diff --git a/debug/private/make-variable-like-transformer.rkt b/debug/private/make-variable-like-transformer.rkt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0bafa6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debug/private/make-variable-like-transformer.rkt
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#lang racket/base
+
+(provide make-variable-like-transformer)
+
+(define make-variable-like-transformer
+  (if (module-declared? 'syntax/transformer)
+      (dynamic-require 'syntax/transformer 'make-variable-like-transformer)
+      (dynamic-require 'unstable/syntax 'make-variable-like-transformer)))
+
diff --git a/debug/repl.rkt b/debug/repl.rkt
index dfd2dc5..2a42fc9 100644
--- a/debug/repl.rkt
+++ b/debug/repl.rkt
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 (provide debug-repl)
 
-(require unstable/syntax
+(require "private/make-variable-like-transformer.rkt"
          (for-syntax racket/base
                      racket/list
                      syntax/parse