diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index f5cf476..6648708 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ niffler = { version = "2.4.0", default-features = false, features = [ "gz" ]}
 numsep = "0.1.12"
 reqwest = { version = "0.11.11", default-features = false, features = [ "blocking", "rustls-tls" ] }
 size = "0.4.0"
-sourmash = { version = "0.15.1", features = ["branchwater"] }
+sourmash = { version = "0.15.1" }
 
 serde_json = "1.0.113"
 # axum deps
diff --git a/crates/index/Cargo.toml b/crates/index/Cargo.toml
index 25b92a6..1c67587 100644
--- a/crates/index/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/index/Cargo.toml
@@ -15,4 +15,4 @@ histogram.workspace = true
 log.workspace = true
 numsep.workspace = true
 size.workspace = true
-sourmash.workspace = true
+sourmash = { workspace = true, features = ["branchwater"] }
diff --git a/crates/server/Cargo.toml b/crates/server/Cargo.toml
index 90c64a6..d2845dc 100644
--- a/crates/server/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/server/Cargo.toml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ repository = "https://github.com/sourmash-bio/branchwater"
 camino.workspace = true
 clap.workspace = true
 color-eyre.workspace = true
-sourmash.workspace = true
+sourmash = { workspace = true, features = ["branchwater"] }
 serde_json.workspace = true
 axum.workspace = true
 tokio.workspace = true