diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 1086c0e21..70d41d6c0 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@ path = "src/bin/test_mcp_stub.rs"
 [[bin]]
 name = "openhuman-fleet"
 path = "src/bin/fleet.rs"
+# The fleet supervisor embeds the axum control-plane server, so it only builds
+# with the HTTP transport compiled in (#5048). Under `--no-default-features`
+# (no `http-server`) this target is skipped rather than failing to link.
+required-features = ["http-server"]
 
 # Embedded-RSS benchmark harness (#5046). Gated behind the default-OFF
 # `rss-bench` feature so no benchmark code enters the shipped build. Build with
@@ -118,7 +122,15 @@ serde_yaml = "0.9"
 # stripper (`fast_html_to_text` in
 # providers/gmail/post_process.rs) and prefer the email's
 # `text/plain` MIME part when available.)
-reqwest = { version = "0.12", default-features = false, features = ["json", "blocking", "rustls-tls", "native-tls", "stream", "http2", "multipart", "socks"] }
+# TLS: rustls only in the base declaration, so Linux/macOS — including the
+# headless embedding target (#5046) — link a single TLS stack + cert set
+# (Mozilla webpki-roots). Windows re-adds `native-tls` via the
+# `[target.'cfg(windows)'.dependencies]` block below (Cargo unions features
+# per target), because `src/openhuman/tls/mod.rs` deliberately routes the
+# Windows client through the SChannel/OS cert store for corporate MITM +
+# AV root CAs. So the two TLS backends coexist only on Windows, never on
+# the RAM-sensitive platforms.
+reqwest = { version = "0.12", default-features = false, features = ["json", "blocking", "rustls-tls", "stream", "http2", "multipart", "socks"] }
 # Already in-tree via reqwest/hyper; named directly so `IntegrationClient::get_bytes`
 # can return `bytes::Bytes` without a copy.
 bytes = "1"
@@ -211,16 +223,22 @@ sysinfo = { version = "0.33", default-features = false, features = ["system"] }
 keyring = { version = "3", features = ["apple-native", "windows-native", "linux-native"] }
 clap = { version = "4.5", features = ["derive"] }
 lettre = { version = "0.11.22", default-features = false, features = ["builder", "smtp-transport", "rustls-tls"], optional = true }
-axum = { version = "0.8", default-features = false, features = ["http1", "json", "tokio", "query", "ws", "macros"] }
-tower = { version = "0.5", default-features = false }
-sentry = { version = "0.47.0", default-features = false, features = ["backtrace", "contexts", "panic", "tracing", "debug-images", "reqwest", "rustls"] }
+# HTTP + Socket.IO server transport — the `/rpc` JSON-RPC endpoint, `/v1`
+# OpenAI-compat router, agentbox/http_host sub-servers, and the Socket.IO
+# live-event bridge. Exclusive to the default-ON `http-server` feature (#5048):
+# a slim/embedded build without it (`--no-default-features`) sheds `axum` +
+# `socketioxide` and never binds a listener — the core still runs background
+# services and answers over the CLI/native dispatch surface. See the
+# `http-server` feature note below and `src/core/http_server_status.rs`.
+axum = { version = "0.8", default-features = false, features = ["http1", "json", "tokio", "query", "ws", "macros"], optional = true }
+sentry = { version = "0.47.0", default-features = false, optional = true, features = ["backtrace", "contexts", "panic", "tracing", "debug-images", "reqwest", "rustls"] }
 tokio-stream = { version = "0.1.18", features = ["full"] }
 url = "2"
-socketioxide = { version = "0.15", features = ["extensions"] }
-whisper-rs = "0.16"
+socketioxide = { version = "0.15", features = ["extensions"], optional = true }
+whisper-rs = { version = "0.16", optional = true }
 image = { version = "0.25", default-features = false, features = ["png", "jpeg"] }
 tempfile = "3"
-cpal = "0.15"
+cpal = { version = "0.15", optional = true }
 hound = { version = "3.5", optional = true }
 enigo = "0.3"
 arboard = "3"
@@ -249,11 +267,11 @@ coins-bip39 = "0.8"
 curve25519-dalek = { version = "4", default-features = false, features = ["alloc"], optional = true }
 
 fantoccini = { version = "0.22.0", optional = true, default-features = false, features = ["rustls-tls"] }
-pdf-extract = "0.10"
+pdf-extract = { version = "0.10", optional = true }
 # The WhatsApp Web provider (and its `whatsapp-rust` / `wacore` / `serde-big-array`
 # stack) now lives in the tinychannels crate; the `whatsapp-web` feature forwards
 # to `tinychannels/whatsapp-web`.
-ppt-rs = "0.2.14"
+ppt-rs = { version = "0.2.14", optional = true }
 # Terminal chat UI (`openhuman tui` / `chat`). Exclusive to the default-ON
 # `tui` feature (see `[features]` below): a slim / headless build without `tui`
 # drops both `ratatui` and `crossterm`. Kept in lockstep — ratatui 0.30
@@ -271,13 +289,19 @@ unicode-width = { version = "0.2", optional = true }
 # `ppt-rs` presentation engine: synthesise bytes in-process, hand them to
 # the byte-agnostic artifact pipeline. `default-features` keeps the crate's
 # image support (unused here, but avoids a bespoke feature list drifting).
-docx-rs = "0.4.20"
+docx-rs = { version = "0.4.20", optional = true }
 
 [target.'cfg(windows)'.dependencies]
 # Windows: tokio-tungstenite uses native-tls (schannel) so wss://
 # connections honor the Windows cert store, including corporate CAs
 # installed by AV / TLS-inspection proxies. See run-dev-win.sh notes.
 tokio-tungstenite = { version = "0.24", default-features = false, features = ["connect", "handshake", "native-tls"] }
+# Windows re-adds reqwest's native-tls backend (dropped from the base decl in
+# `[dependencies]`) so `tls::tls_client_builder()` can call `.use_native_tls()`
+# and reach the SChannel/OS cert store — same rationale as tokio-tungstenite
+# above. Cargo unions these features with the base rustls decl, so on Windows
+# reqwest carries both backends; Linux/macOS keep rustls only.
+reqwest = { version = "0.12", default-features = false, features = ["native-tls"] }
 # AppContainer / process-jail backend in `openhuman::cwd_jail`.
 # Feature list mirrors the Win32 surface used by cwd_jail/windows.rs:
 # AppContainer profile APIs, ACL editing, STARTUPINFOEXW process spawn,
@@ -305,7 +329,7 @@ uiautomation = { version = "0.25", optional = true }
 tokio-tungstenite = { version = "0.24", default-features = false, features = ["connect", "handshake", "rustls-tls-webpki-roots"] }
 
 [target.'cfg(target_os = "macos")'.dependencies]
-whisper-rs = { version = "0.16", features = ["metal"] }
+whisper-rs = { version = "0.16", features = ["metal"], optional = true }
 # Contacts framework bindings for address book seeding.
 objc2 = "0.6"
 objc2-foundation = { version = "0.3", features = ["NSArray", "NSError", "NSObject", "NSString", "NSPredicate"] }
@@ -324,6 +348,18 @@ rppal = { version = "0.22", optional = true }
 # crates we never use (and that bloat the dev Cargo.lock noticeably).
 # TestTransport only needs the `test` feature.
 sentry = { version = "0.47.0", default-features = false, features = ["test"] }
+# axum is optional in `[dependencies]` (exclusive to the default-ON
+# `http-server` feature, #5048), but ~17 `#[cfg(test)]` modules stand up
+# in-process axum mock servers / call `build_core_http_router` regardless of
+# the feature set under test. Declaring a plain (non-optional) dev-dep keeps
+# those tests compiling in ALL test builds without per-file `#[cfg]` — mirrors
+# the `sentry` dual-declaration above. The prod fns those tests exercise are
+# still gated, so the *tests* naming them carry `#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]`.
+axum = { version = "0.8", default-features = false, features = ["http1", "json", "tokio", "query", "ws", "macros"] }
+# `tower` was a plain runtime dep only for its re-exports in the axum server
+# path; with `http-server` optional it is test-only (tower::ServiceExt::oneshot
+# drives the mock routers), so it lives here as a dev-dep now.
+tower = { version = "0.5", default-features = false }
 # Mock HTTP server for provider E2E tests (inference_provider_e2e).
 wiremock = "0.6"
 # Used in json_rpc_e2e to backdate mtime on stale lock files.
@@ -338,12 +374,56 @@ tokio = { version = "1", features = ["test-util"] }
 proptest = "1"
 
