diff --git a/esphome/components/api/api_connection.h b/esphome/components/api/api_connection.h
index 55b5402323..c69e5eb9ed 100644
--- a/esphome/components/api/api_connection.h
+++ b/esphome/components/api/api_connection.h
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@
 #include <limits>
 #include <vector>
 
+namespace esphome {
+class ComponentIterator;
+}  // namespace esphome
+
 namespace esphome::api {
 
 // Keepalive timeout in milliseconds