diff --git a/lib/galaxy/tool_util/version_util.py b/lib/galaxy/tool_util/version_util.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..644d58297e4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/galaxy/tool_util/version_util.py
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+from typing import Union
+
+from packaging.version import Version
+
+from .version import LegacyVersion
+
+AnyVersionT = Union[LegacyVersion, Version]
+
+
+__all__ = ["AnyVersionT"]
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/tools/__init__.py b/lib/galaxy/tools/__init__.py
index d9d503609f68..e340868f340f 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/tools/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/tools/__init__.py
@@ -109,10 +109,8 @@
 from galaxy.tool_util.verify.interactor import ToolTestDescription
 from galaxy.tool_util.verify.parse import parse_tool_test_descriptions
 from galaxy.tool_util.verify.test_data import TestDataNotFoundError
-from galaxy.tool_util.version import (
-    LegacyVersion,
-    parse_version,
-)
+from galaxy.tool_util.version import parse_version
+from galaxy.tool_util.version_util import AnyVersionT
 from galaxy.tools import expressions
 from galaxy.tools.actions import (
     DefaultToolAction,
@@ -339,8 +337,8 @@
 
 
 class safe_update(NamedTuple):
-    min_version: Union[LegacyVersion, Version]
-    current_version: Union[LegacyVersion, Version]
+    min_version: AnyVersionT
+    current_version: AnyVersionT
 
 
 # Tool updates that did not change parameters in a way that requires rebuilding workflows