 [features]
-default = ["tokenjuice-treesitter", "voice", "web3", "media", "meet", "skills", "flows", "mcp", "desktop-automation", "tui"]
+default = ["tokenjuice-treesitter", "inference", "voice", "web3", "media", "documents", "meet", "skills", "flows", "mcp", "crash-reporting", "http-server", "desktop-automation", "tui"]
+# HTTP + Socket.IO server transport (#5048): the `/rpc` JSON-RPC endpoint and
+# its auth middleware/CORS layer (`core::jsonrpc`, `core::auth`), the `/v1`
+# OpenAI-compatible router (`inference::http`), the ad-hoc static-dir file
+# server (`openhuman::http_host`), the AgentBox `/run` HTTP surface
+# (`agentbox::http`), the WebSocket dictation stream
+# (`inference::voice::streaming`), the `openhuman text-input run` dev server,
+# the MCP Streamable-HTTP transport (`mcp_server::http`, additionally gated by
+# `mcp`), and the Socket.IO live-event bridge (`core::socketio`). Default-ON —
+# the desktop shell REQUIRES it (see the `HTTP_SERVER_COMPILED_IN` compile
+# assert in `app/src-tauri/src/lib.rs`). Slim / headless-embedding builds opt
+# out via `--no-default-features --features "<explicit list without
+# http-server>"`, which drops the exclusive `axum` + `socketioxide` deps; the
+# core then runs background services without binding a listener (`serve()`
+# returns early) and is driven over the CLI / native dispatch surface instead.
+#
+# TYPE CARVE-OUT (see AGENTS.md): `core::socketio`'s inert event payload types
+# (`WebChannelEvent`, `TurnUsagePayload`, `SubagentUsagePayload`,
+# `SubagentProgressDetail`) stay compiled in BOTH builds — ~10 always-on
+# domains construct them — so `pub mod socketio;` is UNGATED and only the
+# socketioxide/axum-touching bodies are gated. Likewise `inference::http::types`
+# and `EXTERNAL_OPENAI_COMPAT_PROVIDER` stay compiled for `core::auth`.
+http-server = ["dep:axum", "dep:socketioxide"]
 # AST-aware code compression (tree-sitter Rust/TS/Python grammars; C build).
 # On by default; disable to fall back to the brace-depth heuristic.
 tokenjuice-treesitter = [
     "tinyjuice/tinyjuice-treesitter",
 ]
+# In-process inference engine: the whisper.cpp STT engine
+# (`inference::local::service::whisper_engine`) plus the `cpal` audio-device
+# probe shared by voice capture and the accessibility microphone-permission
+# check. Default-ON. Slim / headless builds opt out via
+# `--no-default-features --features "<explicit list without inference>"`, which
+# drops the exclusive `whisper-rs` (including the macOS `metal` variant and the
+# `whisper-rs-sys` patch, which go inert once whisper-rs leaves the graph) and
+# `cpal` dependencies. When off, the whisper facade resolves to
+# `whisper_engine::stub` — in-process STT returns a disabled error, while the
+# local-AI service still reaches Ollama / LM Studio over HTTP — and the
+# microphone probe reports `Unknown`. `voice` requires this gate, so building
+# `voice` always pulls `inference` in transitively.
+inference = ["dep:whisper-rs", "dep:cpal"]
+# Office-document tools: the `generate_presentation` (ppt-rs) and
+# `generate_document` (docx-rs) agent tools, plus `pdf-extract` for PDF text
+# extraction during multimodal file ingest. Default-ON. Slim / headless builds
+# opt out via `--no-default-features --features "<explicit list without
+# documents>"`, which drops all three crates. Leaf gate (no stub facade): when
+# off, the two tools are absent from the tool list rather than degraded to an
+# error, and PDF ingest degrades the file to a reference instead of extracted
+# text (`agent::multimodal::extract_pdf_text`).
+documents = ["dep:pdf-extract", "dep:ppt-rs", "dep:docx-rs"]
 # Voice + audio_toolkit domains: STT/TTS providers, the standalone dictation
 # server, always-on listening, and podcast audio generation/email delivery.
 # Default-ON — the desktop app always ships with voice. Slim / headless builds
@@ -351,10 +431,9 @@ tokenjuice-treesitter = [
 # which also drops the exclusive `hound` (WAV I/O) + `lettre` (podcast email)
 # dependencies. Composes with the runtime `DomainSet::voice` flag (#4796): the
 # feature narrows the compile-time surface, `DomainSet` gates it at runtime.
-# NOTE: this gate does NOT drop whisper-rs / llama / cpal — those live in the
-# inference domain (shared with accessibility for cpal) and await a separate
-# `inference` gate.
-voice = ["dep:hound", "dep:lettre"]
+# Requires `inference` (the whisper engine + the cpal capture stack), so
+# enabling `voice` turns `inference` on transitively.
+voice = ["inference", "dep:hound", "dep:lettre"]
 # Web3 domains: openhuman::wallet + openhuman::web3 + openhuman::x402 — the
 # crypto wallet (multi-chain sign/broadcast), the high-level swap/bridge/dapp
 # surface, and the x402 machine-payment protocol. Default-ON — the desktop app
@@ -449,6 +528,28 @@ skills = []
 # `sanitize::sanitize_for_llm`). The gate follows the real dependency graph,
 # not the directory name.
 mcp = []
+# Sentry crash/error reporting: the `sentry::init` guard + secret-scrubbing
+# `before_send` hook (src/main.rs), the sentry-tracing bridge layer
+# (core::logging), the ~24 `before_send` Event classifiers + the two
+# `report_*_message` capture paths (core::observability), the session-boundary
+# scope binding (credentials::sentry_scope), and the `openhuman sentry-test`
+# CLI probe. Default-ON — the desktop app always ships with crash reporting.
+# Slim / headless builds opt out via `--no-default-features --features
+# "<explicit list without crash-reporting>"`, which drops the exclusive
+# `sentry` dependency (and its transitive backtrace/contexts/panic/tracing/
+# debug-images/reqwest/rustls stack) from the non-test build.
+#
+# TYPE CARVE-OUT (see AGENTS.md "Compile-time domain gates"): the sentry-free
+# string classifiers (`is_transient_message_failure`,
+# `is_insufficient_credits_message`, `contains_transient_transport_phrase`, …)
+# and the `report_*_message` / `sentry_scope::{bind,clear}` signatures stay
+# compiled in BOTH builds — only the `sentry::`-touching bodies are gated — so
+# NO stub file is needed and always-on callers need no per-call `#[cfg]`. When
+# off, `report_error_message`/`report_warning_message` still emit their
+# `tracing::{error,warn}!` diagnostic, `sentry_tracing_layer()` degrades to a
+# no-op `Identity` layer, and `openhuman sentry-test` returns a "built without
+# the crash-reporting feature" error.
+crash-reporting = ["dep:sentry"]
 
 # Desktop-automation cluster (#5049): the five modules that read/drive the local
 # desktop UI — `openhuman::accessibility` (macOS AX / Windows UIA FFI middleware),
@@ -484,7 +585,6 @@ desktop-automation = ["dep:uiautomation"]
 # build-fact "tui feature disabled at compile time" error from the untouched
 # `"tui" | "chat"` CLI arm (mirrors the `mcp` stub pattern).
 tui = ["dep:ratatui", "dep:crossterm", "dep:unicode-width"]
-
 sandbox-landlock = ["dep:landlock"]
 sandbox-bubblewrap = []
 peripheral-rpi = ["dep:rppal"]
diff --git a/app/src-tauri/Cargo.toml b/app/src-tauri/Cargo.toml
index 5b23d5e93..8e20776d8 100644
--- a/app/src-tauri/Cargo.toml
+++ b/app/src-tauri/Cargo.toml
@@ -163,12 +163,19 @@ cef = { version = "=146.4.1", default-features = false }
 openhuman_core = { path = "../..", package = "openhuman", default-features = false, features = [
     "media",
     "tokenjuice-treesitter",
+    "inference",
     "voice",
     "web3",
+    "documents",
     "flows",
     "meet",
     "skills",
     "mcp",
+    "crash-reporting",
+    # The desktop shell reaches the in-process core only over
+    # http://127.0.0.1:<port>/rpc, so it REQUIRES the HTTP + Socket.IO transport
+    # (#5048). Enforced by the HTTP_SERVER_COMPILED_IN compile assert in lib.rs.
+    "http-server",
     "desktop-automation",
 ] }
 tinyjuice = { version = "0.2.1", default-features = false }
diff --git a/app/src-tauri/src/lib.rs b/app/src-tauri/src/lib.rs
index b59745832..7f4a0d3c5 100644
--- a/app/src-tauri/src/lib.rs
+++ b/app/src-tauri/src/lib.rs
@@ -17,6 +17,21 @@ const _: () = assert!(
      Add \"voice\" to the openhuman_core `features` list in app/src-tauri/Cargo.toml."
 );
 
