diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index 8ae01735c7..00457a53d3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ jobs:
         python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
         allow-prereleases: true
         cache: 'pip'
-        cache-dependency-path: 'requirements/*.txt'
 
     - name: Upgrade packaging tools
       run: python -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools virtualenv wheel
@@ -60,7 +59,7 @@ jobs:
         python-version: '3.13'
 
     - name: Install dependencies
-      run: pip install -r requirements/requirements-documentation.txt
+      run: pip install --group docs
     
     # Start mkdocs server and wait for it to be ready
     - run: mkdocs serve &
diff --git a/.github/workflows/mkdocs-deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/mkdocs-deploy.yml
index ef58e9b779..778c7f1275 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/mkdocs-deploy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/mkdocs-deploy.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ on:
     paths:
       - docs/**
       - docs_theme/**
-      - requirements/requirements-documentation.txt
+      - pyproject.toml
       - mkdocs.yml
       - .github/workflows/mkdocs-deploy.yml
 
@@ -25,5 +25,5 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/setup-python@v6
         with:
           python-version: 3.x
-      - run: pip install -r requirements/requirements-documentation.txt
+      - run: pip install --group docs
       - run: mkdocs gh-deploy
diff --git a/docs/community/contributing.md b/docs/community/contributing.md
index 797bf72e38..00e4ec4d89 100644
--- a/docs/community/contributing.md
+++ b/docs/community/contributing.md
@@ -75,8 +75,7 @@ To run the tests, clone the repository, and then:
     # Setup the virtual environment
     python3 -m venv env
     source env/bin/activate
-    pip install -e .
-    pip install -r requirements.txt
+    pip install -e . --group dev
 
     # Run the tests
     ./runtests.py
diff --git a/docs/community/project-management.md b/docs/community/project-management.md
index 5c7577ec81..7856fedd5d 100644
--- a/docs/community/project-management.md
+++ b/docs/community/project-management.md
@@ -81,14 +81,6 @@ When pushing the release to PyPI ensure that your environment has been installed
 
 ---
 
-## Project requirements
-
-All our test requirements are pinned to exact versions, in order to ensure that our test runs are reproducible. We maintain the requirements in the `requirements` directory. The requirements files are referenced from the `tox.ini` configuration file, ensuring we have a single source of truth for package versions used in testing.
-
-Package upgrades should generally be treated as isolated pull requests. You can check if there are any packages available at a newer version, by using the `pip list --outdated`.
-
----
-
 ## Project ownership
 
 The PyPI package is owned by `@tomchristie`. As a backup `@j4mie` also has ownership of the package.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index da608a26c4..5120a3a577 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -33,6 +33,46 @@ classifiers = [
 dynamic = [ "version" ]
 
