diff --git a/ext/LinearSolveCliqueTreesExt.jl b/ext/LinearSolveCliqueTreesExt.jl
index 1a9ddf66c..4c4530baf 100644
--- a/ext/LinearSolveCliqueTreesExt.jl
+++ b/ext/LinearSolveCliqueTreesExt.jl
@@ -1,22 +1,29 @@
 module LinearSolveCliqueTreesExt
 
-using CliqueTrees: EliminationAlgorithm, SupernodeType, DEFAULT_ELIMINATION_ALGORITHM,
-    DEFAULT_SUPERNODE_TYPE, symbolic, cholinit, lininit, cholesky!, linsolve!
+using CliqueTrees: symbolic, cholinit, lininit, cholesky!, linsolve!
 using LinearSolve
 using SparseArrays
 
-function LinearSolve.CliqueTreesFactorization(;
-        alg::A=DEFAULT_ELIMINATION_ALGORITHM,
-        snd::S=DEFAULT_SUPERNODE_TYPE, 
-        reuse_symbolic::Bool=true,
-    ) where {A <: EliminationAlgorithm, S <: SupernodeType}
-    return CliqueTreesFactorization{A, S}(alg, snd, reuse_symbolic)
+function _symbolic(A::AbstractMatrix, alg::CliqueTreesFactorization)
+    return symbolic(A; alg=alg.alg, snd=alg.snd)
+end
+
+function _symbolic(A::AbstractMatrix, alg::CliqueTreesFactorization{Nothing})
+    return symbolic(A; snd=alg.snd)
+end
+
+function _symbolic(A::AbstractMatrix, alg::CliqueTreesFactorization{<:Any, Nothing})
+    return symbolic(A; alg=alg.alg)
+end
+
+function _symbolic(A::AbstractMatrix, alg::CliqueTreesFactorization{Nothing, Nothing})
+    return symbolic(A)
 end
 
 function LinearSolve.init_cacheval(
     alg::CliqueTreesFactorization, A::AbstractMatrix, b, u, Pl, Pr, maxiters::Int, abstol,
     reltol, verbose::Bool, assumptions::OperatorAssumptions)
-    symbfact = symbolic(A; alg=alg.alg, snd=alg.snd)
+    symbfact = _symbolic(A, alg)
     cholfact, cholwork = cholinit(A, symbfact)
     linwork = lininit(1, cholfact)
     return (cholfact, cholwork, linwork)
@@ -29,7 +36,7 @@ function SciMLBase.solve!(cache::LinearSolve.LinearCache, alg::CliqueTreesFactor
 
     if cache.isfresh
         if isnothing(cache.cacheval) || !alg.reuse_symbolic
-            symbfact = symbolic(A; alg=alg.alg, snd=alg.snd)
+            symbfact = _symbolic(A, alg)
             cholfact, cholwork = cholinit(A, symbfact)
             linwork = lininit(1, cholfact)
             cache.cacheval = (cholfact, cholwork, linwork)
diff --git a/src/factorization.jl b/src/factorization.jl
index 6cd6cd571..0a9db3ab6 100644
--- a/src/factorization.jl
+++ b/src/factorization.jl
@@ -1162,8 +1162,8 @@ end
 
 """
     CliqueTreesFactorization(
-        alg = CliqueTrees.DEFAULT_ELIMINATION_ALGORITHM,
-        snd = CliqueTrees.DEFAULT_SUPERNODE_TYPE,
+        alg = nothing,
+        snd = nothing,
         reuse_symbolic = true,
     )
 
@@ -1175,6 +1175,22 @@ struct CliqueTreesFactorization{A, S} <: AbstractSparseFactorization
     alg::A
     snd::S
     reuse_symbolic::Bool
+
+    function CliqueTreesFactorization(;
+            alg::A = nothing,
+            snd::S = nothing,
+            reuse_symbolic = true,
+            throwerror = true,
+        ) where {A, S}
+
+        ext = Base.get_extension(@__MODULE__, :LinearSolveCliqueTreesExt)
+
+        if throwerror && isnothing(ext)
+            error("CliqueTreesFactorization requires that CliqueTrees is loaded, i.e. `using CliqueTrees`")
+        else
+            new{A, S}(alg, snd, reuse_symbolic)
+        end
+    end
 end
 
 function init_cacheval(::CliqueTreesFactorization, ::Union{AbstractMatrix, Nothing, AbstractSciMLOperator}, b, u, Pl, Pr,