+// The shell talks to the in-process core only over http://127.0.0.1:<port>/rpc,
+// so the core MUST embed the HTTP + Socket.IO transport (#5048). Same failure
+// class as #4901: with `http-server` dropped the core never binds a listener
+// and every RPC is unreachable — silent and runtime-only. The marker lives in
+// the core's always-compiled facade (`core::http_server_status`) precisely so
+// this assert can observe the core's feature state (a dependent's own
+// `#[cfg(feature = ...)]` would test THIS crate's features, not the core's).
+const _: () = assert!(
+    openhuman_core::core::http_server_status::HTTP_SERVER_COMPILED_IN,
+    "openhuman_core must be built with the `http-server` feature: the desktop app reaches \
+     the core only over http://127.0.0.1:<port>/rpc, and without it the core binds no \
+     listener so every RPC is unreachable (#5048). \
+     Add \"http-server\" to the openhuman_core `features` list in app/src-tauri/Cargo.toml."
+);
+
 mod app_update;
 // Artifact export commands (#2779, #3162) — both cross-platform
 // (macOS/Windows/Linux): native Save-As dialog (rfd) + Downloads copy.
@@ -2387,6 +2402,7 @@ pub fn run() {
         let custom_runtime = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
             .enable_all()
             .thread_stack_size(openhuman_core::core::runtime::AGENT_WORKER_STACK_BYTES)
+            .max_blocking_threads(openhuman_core::core::runtime::MAX_BLOCKING_THREADS)
             .build()
             .expect("build custom tokio runtime for tauri async surface");
         let handle = custom_runtime.handle().clone();
diff --git a/src/core/agent_cli.rs b/src/core/agent_cli.rs
index 4a51e47c7..b35a4a3d2 100644
--- a/src/core/agent_cli.rs
+++ b/src/core/agent_cli.rs
@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ fn run_dump_all(args: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
     let rt = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
         .enable_all()
         .thread_stack_size(crate::core::runtime::AGENT_WORKER_STACK_BYTES)
+        .max_blocking_threads(crate::core::runtime::MAX_BLOCKING_THREADS)
         .build()?;
     log::debug!("[agent-cli] run_dump_all: calling dump_all_agent_prompts");
     let dumps = rt.block_on(async {
@@ -255,6 +256,7 @@ fn run_dump_prompt(args: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
     let rt = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
         .enable_all()
         .thread_stack_size(crate::core::runtime::AGENT_WORKER_STACK_BYTES)
+        .max_blocking_threads(crate::core::runtime::MAX_BLOCKING_THREADS)
         .build()?;
     log::debug!("[agent-cli] run_dump_prompt: calling dump_agent_prompt");
     let dumped = rt.block_on(async { dump_agent_prompt(options).await })?;
diff --git a/src/core/all.rs b/src/core/all.rs
index 9374b78bc..5881e8cab 100644
--- a/src/core/all.rs
+++ b/src/core/all.rs
@@ -355,7 +355,10 @@ fn build_registered_controllers() -> Vec<GroupedController> {
         DomainGroup::Platform,
         crate::openhuman::heartbeat::all_heartbeat_registered_controllers(),
     );
-    // Ad-hoc static directory HTTP hosting for local file sharing / previews
+    // Ad-hoc static directory HTTP hosting for local file sharing / previews.
+    // Gated with the `http-server` feature (#5048): the domain is an axum server,
+    // so a slim build has no `http_host.*` controllers to register.
+    #[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
     push(
         &mut controllers,
         DomainGroup::Platform,
diff --git a/src/core/all_tests.rs b/src/core/all_tests.rs
index cdad5265c..efecb1597 100644
--- a/src/core/all_tests.rs
+++ b/src/core/all_tests.rs
@@ -233,6 +233,38 @@ fn voice_and_audio_controllers_absent_when_feature_off() {
     );
 }
 
+/// With the `inference` feature on (the default), the in-process whisper STT
+/// engine is compiled in — `INFERENCE_COMPILED_IN` reflects that, and
+/// `whisper-rs` + `cpal` are linked (dependency shed proven separately by
+/// `cargo tree -i whisper-rs` / `cargo tree -i cpal`).
+#[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "inference")]
+fn inference_engine_compiled_in_when_feature_on() {
+    assert!(crate::openhuman::inference::INFERENCE_COMPILED_IN);
+}
+
+/// With the `inference` feature off, the whisper engine is compiled out: the
+/// marker flips and the always-compiled `whisper_engine` facade resolves to the
+/// disabled stub — every transcription call returns the disabled error, while
+/// the local-AI service still reaches Ollama / LM Studio over HTTP. This is the
+/// compile-time stub-facade correctness gate (see
+/// `inference::local::service::whisper_engine::stub`); `whisper-rs` + `cpal`
+/// leave the dependency graph.
+#[test]
+#[cfg(not(feature = "inference"))]
+fn inference_engine_compiled_out_when_feature_off() {
+    use crate::openhuman::inference::local::service::whisper_engine;
+    assert!(!crate::openhuman::inference::INFERENCE_COMPILED_IN);
+    let handle = whisper_engine::new_handle();
+    assert!(!whisper_engine::is_loaded(&handle));
+    let err = whisper_engine::transcribe_pcm_f32(&handle, &[0.0; 16], None, None)
+        .expect_err("in-process STT must be disabled when `inference` is off");
+    assert!(
+        err.contains("inference"),
+        "disabled error should name the gate: {err}"
+    );
+}
+
 /// With the `skills` feature on (the default), all three skill domains are
 /// compiled in and registered — the desktop build is byte-identical.
 #[test]
@@ -1095,6 +1127,56 @@ fn meet_controllers_absent_when_feature_off() {
     }
 }
 
+/// With the `http-server` feature on (the default), the HTTP + Socket.IO
+/// transport is compiled in — `HTTP_SERVER_COMPILED_IN` reflects that, and
+/// `socketioxide` is linked. `socketioxide` is the only dependency this gate
+/// actually sheds (proven by `cargo tree -i socketioxide`); `axum` stays in the
+/// graph either way because `tinychannels` pulls it transitively.
+#[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
+fn http_server_compiled_in_when_feature_on() {
+    assert!(crate::core::http_server_status::HTTP_SERVER_COMPILED_IN);
+}
+
+/// With the `http-server` feature off, the transport is compiled out: the
+/// marker flips, `serve()` returns without binding a listener, and the
+/// exclusive `socketioxide` dependency leaves the graph (`axum` remains, pulled
+/// transitively by `tinychannels`). The desktop shell's compile-time assert on
+/// this marker (`app/src-tauri/src/lib.rs`) turns a silent listener-less core
+/// into a build failure (cf. voice #4901).
+#[test]
+#[cfg(not(feature = "http-server"))]
+fn http_server_compiled_out_when_feature_off() {
+    assert!(!crate::core::http_server_status::HTTP_SERVER_COMPILED_IN);
+}
+
+/// With `http-server` on, the `http_host` static-directory server registers its
+/// controllers, so the `http_host.*` RPC surface is present in `/schema`.
+#[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
+fn http_host_controllers_registered_when_http_server_on() {
+    let schemas = all_controller_schemas();
+    assert!(
+        schemas.iter().any(|s| s.namespace == "http_host"),
+        "`http_host` controllers must be registered when the `http-server` feature is on"
+    );
+}
+
+/// With `http-server` off, the whole `http_host` axum domain is compiled out and
+/// its controller-registration push in `core::all` is gated in lockstep, so the
+/// `http_host` namespace never enters the registry (unknown-method over `/rpc`,
+/// absent from `/schema`). This is the negative half that proves the gate
+/// removes the surface.
+#[test]
+#[cfg(not(feature = "http-server"))]
+fn http_host_controllers_absent_when_http_server_off() {
+    let schemas = all_controller_schemas();
+    assert!(
+        !schemas.iter().any(|s| s.namespace == "http_host"),
+        "`http_host` controllers must be compiled out when the `http-server` feature is off"
+    );
+}
+
 /// All three desktop-automation namespaces register under
 /// `DomainGroup::DesktopAutomation` when the `desktop-automation` feature is on
 /// (#5049). Paired with `desktop_automation_controllers_absent_when_feature_off`
diff --git a/src/core/auth.rs b/src/core/auth.rs
index fa03c688e..8bcce4905 100644
--- a/src/core/auth.rs
+++ b/src/core/auth.rs
@@ -62,14 +62,28 @@ use std::sync::OnceLock;
 #[cfg(unix)]
 use std::os::unix::fs::OpenOptionsExt as _;
 