 dependencies = [ "django>=4.2" ]
+
+[dependency-groups]
+dev = [
+  { include-group = "docs" },
+  { include-group = "optional" },
+  { include-group = "test" },
+]
+
+test = [
+  # temporary pin of attrs
+  "attrs==22.1",
+  "importlib-metadata<5",
+
+  # Pytest for running the tests.
+  "pytest>=7.0.1,<8",
+  "pytest-cov>=4,<5",
+  "pytest-django>=4.5.2,<5",
+
+  # Remove when dropping support for Django<5.0
+  "pytz",
+]
+docs = [
+  # MkDocs to build our documentation.
+  "mkdocs==1.6",
+  # pylinkvalidator to check for broken links in documentation.
+  "pylinkvalidator==0.3",
+]
+optional = [
+  # Optional packages which may be used with REST framework.
+  "coreapi==2.3.1",
+  "coreschema==0.0.4",
+  "django-filter",
+  "django-guardian>=2.4,<2.5",
+  "inflection==0.5.1",
+  "legacy-cgi; python_version>='3.13'",
+  "markdown>=3.3.7",
+  "psycopg[binary]>=3.1.8",
+  "pygments~=2.17.0",
+  "pyyaml>=5.3.1,<5.4",
+]
 urls.Changelog = "https://www.django-rest-framework.org/community/release-notes/"
 urls.Funding = "https://fund.django-rest-framework.org/topics/funding/"
 urls.Homepage = "https://www.django-rest-framework.org"
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index c3a1f1187c..0000000000
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-# The base set of requirements for REST framework is actually
-# just Django and pytz, but for the purposes of development
-# and testing there are a number of packages that are useful
-# to install.
-
-# Laying these out as separate requirements files, allows us to
-# only included the relevant sets when running tox, and ensures
-# we are only ever declaring our dependencies in one place.
-
--r requirements/requirements-optionals.txt
--r requirements/requirements-testing.txt
--r requirements/requirements-documentation.txt
--r requirements/requirements-packaging.txt
diff --git a/requirements/requirements-documentation.txt b/requirements/requirements-documentation.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 2cf936ef38..0000000000
--- a/requirements/requirements-documentation.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-# MkDocs to build our documentation.
-mkdocs==1.6.0
-
-# pylinkvalidator to check for broken links in documentation.
-pylinkvalidator==0.3
diff --git a/requirements/requirements-optionals.txt b/requirements/requirements-optionals.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index a19e4d1929..0000000000
--- a/requirements/requirements-optionals.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-# Optional packages which may be used with REST framework.
-coreapi==2.3.1
-coreschema==0.0.4
-django-filter
-django-guardian>=2.4.0,<2.5
-inflection==0.5.1
-legacy-cgi; python_version>="3.13"
-markdown>=3.3.7
-psycopg[binary]>=3.1.8
-pygments~=2.17.0
-pyyaml>=5.3.1,<5.4
diff --git a/requirements/requirements-packaging.txt b/requirements/requirements-packaging.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 81f22a35a1..0000000000
--- a/requirements/requirements-packaging.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-# Wheel for PyPI installs.
-wheel>=0.36.2,<0.40.0
-
-# Twine for secured PyPI uploads.
-twine>=3.4.2,<4.0.2
-
-# Transifex client for managing translation resources.
-transifex-client
diff --git a/requirements/requirements-testing.txt b/requirements/requirements-testing.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index a3821a5089..0000000000
--- a/requirements/requirements-testing.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-# Pytest for running the tests.
-pytest>=7.0.1,<8.0
-pytest-cov>=4.0.0,<5.0
-pytest-django>=4.5.2,<5.0
-importlib-metadata<5.0
-# temporary pin of attrs
-attrs==22.1.0
-pytz  # Remove when dropping support for Django<5.0
-setuptools>=77.0.3
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 6980d0bfa3..8c7d861caa 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -15,35 +15,38 @@ envdir = {toxworkdir}/venvs/{envname}
 setenv =
        PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1
        PYTHONWARNINGS=once
+dependency_groups =
+       test
+       optional
 deps =
-        django42: Django>=4.2,<5.0
-        django50: Django>=5.0,<5.1
-        django51: Django>=5.1,<5.2
-        django52: Django>=5.2,<6.0
-        django60: Django>=6.0,<6.1
-        djangomain: https://github.com/django/django/archive/main.tar.gz
-        -rrequirements/requirements-testing.txt
-        -rrequirements/requirements-optionals.txt
+       django42: Django>=4.2,<5.0
+       django50: Django>=5.0,<5.1
+       django51: Django>=5.1,<5.2
+       django52: Django>=5.2,<6.0
+       django60: Django>=6.0,<6.1
+       djangomain: https://github.com/django/django/archive/main.tar.gz
 
 [testenv:base]
 ; Ensure optional dependencies are not required
+dependency_groups =
+       test
 deps =
-        django<6.1
-        -rrequirements/requirements-testing.txt
 
 [testenv:dist]
 commands = python -W error::DeprecationWarning -W error::PendingDeprecationWarning runtests.py --no-pkgroot --staticfiles {posargs}
+dependency_groups =
+       test
+       optional
 deps =
-        django<6.1
-        -rrequirements/requirements-testing.txt
-        -rrequirements/requirements-optionals.txt
 
 [testenv:docs]
 skip_install = true
-commands = mkdocs build
+commands =
+       mkdocs build
+dependency_groups =
+       test
+       docs
 deps =
-       -rrequirements/requirements-testing.txt
-       -rrequirements/requirements-documentation.txt
 
 [testenv:py312-djangomain]
 ignore_outcome = true