diff --git a/crates/ton-localnet/Cargo.toml b/crates/ton-localnet/Cargo.toml
index d08c963822..e2570d5e84 100644
--- a/crates/ton-localnet/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/ton-localnet/Cargo.toml
@@ -31,9 +31,13 @@ tracing = { workspace = true }
 rusqlite = { workspace = true }
 ton-indexer = { workspace = true }
 url = { workspace = true }
-include_dir = { workspace = true }
+include_dir = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 reqwest = { workspace = true }
 
+[features]
+default = ["ui"]
+ui = ["dep:include_dir"]
+
 [lints]
 workspace = true
 
diff --git a/crates/ton-localnet/src/server/router.rs b/crates/ton-localnet/src/server/router.rs
index f580c4216f..1fe5962faa 100644
--- a/crates/ton-localnet/src/server/router.rs
+++ b/crates/ton-localnet/src/server/router.rs
@@ -20,21 +20,21 @@ use axum::{
     response::{IntoResponse, Response},
     routing::{get, post},
 };
-#[cfg(not(debug_assertions))]
+#[cfg(all(not(debug_assertions), feature = "ui"))]
 use include_dir::{Dir, include_dir};
 use serde_json::json;
-#[cfg(debug_assertions)]
+#[cfg(all(debug_assertions, feature = "ui"))]
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 use tower_governor::governor::GovernorConfigBuilder;
 use tower_governor::key_extractor::GlobalKeyExtractor;
 use tower_governor::{GovernorError, GovernorLayer};
 use tower_http::cors::{AllowOrigin, Any, CorsLayer};
-#[cfg(debug_assertions)]
+#[cfg(all(debug_assertions, feature = "ui"))]
 use tower_http::services::{ServeDir, ServeFile};
 use tower_http::trace::TraceLayer;
 
-#[cfg(not(debug_assertions))]
+#[cfg(all(not(debug_assertions), feature = "ui"))]
 static UI_DIR: Dir<'static> = include_dir!("$CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR/../acton-localnet-ui/dist");
 
 pub fn create_router(state: ServerState, rate_limit_rps: Option<u32>) -> Router {
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ pub fn create_router(state: ServerState, rate_limit_rps: Option<u32>) -> Router
         .layer(TraceLayer::new_for_http())
         .with_state(state);
 
-    #[cfg(debug_assertions)]
+    #[cfg(all(debug_assertions, feature = "ui"))]
     let app = {
         let dist_path = PathBuf::from(concat!(
             env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"),
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ pub fn create_router(state: ServerState, rate_limit_rps: Option<u32>) -> Router
         )
     };
 
-    #[cfg(not(debug_assertions))]
+    #[cfg(all(not(debug_assertions), feature = "ui"))]
     let app = app.fallback(handle_embedded_ui);
 
     app
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ fn governor_error_response(error: GovernorError, max_requests_per_second: u32) -
     }
 }
 
-#[cfg(not(debug_assertions))]
+#[cfg(all(not(debug_assertions), feature = "ui"))]
 async fn handle_embedded_ui(uri: axum::http::Uri) -> impl IntoResponse {
     let path = uri.path().trim_start_matches('/');
     let path = if path.is_empty() { "index.html" } else { path };