+// The axum RPC-auth middleware + the `/v1` external-inference bearer helpers
+// are exclusive to the `http-server` feature (#5048). The always-compiled token
+// primitives (`verify_bearer_token`, `init_rpc_token`, `get_rpc_token`,
+// `init_rpc_token_with_value`, `bearer_matches`) stay ungated — non-HTTP
+// transports and `CoreBuilder` call them in every build. `Config`/`AuthService`/
+// the provider-id import are consumed only by the gated `/v1` helpers.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use axum::http::{header, Method, StatusCode};
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use axum::middleware::Next;
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use axum::response::{IntoResponse, Response};
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use axum::Json;
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use serde_json::json;
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use crate::openhuman::config::Config;
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use crate::openhuman::credentials::AuthService;
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use crate::openhuman::inference::http::EXTERNAL_OPENAI_COMPAT_PROVIDER;
 
 static RPC_TOKEN: OnceLock<String> = OnceLock::new();
@@ -85,6 +99,7 @@ static RPC_TOKEN: OnceLock<String> = OnceLock::new();
 /// is bearer-gated by this middleware via [`QUERY_TOKEN_PATHS`] (header or
 /// `?token=`) so an unauthenticated upgrade is rejected with 401 before the
 /// WebSocket handshake; the handler adds an origin check on top (finding C4).
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 const PUBLIC_PATHS: &[&str] = &[
     "/",
     "/health",
@@ -106,6 +121,7 @@ const PUBLIC_PATHS: &[&str] = &[
 ///
 /// Use this only when the suffix is dynamic (path params). For exact paths,
 /// add to [`PUBLIC_PATHS`] instead.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 const PUBLIC_PATH_PREFIXES: &[&str] = &[
     // AgentBox `GET /jobs/{job_id}` — `{job_id}` is a UUID per submission.
     "/jobs/",
@@ -115,6 +131,7 @@ const PUBLIC_PATH_PREFIXES: &[&str] = &[
 ///
 /// A path is public when it appears in [`PUBLIC_PATHS`] (exact match) or
 /// begins with any entry in [`PUBLIC_PATH_PREFIXES`] (prefix match).
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn is_public_path(path: &str) -> bool {
     PUBLIC_PATHS.contains(&path)
         || PUBLIC_PATH_PREFIXES
@@ -135,6 +152,7 @@ fn is_public_path(path: &str) -> bool {
 /// Add new entries here only for SSE / WebSocket routes whose clients cannot
 /// send headers and that carry per-user data. The follow-up approvals stream
 /// (#1339) is the next planned addition.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 const QUERY_TOKEN_PATHS: &[&str] = &["/events/webhooks", "/ws/dictation"];
 
 /// Operator-supplied environment variable that carries the RPC bearer in
@@ -279,6 +297,7 @@ pub fn verify_bearer_token(supplied: &str) -> bool {
 /// bypass this check. `/rpc` requires the exact per-launch bearer token that
 /// was written to `core.token` at startup; `/v1/*` additionally accepts a
 /// stable user-managed external API key.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub async fn rpc_auth_middleware(req: axum::extract::Request, next: Next) -> Response {
     let path = req.uri().path().to_string();
 
@@ -369,10 +388,12 @@ fn constant_time_eq(a: &str, b: &str) -> bool {
     (len_diff == 0) & (byte_diff == 0)
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn is_external_inference_path(path: &str) -> bool {
     path == "/v1" || path.starts_with("/v1/")
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn verify_external_inference_bearer_for_config(config: &Config, supplied: &str) -> bool {
     if supplied.trim().is_empty() {
         return false;
@@ -389,6 +410,7 @@ fn verify_external_inference_bearer_for_config(config: &Config, supplied: &str)
     }
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn verify_external_inference_bearer(supplied: &str) -> bool {
     if supplied.trim().is_empty() {
         return false;
@@ -411,6 +433,7 @@ async fn verify_external_inference_bearer(supplied: &str) -> bool {
 /// value is empty after trimming. URL decoding is delegated to
 /// [`url::form_urlencoded`] so percent-encoded tokens decode the same way
 /// they were encoded by the FE via `encodeURIComponent`.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn extract_query_token(query: Option<&str>) -> Option<String> {
     let query = query?;
     for (key, value) in url::form_urlencoded::parse(query.as_bytes()) {
@@ -558,22 +581,26 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
     #[test]
     fn extract_query_token_returns_none_on_missing_query() {
         assert_eq!(extract_query_token(None), None);
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
     #[test]
     fn extract_query_token_returns_none_when_key_absent() {
         assert_eq!(extract_query_token(Some("other=1&foo=bar")), None);
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
     #[test]
     fn extract_query_token_returns_none_on_empty_value() {
         assert_eq!(extract_query_token(Some("token=")), None);
         assert_eq!(extract_query_token(Some("token=%20%20")), None);
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
     #[test]
     fn extract_query_token_returns_first_value_on_duplicate_keys() {
         // Last-wins vs first-wins is a question the FE never hits; pin
@@ -584,6 +611,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
     #[test]
     fn extract_query_token_url_decodes_value() {
         // `encodeURIComponent` on the FE may percent-encode a hex token
@@ -594,11 +622,13 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
     #[test]
     fn public_paths_include_desktop_auth_callback() {
         assert!(PUBLIC_PATHS.contains(&"/auth"));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
     #[test]
     fn agentbox_run_and_jobs_paths_are_public() {
         // AgentBox marketplace surface bypasses bearer auth (gated externally
@@ -625,6 +655,7 @@ mod tests {
         std::fs::remove_dir_all(&tmp).ok();
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
     #[test]
     fn is_external_inference_path_matches_only_v1_routes() {
         assert!(is_external_inference_path("/v1"));
@@ -634,6 +665,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(!is_external_inference_path("/v10/models"));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
     #[test]
     fn verify_external_inference_bearer_for_config_accepts_stored_key() {
         let tmp = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
diff --git a/src/core/cli.rs b/src/core/cli.rs
index 87e67be5c..78fa79390 100644
--- a/src/core/cli.rs
+++ b/src/core/cli.rs
@@ -113,6 +113,12 @@ pub fn run_from_cli_args(args: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
 /// alias) or baked into the binary at build time via `option_env!`. Absent a
 /// DSN, the command exits non-zero with a diagnostic instead of silently
 /// producing no telemetry.
+///
+/// Only compiled with the `crash-reporting` feature; the `#[cfg(not(...))]`
+/// companion below returns a disabled-build error (mirrors the `mcp` CLI
+/// precedent, where the subcommand arm + top-level help stay compiled and the
+/// handler reports the build fact rather than a bogus "unknown command").
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 fn run_sentry_test_command(args: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
     let mut message: Option<String> = None;
     let mut do_panic = false;
@@ -197,6 +203,17 @@ fn run_sentry_test_command(args: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
+/// Disabled-build stand-in for [`run_sentry_test_command`]. Same signature as
+/// the `crash-reporting` version; reports that the probe is unavailable in a
+/// build compiled without the feature rather than pretending to succeed.
+#[cfg(not(feature = "crash-reporting"))]
+fn run_sentry_test_command(_args: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
+    Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
+        "sentry-test unavailable: built without the crash-reporting feature — \
+         rebuild with `--features crash-reporting`"
+    ))
+}
+
 /// Loads key/value pairs from a `.env` file into the process environment.
 ///
 /// This is used for all CLI entrypoints so direct namespace commands pick up
@@ -311,6 +328,7 @@ fn run_server_command(args: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
     let rt = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
         .enable_all()
         .thread_stack_size(crate::core::runtime::AGENT_WORKER_STACK_BYTES)
+        .max_blocking_threads(crate::core::runtime::MAX_BLOCKING_THREADS)
         .build()?;
     rt.block_on(async {
         if headless_api {
@@ -368,6 +386,7 @@ fn run_call_command(args: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
     let rt = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
         .enable_all()
         .thread_stack_size(crate::core::runtime::AGENT_WORKER_STACK_BYTES)
+        .max_blocking_threads(crate::core::runtime::MAX_BLOCKING_THREADS)
         .build()?;
     let value = rt
         .block_on(async { invoke_method(default_state(), &method, params).await })
@@ -449,6 +468,7 @@ fn run_namespace_command(
     let rt = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
         .enable_all()
         .thread_stack_size(crate::core::runtime::AGENT_WORKER_STACK_BYTES)
+        .max_blocking_threads(crate::core::runtime::MAX_BLOCKING_THREADS)
         .build()?;
     let value = rt
         .block_on(async { invoke_method(default_state(), &method, Value::Object(params)).await })
diff --git a/src/core/http_server_status.rs b/src/core/http_server_status.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1243f7b8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/core/http_server_status.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+//! Compile-time visibility into the `http-server` gate.
+//!
+//! Deliberately **ungated**: unlike the rest of the transport surface, this
+//! module is compiled in both feature states, because its whole purpose is to
+//! report which state the binary ended up in. It mirrors
+//! [`crate::openhuman::voice::VOICE_COMPILED_IN`] and
+//! [`crate::openhuman::inference::INFERENCE_COMPILED_IN`].
+
+/// Whether the real HTTP + Socket.IO server transport was compiled into this
+/// binary.
+///
+/// Cargo features are per-crate and invisible to dependents' `#[cfg]`, so a
+/// consumer that *requires* the transport (the desktop shell, which reaches the
+/// core only over `http://127.0.0.1:<port>/rpc`) has no other way to detect
+/// that it silently got a slim build with no listener — exactly the class of
+/// silent drop that shipped `voice` broken from v0.58.19 (#4901).
+///
+/// The shell asserts this at compile time (`const _: () = assert!(...)` in
+/// `app/src-tauri/src/lib.rs`), turning that silent runtime failure (every RPC
+/// unreachable — the frontend can't talk to a core that never bound a socket)
+/// into a build failure. When `false`, the direct `socketioxide` dependency is
+/// dropped from the graph (verify with `cargo tree -i socketioxide`); `axum`
+/// stays linked transitively via `tinychannels`, so only the gated HTTP +
+/// Socket.IO transport surface — not `axum` itself — leaves the slim build.
+pub const HTTP_SERVER_COMPILED_IN: bool = cfg!(feature = "http-server");
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::HTTP_SERVER_COMPILED_IN;
+
+    /// Pins the constant to the gate rather than to a hardcoded value: the
+    /// assertion inverts with the feature, so it holds for both the default
+    /// build and the slim (`--no-default-features`) build.
+    #[test]
+    fn reports_the_compiled_gate_state() {
+        assert_eq!(HTTP_SERVER_COMPILED_IN, cfg!(feature = "http-server"));
+    }
+
+    /// The default build ships the HTTP transport; this is the state the
+    /// desktop app requires. Skipped when the slim build is under test.
+    #[test]
+    #[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
+    fn is_true_when_the_http_server_feature_is_on() {
+        assert!(HTTP_SERVER_COMPILED_IN);
+    }
+
+    /// The slim build must report honestly, otherwise the shell's const assert
+    /// would pass against a listener-less core.
+    #[test]
+    #[cfg(not(feature = "http-server"))]
+    fn is_false_when_the_http_server_feature_is_off() {
+        assert!(!HTTP_SERVER_COMPILED_IN);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/core/jsonrpc.rs b/src/core/jsonrpc.rs
index 4b4244eab..5eb751c23 100644
--- a/src/core/jsonrpc.rs
+++ b/src/core/jsonrpc.rs
@@ -6,22 +6,48 @@
 //! - SSE (Server-Sent Events) for real-time event streaming.
 //! - Helper routes for health checks, schema discovery, and Telegram authentication.
 
