diff --git a/packages/core/src/index.ts b/packages/core/src/index.ts
index f51901a109..c7f7462ca4 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/index.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ export * as waku_filter from "./lib/filter/index.js";
 export { wakuFilter, FilterCodecs } from "./lib/filter/index.js";
 
 export * as waku_light_push from "./lib/light_push/index.js";
+export { LightPushCodec } from "./lib/light_push/index.js";
 export { wakuLightPush } from "./lib/light_push/index.js";
 
 export * as waku_store from "./lib/store/index.js";
diff --git a/packages/core/src/lib/base_protocol.ts b/packages/core/src/lib/base_protocol.ts
index 22d2ded86e..b1f4620cc2 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/lib/base_protocol.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/lib/base_protocol.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,11 @@ import type {
 } from "@waku/interfaces";
 import { DefaultPubsubTopic } from "@waku/interfaces";
 import { shardInfoToPubsubTopics } from "@waku/utils";
-import { getPeersForProtocol, selectPeerForProtocol } from "@waku/utils/libp2p";
+import {
+  getConnectedPeersForProtocol,
+  getPeersForProtocol,
+  selectPeerForProtocol
+} from "@waku/utils/libp2p";
 
 import { filterPeers } from "./filterPeers.js";
 import { StreamManager } from "./stream_manager.js";
@@ -70,7 +74,7 @@ export class BaseProtocol implements IBaseProtocol {
   }
 
   /**
-   * Retrieves a list of peers based on the specified criteria.
+   * Retrieves a list of connected peers based on the specified criteria.
    *
    * @param numPeers - The total number of peers to retrieve. If 0, all peers are returned.
    * @param maxBootstrapPeers - The maximum number of bootstrap peers to retrieve.
@@ -88,10 +92,12 @@ export class BaseProtocol implements IBaseProtocol {
       numPeers: 0
     }
   ): Promise<Peer[]> {
-    // Retrieve all peers that support the protocol
-    const allPeersForProtocol = await getPeersForProtocol(this.peerStore, [
-      this.multicodec
-    ]);
+    // Retrieve all connected peers that support the protocol
+    const allPeersForProtocol = await getConnectedPeersForProtocol(
+      this.components.connectionManager.getConnections(),
+      this.peerStore,
+      [this.multicodec]
+    );
 
     // Filter the peers based on the specified criteria
     return filterPeers(allPeersForProtocol, numPeers, maxBootstrapPeers);
diff --git a/packages/tests/tests/utils.spec.ts b/packages/tests/tests/utils.spec.ts
index ecb1f02bf5..5f82879f01 100644
--- a/packages/tests/tests/utils.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/tests/tests/utils.spec.ts
@@ -2,11 +2,16 @@ import type { PeerStore } from "@libp2p/interface/peer-store";
 import type { Peer } from "@libp2p/interface/peer-store";
 import { createSecp256k1PeerId } from "@libp2p/peer-id-factory";
 import { createDecoder, createEncoder, waitForRemotePeer } from "@waku/core";
-import { DefaultPubsubTopic, LightNode, Protocols } from "@waku/interfaces";
+import { LightPushCodec } from "@waku/core";
+import { DefaultPubsubTopic, LightNode } from "@waku/interfaces";
+import { Protocols } from "@waku/interfaces";
 import { createLightNode } from "@waku/sdk";
 import { toAsyncIterator } from "@waku/utils";
 import { bytesToUtf8, utf8ToBytes } from "@waku/utils/bytes";
-import { selectPeerForProtocol } from "@waku/utils/libp2p";
+import {
+  getConnectedPeersForProtocol,
+  selectPeerForProtocol
+} from "@waku/utils/libp2p";
 import chai, { expect } from "chai";
 import chaiAsPromised from "chai-as-promised";
 import sinon from "sinon";
@@ -260,3 +265,37 @@ describe("selectPeerForProtocol", () => {
     );
   });
 });
+
+describe("getConnectedPeersForProtocol", function () {
+  let waku: LightNode;
+  let nwaku: NimGoNode;
+
+  beforeEach(async function () {
+    this.timeout(15000);
+    nwaku = new NimGoNode(makeLogFileName(this));
+    await nwaku.start({
+      filter: true,
+      lightpush: true,
+      relay: true
+    });
+    waku = await createLightNode();
+    await waku.start();
+    await waku.dial(await nwaku.getMultiaddrWithId());
+    await waitForRemotePeer(waku, [Protocols.Filter]);
+  });
+
+  afterEach(async function () {
+    this.timeout(10000);
+    await tearDownNodes(nwaku, waku);
+  });
+
+  it("returns all connected peers that support the protocol", async function () {
+    const peers = await getConnectedPeersForProtocol(
+      waku.libp2p.getConnections(),
+      waku.libp2p.peerStore,
+      [LightPushCodec]
+    );
+
+    expect(peers.length).to.eq(1);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/utils/src/libp2p/index.ts b/packages/utils/src/libp2p/index.ts
index b5db2b73c2..883160cc89 100644
--- a/packages/utils/src/libp2p/index.ts
+++ b/packages/utils/src/libp2p/index.ts
@@ -66,6 +66,27 @@ export async function getPeersForProtocol(
   return peers;
 }
 
+export async function getConnectedPeersForProtocol(
+  connections: Connection[],
+  peerStore: PeerStore,
+  protocols: string[]
+): Promise<Peer[]> {
+  const openConnections = connections.filter(
+    (connection) => connection.status === "open"
+  );
+
+  const peerPromises = openConnections.map(async (connection) => {
+    const peer = await peerStore.get(connection.remotePeer);
+    const supportsProtocol = peer.protocols.some((protocol) =>
+      protocols.includes(protocol)
+    );
+    return supportsProtocol ? peer : null;
+  });
+
+  const peersWithNulls = await Promise.all(peerPromises);
+  return peersWithNulls.filter((peer): peer is Peer => peer !== null);
+}
+
 /**
  * Returns a peer that supports the given protocol.
  * If peerId is provided, the peer with that id is returned.