Chalk } from 'chalk';
 import * as micromatch from 'micromatch';
 import * as os from 'os';
@@ -181,10 +182,28 @@ class ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin {
       ? require('tslint').Linter.VERSION
       : undefined;
 
+    this.validateVersions();
+
     this.vue = options.vue === true; // default false
     this.measureTime = options.measureCompilationTime === true;
   }
 
+  private validateVersions() {
+    if (semver.lt(this.typescriptVersion, '2.1.0')) {
+      throw new Error(
+        `Cannot use current typescript version of ${
+          this.typescriptVersion
+        }, the minimum required version is 2.1.0`
+      );
+    } else if (this.tslintVersion && semver.lt(this.tslintVersion, '4.0.0')) {
+      throw new Error(
+        `Cannot use current tslint version of ${
+          this.tslintVersion
+        }, the minimum required version is 4.0.0`
+      );
+    }
+  }
+
   private static createFormatter(type: 'default' | 'codeframe', options: any) {
     switch (type) {
       case 'default':
@@ -823,6 +842,4 @@ class ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin {
 
 export = ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin;
 
-namespace ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin {
-
-}
+namespace ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin {}
diff --git a/src/tsconfig.json b/src/tsconfig.json
index ddd47b13..5ca40180 100644
--- a/src/tsconfig.json
+++ b/src/tsconfig.json
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
     "noImplicitReturns": true,
     "noUnusedLocals": true,
     "noUnusedParameters": true,
+    "skipLibCheck": true,
     "suppressImplicitAnyIndexErrors": true,
     "strict": true,
     "lib": ["es2015", "es2016.array.include", "dom"],
diff --git a/src/tslint.json b/src/tslint.json
index 6c112cb5..2a303896 100644
--- a/src/tslint.json
+++ b/src/tslint.json
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
       "allow-pascal-case"
     ],
     "no-namespace": false,
+    "no-implicit-dependencies": false,
     "array-type": [true, "array"]
   }
 }
diff --git a/test/unit/index.spec.js b/test/unit/index.spec.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..95761ffe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/index.spec.js
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+var describe = require('mocha').describe;
+var it = require('mocha').it;
+// var beforeEach = require('mocha').beforeEach;
+var afterEach = require('mocha').afterEach;
+var expect = require('chai').expect;
+var mockRequire = require('mock-require');
+
+describe('[UNIT] ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin', function() {
+  afterEach(function() {
+    mockRequire.stopAll();
+  });
+
+  it('should not throw if typescript version >= 2.1.0', function() {
+    mockRequire('typescript', { version: '2.1.0' });
+    var ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin = mockRequire.reRequire('../../lib/index');
+
+    expect(function() {
+      new ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin();
+    }).to.not.throw();
+  });
+
+  it('should throw if typescript version < 2.1.0', function() {
+    mockRequire('typescript', { version: '2.0.8' });
+    var ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin = mockRequire.reRequire('../../lib/index');
+
+    expect(function() {
+      new ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin();
+    }).to.throw();
+  });
+
+  it('should not throw if tslint version >= 4.0.0', function() {
+    mockRequire('typescript', { version: '2.1.0' });
+    mockRequire('tslint', { Linter: { VERSION: '4.0.0' } });
+    var ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin = mockRequire.reRequire('../../lib/index');
+
+    expect(function() {
+      new ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin({ tslint: true });
+    }).to.not.throw();
+  });
+
+  it('should throw if tslint version < 4.0.0', function() {
+    mockRequire('typescript', { version: '2.1.0' });
+    mockRequire('tslint', { Linter: { VERSION: '3.15.1' } });
+    var ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin = mockRequire.reRequire('../../lib/index');
+
+    expect(function() {
+      new ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin({ tslint: true });
+    }).to.throw();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 84b0ae94..822f6b35 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -96,6 +96,10 @@
   version "8.10.39"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/node/-/node-8.10.39.tgz#e7e87ad00364dd7bc485c940926345b8ec1a26ca"
 
+"@types/semver@^5.5.0":
+  version "5.5.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/semver/-/semver-5.5.0.tgz#146c2a29ee7d3bae4bf2fcb274636e264c813c45"
+
 "@types/tapable@*":
   version "1.0.4"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/tapable/-/tapable-1.0.4.tgz#b4ffc7dc97b498c969b360a41eee247f82616370"
@@ -3217,7 +3221,7 @@ semver-compare@^1.0.0:
   version "1.0.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/semver-compare/-/semver-compare-1.0.0.tgz#0dee216a1c941ab37e9efb1788f6afc5ff5537fc"
 
-"semver@2 || 3 || 4 || 5", semver@^5.0.1, semver@^5.3.0, semver@^5.5.0, semver@^5.5.1:
+"semver@2 || 3 || 4 || 5", semver@^5.0.1, semver@^5.3.0, semver@^5.5.0, semver@^5.5.1, semver@^5.6.0:
   version "5.6.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/semver/-/semver-5.6.0.tgz#7e74256fbaa49c75aa7c7a205cc22799cac80004"