+// Only the gated router build (`build_core_http_router`) uses the bare `Arc`;
+// the kept dispatch/bootstrap paths qualify it (`std::sync::Arc`) or import it
+// locally, so this module-level import is `http-server`-only (#5048).
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
+// The axum server surface — router, handlers, middleware, extractors, SSE — is
+// exclusive to the `http-server` feature (#5048). Only the RPC-dispatch surface
+// (`invoke_method`, `parse_json_params`, `default_state`, the `run_server*`
+// CoreBuilder shims, `register_domain_subscribers`, `bootstrap_core_runtime`)
+// stays compiled; a slim build drives it over the CLI / native dispatch path
+// without binding a listener. `Map`/`Value` stay ungated (dispatch uses them).
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use axum::extract::{DefaultBodyLimit, Query, State, WebSocketUpgrade};
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use axum::http::{header, HeaderValue, Method, StatusCode};
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use axum::middleware::{self, Next};
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use axum::response::sse::{Event, KeepAlive, Sse};
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use axum::response::{IntoResponse, Response};
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use axum::routing::{get, post};
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use axum::{extract::Request, Json, Router};
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use serde::Serialize;
-use serde_json::{json, Map, Value};
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
+use serde_json::json;
+use serde_json::{Map, Value};
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use tokio_stream::StreamExt;
 use tokio_util::sync::CancellationToken;
 
 use crate::core::all;
-use crate::core::types::{AppState, RpcError, RpcFailure, RpcRequest, RpcSuccess};
+use crate::core::types::AppState;
+// The JSON-RPC envelope types are only shaped into HTTP responses by the gated
+// `rpc_handler`; the kept dispatch surface returns `Result<Value, String>`.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
+use crate::core::types::{RpcError, RpcFailure, RpcRequest, RpcSuccess};
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use crate::rpc::StructuredRpcError;
 
 /// Axum handler for JSON-RPC POST requests.
@@ -36,6 +62,7 @@ use crate::rpc::StructuredRpcError;
 ///
 /// * `state` - The application state, injected by Axum.
 /// * `req` - The parsed [`RpcRequest`].
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub async fn rpc_handler(State(state): State<AppState>, Json(req): Json<RpcRequest>) -> Response {
     let id = req.id.clone();
     let method = req.method.clone();
@@ -374,6 +401,7 @@ fn is_unconfirmed_unauthorized_error(msg: &str) -> bool {
 /// session-expired predicate uses `.contains()` because session-expired markers
 /// can appear mid-message — flip these to match and the test
 /// `is_param_validation_error_does_not_match_unrelated_errors` will break.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn is_param_validation_error(msg: &str) -> bool {
     msg.starts_with("unknown param '")
         || msg.starts_with("missing required param '")
@@ -397,6 +425,7 @@ fn is_param_validation_error(msg: &str) -> bool {
 /// Matched against the shared wallet constant (exact equality) so a wording
 /// change in the wallet layer fails the coupling test in `jsonrpc_tests.rs`
 /// rather than silently letting the noise back into Sentry.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn is_wallet_not_configured_error(msg: &str) -> bool {
     msg == crate::openhuman::wallet::WALLET_NOT_CONFIGURED_MESSAGE
 }
@@ -472,6 +501,7 @@ pub fn default_state() -> AppState {
 // --- HTTP server (Axum) ----------------------------------------------------
 
 /// Query parameters for the Telegram authentication callback.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 #[derive(Debug, serde::Deserialize)]
 struct TelegramAuthQuery {
     /// The one-time login token received from the Telegram bot.
@@ -479,6 +509,7 @@ struct TelegramAuthQuery {
 }
 
 /// Query parameters for the generic desktop auth callback.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 #[derive(Debug, serde::Deserialize)]
 struct DesktopAuthQuery {
     /// One-time login token consumed through the backend.
@@ -488,6 +519,7 @@ struct DesktopAuthQuery {
 }
 
 /// Returns the HTML for a successful connection page.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn success_html(message: &str) -> String {
     let escaped_message = escape_html(message);
     r#"<!DOCTYPE html>
@@ -517,6 +549,7 @@ fn success_html(message: &str) -> String {
 }
 
 /// Simple HTML escaping for error messages.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn escape_html(s: &str) -> String {
     s.replace('&', "&amp;")
         .replace('<', "&lt;")
@@ -526,6 +559,7 @@ fn escape_html(s: &str) -> String {
 }
 
 /// Returns the HTML for an error page.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn error_html(message: &str) -> String {
     let escaped_message = escape_html(message);
     format!(
@@ -556,6 +590,7 @@ fn error_html(message: &str) -> String {
 }
 
 /// Query params for the MCP browser-OAuth callback (`/oauth/mcp/callback`).
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 #[derive(Debug, serde::Deserialize)]
 struct OAuthMcpCallbackQuery {
     code: Option<String>,
@@ -568,6 +603,7 @@ struct OAuthMcpCallbackQuery {
 /// server redirects the browser here with `?code=…&state=…`; we hand it to
 /// `mcp_registry::oauth::complete`, which exchanges the code for a token, stores
 /// it as the server's `Authorization` header, and reconnects.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn oauth_mcp_callback_handler(
     Query(query): Query<OAuthMcpCallbackQuery>,
 ) -> impl IntoResponse {
@@ -647,6 +683,7 @@ async fn oauth_mcp_callback_handler(
 /// The preferred Tauri loopback listener has a per-login state nonce. This
 /// legacy core fallback cannot rely on that state, so it must reject embedded
 /// resource loads (`<img>`, iframe, fetch, script) before token exchange.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn desktop_callback_navigation_ok(headers: &axum::http::HeaderMap) -> Result<(), &'static str> {
     let get_str = |name: &str| -> Option<&str> {
         headers
@@ -696,6 +733,7 @@ fn desktop_callback_navigation_ok(headers: &axum::http::HeaderMap) -> Result<(),
 ///   iframe embeds from malicious pages).
 /// - `Sec-Fetch-Site: cross-site` with a `Referer`/`Origin` that is not
 ///   `https://t.me/...` (CSRF redirect from a third-party site).
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn telegram_callback_origin_ok(headers: &axum::http::HeaderMap) -> Result<(), &'static str> {
     let get_str = |name: &str| -> Option<&str> {
         headers
@@ -756,6 +794,7 @@ fn telegram_callback_origin_ok(headers: &axum::http::HeaderMap) -> Result<(), &'
 ///
 /// It consumes a one-time token, exchanges it for a JWT from the backend,
 /// and stores the session locally.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn telegram_auth_handler(
     headers: axum::http::HeaderMap,
     Query(query): Query<TelegramAuthQuery>,
@@ -890,6 +929,7 @@ async fn telegram_auth_handler(
 /// flows can fall back to the local core callback (`/auth`). This route is
 /// public because the callback carries its own one-time login token; raw
 /// session JWT callbacks are intentionally rejected on this public surface.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn desktop_auth_handler(
     headers: axum::http::HeaderMap,
     Query(query): Query<DesktopAuthQuery>,
@@ -1010,6 +1050,7 @@ async fn desktop_auth_handler(
 /// the FE forwards the per-process core bearer as a `?token=…` query param —
 /// validated against the same in-process RPC token via [`verify_bearer_token`]
 /// (single source of truth, no separate credential).
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 #[derive(Debug, serde::Deserialize)]
 struct DictationQuery {
     #[serde(default)]
@@ -1024,6 +1065,7 @@ struct DictationQuery {
 /// set headers), and — when an `Origin` header is present — that origin must be
 /// on the local-app allowlist, mirroring the Socket.IO handshake check. Missing
 /// or wrong credentials are rejected with 401 and the socket is never upgraded.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn dictation_ws_handler(
     headers: axum::http::HeaderMap,
     Query(query): Query<DictationQuery>,
@@ -1100,6 +1142,7 @@ async fn dictation_ws_handler(
 /// maximum image payload — 4 × 8 MiB raw ≈ 43 MiB once base64-encoded into
 /// `[IMAGE:data:…]` markers — plus message text and JSON-RPC envelope overhead.
 /// Axum's 2 MiB default would otherwise reject any image attachment (#3205).
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 const MAX_RPC_BODY_BYTES: usize = 64 * 1024 * 1024;
 
 /// Builds the main Axum router for the core HTTP server.
@@ -1111,6 +1154,7 @@ const MAX_RPC_BODY_BYTES: usize = 64 * 1024 * 1024;
 /// 1. `cors_middleware`       — handles `OPTIONS` preflight and adds CORS headers
 /// 2. `rpc_auth_middleware`   — validates `Authorization: Bearer <token>` on protected paths
 /// 3. `http_request_log_middleware` — logs non-RPC HTTP requests with timing
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub fn build_core_http_router(socketio_enabled: bool) -> Router {
     let mut router = Router::new()
         .route("/", get(root_handler))
@@ -1202,6 +1246,7 @@ pub fn build_core_http_router(socketio_enabled: bool) -> Router {
 ///
 /// The `/rpc` path is logged inside [`rpc_handler`] instead (with the
 /// JSON-RPC method name), so we skip it here to avoid a redundant line.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn http_request_log_middleware(req: Request, next: Next) -> Response {
     let method = req.method().clone();
     let path = req.uri().path().to_string();
@@ -1229,6 +1274,7 @@ async fn http_request_log_middleware(req: Request, next: Next) -> Response {
 /// Environment variable for additional comma-separated origins to allow.
 /// Intended for debug harnesses and E2E setups that don't run on loopback —
 /// e.g. `OPENHUMAN_CORE_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://e2e.internal,http://my-debugger:8080`.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 const ALLOWED_ORIGINS_ENV: &str = "OPENHUMAN_CORE_ALLOWED_ORIGINS";
 
 /// Decides whether a browser `Origin` header value is allowed to make
@@ -1245,11 +1291,13 @@ const ALLOWED_ORIGINS_ENV: &str = "OPENHUMAN_CORE_ALLOWED_ORIGINS";
 /// token via leaked logs / screenshots / a compromised third-party origin
 /// loaded in a CEF child webview) must be refused — the bearer token alone
 /// is not enough authorization without an origin binding.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub(super) fn is_origin_allowed(origin: &str) -> bool {
     let extra_origins = std::env::var(ALLOWED_ORIGINS_ENV).ok();
     is_origin_allowed_with_extra(origin, extra_origins.as_deref())
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub(super) fn is_origin_allowed_with_extra(origin: &str, extra_origins: Option<&str>) -> bool {
     // Tauri v2 webview origins. Windows uses an HTTP(S) custom host; macOS
     // and Linux use the `tauri://` scheme. We accept both for portability.
@@ -1290,6 +1338,7 @@ pub(super) fn is_origin_allowed_with_extra(origin: &str, extra_origins: Option<&
 ///
 /// Reads the request's `Origin` header before invoking the inner handler so
 /// the same value can be echoed back (when allowed) on the response.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn cors_middleware(req: Request, next: Next) -> Response {
     let origin = req
         .headers()
@@ -1317,6 +1366,7 @@ async fn cors_middleware(req: Request, next: Next) -> Response {
 /// For Docker / cloud deployments where the server binds to `0.0.0.0`,
 /// extend the allowlist via the `OPENHUMAN_CORE_ALLOWED_ORIGINS` env var
 /// (comma-separated) rather than wildcarding `Access-Control-Allow-Origin`.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub(super) fn with_cors_headers(mut response: Response, origin: Option<&str>) -> Response {
     let headers = response.headers_mut();
     headers.append(header::VARY, HeaderValue::from_static("Origin"));
@@ -1354,6 +1404,7 @@ pub(super) fn with_cors_headers(mut response: Response, origin: Option<&str>) ->
 /// `health::CRITICAL_COMPONENTS`); otherwise it returns 200 — with a `degraded`
 /// flag and per-component buckets in the body so readiness probes and operators
 /// can still see partial failures.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn health_handler() -> impl IntoResponse {
     let snapshot = crate::openhuman::health::snapshot();
     let verdict = crate::openhuman::health::verdict(&snapshot);
@@ -1394,6 +1445,7 @@ async fn health_handler() -> impl IntoResponse {
 }
 
 /// Handler for the schema discovery endpoint.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn schema_handler(State(_state): State<AppState>) -> impl IntoResponse {
     (StatusCode::OK, Json(build_http_schema_dump())).into_response()
 }
@@ -1405,6 +1457,7 @@ async fn schema_handler(State(_state): State<AppState>) -> impl IntoResponse {
 /// Both are required — browser `EventSource` cannot attach an
 /// `Authorization` header, so the bind token is the only credential the
 /// endpoint accepts.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 #[derive(Debug, serde::Deserialize)]
 struct EventsQuery {
     client_id: String,
@@ -1426,6 +1479,7 @@ struct EventsQuery {
 ///
 /// Both paths converge on the same broadcast stream filtered by
 /// `client_id`.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn events_handler(
     headers: axum::http::HeaderMap,
     Query(query): Query<EventsQuery>,
@@ -1503,6 +1557,7 @@ async fn events_handler(
 }
 
 /// Handler for the webhook debug events SSE endpoint.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn webhook_events_handler() -> Response {
     let stream = tokio_stream::once(Ok::<Event, std::convert::Infallible>(
         Event::default()
@@ -1518,6 +1573,7 @@ async fn webhook_events_handler() -> Response {
 ///
 /// Requires bearer auth. Streams all domain events as JSON with event type
 /// set to the domain name (agent, tool, memory, etc.).
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn domain_events_handler(headers: axum::http::HeaderMap) -> Response {
     let bearer = headers
         .get(header::AUTHORIZATION)
@@ -1610,6 +1666,7 @@ async fn domain_events_handler(headers: axum::http::HeaderMap) -> Response {
 }
 
 /// Handler for the root endpoint, returning server information and available endpoints.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn root_handler() -> impl IntoResponse {
     let api_server = match crate::openhuman::config::Config::load_or_init().await {
         Ok(cfg) => crate::api::config::effective_backend_api_url(&cfg.api_url),
@@ -1640,6 +1697,7 @@ async fn root_handler() -> impl IntoResponse {
 }
 
 /// Fallback handler for unknown routes.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn not_found_handler() -> impl IntoResponse {
     (
         StatusCode::NOT_FOUND,
@@ -1652,6 +1710,7 @@ async fn not_found_handler() -> impl IntoResponse {
 }
 
 /// Resolves the port for the core server from environment variables or defaults.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub(crate) fn core_port() -> u16 {
     std::env::var("OPENHUMAN_CORE_PORT")
         .ok()
@@ -1660,6 +1719,7 @@ pub(crate) fn core_port() -> u16 {
 }
 
 /// Resolves the bind address host for the core server from environment variables or defaults.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub(crate) fn core_host() -> String {
     std::env::var("OPENHUMAN_CORE_HOST")
         .ok()
@@ -2481,6 +2541,7 @@ pub fn start_core_runtime_services(
 }
 
 /// JSON-serializable wrapper for the entire RPC schema dump.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 #[derive(Serialize)]
 struct HttpSchemaDump {
     /// List of all available RPC methods and their schemas.
@@ -2488,6 +2549,7 @@ struct HttpSchemaDump {
 }
 
 /// JSON-serializable schema for a single RPC method.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 #[derive(Serialize)]
 struct HttpMethodSchema {
     /// Fully qualified JSON-RPC method name.
@@ -2507,6 +2569,7 @@ struct HttpMethodSchema {
 /// Aggregates schemas from all registered controllers into a single dump.
 ///
 /// Also includes built-in core methods like `core.ping` and `core.version`.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn build_http_schema_dump() -> HttpSchemaDump {
     let mut methods: Vec<HttpMethodSchema> = all::all_http_method_schemas()
         .into_iter()
@@ -2530,6 +2593,8 @@ fn build_http_schema_dump() -> HttpSchemaDump {
 #[path = "jsonrpc_tests.rs"]
 mod tests;
 
-#[cfg(test)]
+// Every cors test names a gated CORS symbol (`is_origin_allowed`,
+// `with_cors_headers`), so the whole module gates in lockstep (#5048).
+#[cfg(all(test, feature = "http-server"))]
 #[path = "jsonrpc_cors_tests.rs"]
 mod cors_tests;
diff --git a/src/core/jsonrpc_tests.rs b/src/core/jsonrpc_tests.rs
index 50198a032..0de528d68 100644
--- a/src/core/jsonrpc_tests.rs
+++ b/src/core/jsonrpc_tests.rs
@@ -6,9 +6,16 @@ use std::time::Duration;
 use tokio_util::sync::CancellationToken;
 
 use super::{
-    build_http_schema_dump, default_state, escape_html, invoke_method, is_param_validation_error,
-    is_session_expired_error, is_unconfirmed_unauthorized_error, is_wallet_not_configured_error,
-    params_to_object, parse_json_params, rpc_handler, type_name, DomainSubscriberPlan,
+    default_state, invoke_method, is_session_expired_error, is_unconfirmed_unauthorized_error,
+    params_to_object, parse_json_params, type_name, DomainSubscriberPlan,
+};
+// These are the `http-server`-gated RPC-surface symbols (#5048); the tests that
+// name them below carry the same `#[cfg]` so the disabled-build test compile
+// (`cargo test --no-default-features`) stays green.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
+use super::{
+    build_http_schema_dump, escape_html, is_param_validation_error, is_wallet_not_configured_error,
+    rpc_handler,
 };
 
 // ---- domain-subscriber gating (#4796 DoD item 3) ----------------------------
@@ -476,6 +483,7 @@ async fn invoke_migrate_hermes_rejects_unknown_param() {
 }
 
 #[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn http_schema_dump_includes_openhuman_and_core_methods() {
     let dump = build_http_schema_dump();
     let methods = dump.methods;
@@ -681,6 +689,7 @@ async fn team_revoke_invite_missing_invite_id_fails_validation() {
 }
 
 #[tokio::test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn schema_dump_includes_new_billing_and_team_methods() {
     let dump = build_http_schema_dump();
     let methods: Vec<&str> = dump.methods.iter().map(|m| m.method.as_str()).collect();
@@ -954,6 +963,7 @@ fn is_session_expired_error_skips_discord_rewrap_for_2285() {
 }
 
 #[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn is_param_validation_error_matches_the_three_validator_shapes() {
     // Regression guard for OPENHUMAN-TAURI-20: pre-#1467 cores rejected
     // `api_key` because it wasn't in the schema yet. The error string
@@ -973,6 +983,7 @@ fn is_param_validation_error_matches_the_three_validator_shapes() {
 }
 
 #[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn is_param_validation_error_does_not_match_unrelated_errors() {
     // Handler-side / network / auth failures must still be reported.
     assert!(!is_param_validation_error(
@@ -1009,6 +1020,7 @@ fn is_session_expired_error_matches_missing_backend_session_token() {
 }
 
 #[tokio::test(flavor = "current_thread")]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn structured_rpc_error_envelope_passes_through_generic_dispatch() {
     // The transport layer must surface any controller-emitted
     // `StructuredRpcError` payload without inspecting the method name —
@@ -1048,7 +1060,9 @@ async fn structured_rpc_error_envelope_passes_through_generic_dispatch() {
     assert!(message.contains("thread-ghost"));
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 #[tokio::test(flavor = "current_thread")]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn thread_not_found_rpc_error_does_not_report_to_sentry() {
     use axum::body::to_bytes;
     use axum::extract::State;
@@ -1161,7 +1175,9 @@ async fn thread_not_found_rpc_error_does_not_report_to_sentry() {
     );
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 #[tokio::test(flavor = "current_thread")]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn unknown_method_severity_split_by_probe_allow_list() {
     // #3567: prove the full severity split at the transport boundary —
     // (1) an allow-listed probe name is NOT captured to Sentry (debug-only),
@@ -1289,6 +1305,7 @@ fn is_session_expired_error_matches_session_jwt_required() {
 }
 
 #[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn escape_html_escapes_all_special_chars() {
     let raw = r#"<script>alert("x&y'z")</script>"#;
     let escaped = escape_html(raw);
@@ -1305,6 +1322,7 @@ fn escape_html_escapes_all_special_chars() {
 }
 
 #[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn escape_html_is_noop_for_safe_text() {
     assert_eq!(escape_html("safe text 123"), "safe text 123");
     assert_eq!(escape_html(""), "");
@@ -1312,6 +1330,7 @@ fn escape_html_is_noop_for_safe_text() {
 
 // --- telegram callback fetch-metadata gate --------------------------------
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn hdr_map(pairs: &[(&str, &str)]) -> axum::http::HeaderMap {
     let mut m = axum::http::HeaderMap::new();
     for (k, v) in pairs {
@@ -1324,6 +1343,7 @@ fn hdr_map(pairs: &[(&str, &str)]) -> axum::http::HeaderMap {
 }
 
 #[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn telegram_callback_origin_ok_accepts_no_metadata_headers() {
     // Older browsers and CLI clients (curl) send neither Sec-Fetch-* nor
     // Origin/Referer. The legacy flow has to keep working — reject only
@@ -1333,6 +1353,7 @@ fn telegram_callback_origin_ok_accepts_no_metadata_headers() {
 }
 
 #[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn telegram_callback_origin_ok_accepts_legit_top_nav_from_telegram() {
     let headers = hdr_map(&[
         ("sec-fetch-mode", "navigate"),
@@ -1344,6 +1365,7 @@ fn telegram_callback_origin_ok_accepts_legit_top_nav_from_telegram() {
 }
 
 #[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn telegram_callback_origin_ok_accepts_same_origin_local_nav() {
     let headers = hdr_map(&[
         ("sec-fetch-mode", "navigate"),
@@ -1354,6 +1376,7 @@ fn telegram_callback_origin_ok_accepts_same_origin_local_nav() {
 }
 
 #[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn telegram_callback_origin_ok_rejects_image_embed() {
     let headers = hdr_map(&[
         ("sec-fetch-mode", "no-cors"),
@@ -1364,6 +1387,7 @@ fn telegram_callback_origin_ok_rejects_image_embed() {
 }
 
 #[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn telegram_callback_origin_ok_rejects_iframe_embed() {
     let headers = hdr_map(&[
         ("sec-fetch-mode", "navigate"),
@@ -1374,6 +1398,7 @@ fn telegram_callback_origin_ok_rejects_iframe_embed() {
 }
 
 #[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn telegram_callback_origin_ok_rejects_cross_site_from_non_telegram() {
     let headers = hdr_map(&[
         ("sec-fetch-mode", "navigate"),
@@ -1385,12 +1410,14 @@ fn telegram_callback_origin_ok_rejects_cross_site_from_non_telegram() {
 }
 
 #[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn telegram_callback_origin_ok_rejects_non_telegram_referer_without_fetch_metadata() {
     let headers = hdr_map(&[("referer", "https://attacker.example/post")]);
     assert!(super::telegram_callback_origin_ok(&headers).is_err());
 }
 
 #[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn telegram_callback_origin_ok_rejects_localhost_host_prefix_decoy() {
     // Regression: prefix-matching the referer accepted hostnames like
     // `http://localhost.attacker.example/...`. With exact-host parsing
@@ -1472,6 +1499,7 @@ async fn invoke_method_core_version_via_tier1_reflects_state() {
 }
 
 #[tokio::test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn test_http_health_handler_returns_correct_status() {
     use axum::body::to_bytes;
     use axum::http::StatusCode;
@@ -1533,6 +1561,7 @@ async fn test_http_health_handler_returns_correct_status() {
 }
 
 #[tokio::test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn desktop_auth_rejects_deprecated_direct_session_token_marker() {
     use axum::body::to_bytes;
     use axum::extract::Query;
@@ -1560,6 +1589,7 @@ async fn desktop_auth_rejects_deprecated_direct_session_token_marker() {
 }
 
 #[tokio::test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 async fn desktop_auth_rejects_embedded_fetch_metadata() {
     use axum::body::to_bytes;
     use axum::extract::Query;
@@ -1590,6 +1620,7 @@ async fn desktop_auth_rejects_embedded_fetch_metadata() {
 }
 
 #[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn is_wallet_not_configured_error_matches_wallet_constant() {
     // The classifier keys off the wallet layer's exact "not configured"
     // message so a wallet-less user's tinyplace RPC stays out of Sentry.
@@ -1599,6 +1630,7 @@ fn is_wallet_not_configured_error_matches_wallet_constant() {
 }
 
 #[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn is_wallet_not_configured_error_is_coupled_to_the_wallet_constant() {
     // Drift guard: if the wallet wording changes without updating the shared
     // constant the classifier matches, this fails — preventing the noise from
@@ -1610,6 +1642,7 @@ fn is_wallet_not_configured_error_is_coupled_to_the_wallet_constant() {
 }
 
 #[test]
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn is_wallet_not_configured_error_does_not_match_other_errors() {
     // Other wallet/seed-derivation failures (decrypt, key derivation, locked
     // keychain) are real defects and must keep reaching Sentry.
diff --git a/src/core/log_redaction.rs b/src/core/log_redaction.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..48522a6b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/core/log_redaction.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+//! Shared secret-scrubbing for anything written to stderr / file logs.
+//!
+//! Diagnostic log lines (e.g. `core::observability::report_error_message`) can
+//! carry error strings that embed bearer tokens, API keys, or other secrets. In
+//! slim builds compiled without `crash-reporting` there is no Sentry
+//! `before_send` hook to sanitise them, and even in full builds the
+//! `before_send` hook only scrubs the *Sentry event* — not the parallel
+//! `tracing` log line. This module owns the one redaction pass used by both the
+//! Sentry path (`src/main.rs`) and the always-on log path, so the patterns
+//! cannot drift between them. Always compiled (no feature gate).
+
+use once_cell::sync::Lazy;
+use regex::Regex;
+
+static SECRET_PATTERNS: Lazy<Vec<(Regex, &'static str)>> = Lazy::new(|| {
+    vec![
+        // Matches "Bearer <token>" and redacts the token.
+        (Regex::new(r"(?i)(bearer\s+)\S+").unwrap(), "${1}[REDACTED]"),
+        // Matches "api-key: <key>" or "api_key=<key>" and redacts the key.
+        (
+            Regex::new(r"(?i)(api[_-]?key[=:\s]+)\S+").unwrap(),
+            "${1}[REDACTED]",
+        ),
+        // \b anchor prevents matching `cancellation_token=` etc.
+        (
+            Regex::new(r"(?i)\b(token[=:\s]+)\S+").unwrap(),
+            "${1}[REDACTED]",
+        ),
+        // Anthropic keys (sk-ant-api03-...) contain hyphens the generic
+        // sk- pattern below won't match.
+        (
+            Regex::new(r"sk-ant-[A-Za-z0-9\-_]{16,}").unwrap(),
+            "[REDACTED]",
+        ),
+        // OpenAI admin keys (sk-admin-...).
+        (
+            Regex::new(r"sk-admin-[A-Za-z0-9\-_]{12,}").unwrap(),
+            "[REDACTED]",
+        ),
+        // OpenAI project-scoped and org-scoped keys (sk-proj-... / sk-org-...).
+        (
+            Regex::new(r"sk-(?:proj|org)-[A-Za-z0-9\-_]{12,}").unwrap(),
+            "[REDACTED]",
+        ),
+        // Generic catch-all for any sk- format not covered above. Includes `-`
+        // and `_` in the suffix so a separator mid-token can't leave a trailing
+        // fragment unredacted (e.g. `sk-…_uv` → `[REDACTED]_uv`).
+        (Regex::new(r"sk-[A-Za-z0-9_-]{20,}").unwrap(), "[REDACTED]"),
+    ]
+});
+
+/// Replace substrings that look like secrets with `[REDACTED]`.
+///
+/// Intended for anything about to be written to a log sink or an error report;
+/// it redacts the secret-looking span in place and leaves the rest of the
+/// diagnostic message intact (unlike a whole-value prefix redaction).
+pub fn scrub_secrets(input: &str) -> String {
+    let mut result = input.to_string();
+    for (re, replacement) in SECRET_PATTERNS.iter() {
+        result = re.replace_all(&result, *replacement).into_owned();
+    }
+    result
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::scrub_secrets;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn scrubs_bearer_token() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            scrub_secrets("Authorization: Bearer abc123xyz"),
+            "Authorization: Bearer [REDACTED]"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn scrubs_api_key_assignment() {
+        assert_eq!(scrub_secrets("api_key=sk-abc123"), "api_key=[REDACTED]");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn scrubs_anthropic_key() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            scrub_secrets("key: sk-ant-api03-abcdefghijklmnop"),
+            "key: [REDACTED]"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn scrubs_bare_generic_sk_key() {
+        assert_eq!(scrub_secrets("sk-abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwx"), "[REDACTED]");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn scrubs_generic_sk_key_with_separators() {
+        // A `_` or `-` mid-suffix must not leave a trailing fragment unredacted.
+        assert_eq!(scrub_secrets("sk-abcdefghijklmnopqrst_uv"), "[REDACTED]");
+        assert_eq!(scrub_secrets("sk-abcdefghij-klmnopqrst_uv"), "[REDACTED]");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn leaves_plain_diagnostics_intact() {
+        let msg = "profile 42: derived rate clamp exceeded (max_iterations=8)";
+        assert_eq!(scrub_secrets(msg), msg);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/core/logging.rs b/src/core/logging.rs
index 639d247aa..fe26d0ccb 100644
--- a/src/core/logging.rs
+++ b/src/core/logging.rs
@@ -472,6 +472,7 @@ fn build_env_filter(verbose: bool, default_scope: CliLogDefault) -> tracing_subs
     })
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 fn sentry_tracing_layer<S>() -> impl Layer<S>
 where
     S: tracing::Subscriber + for<'a> LookupSpan<'a>,
@@ -492,6 +493,18 @@ where
     })
 }
 
+/// Sentry-free build: the Sentry breadcrumb/event bridge collapses to a no-op
+/// `Identity` layer so the two `.with(sentry_tracing_layer())` call sites keep
+/// compiling unchanged (they add a layer that does nothing). Same signature as
+/// the `crash-reporting` version above.
+#[cfg(not(feature = "crash-reporting"))]
+fn sentry_tracing_layer<S>() -> impl Layer<S>
+where
+    S: tracing::Subscriber + for<'a> LookupSpan<'a>,
+{
+    tracing_subscriber::layer::Identity::new()
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
diff --git a/src/core/mod.rs b/src/core/mod.rs
index 52c448e4a..3b7b03053 100644
--- a/src/core/mod.rs
+++ b/src/core/mod.rs
@@ -14,8 +14,13 @@ pub mod cli;
 pub mod dispatch;
 pub mod event_bind_tokens;
 pub mod event_bus;
+// Ungated compile-time marker for the `http-server` gate (#5048) — the desktop
+// shell asserts `HTTP_SERVER_COMPILED_IN` so a listener-less core fails the
+// build instead of shipping silently (cf. voice #4901).
+pub mod http_server_status;
 pub mod jsonrpc;
 pub mod legacy_aliases;
+pub mod log_redaction;
 pub mod logging;
 pub mod memory_cli;
 pub mod observability;
diff --git a/src/core/observability.rs b/src/core/observability.rs
index 1ae514c17..1f3ff24d3 100644
--- a/src/core/observability.rs
+++ b/src/core/observability.rs
@@ -2394,6 +2394,17 @@ pub(crate) fn report_error_message(
     operation: &str,
     extra: &[Tag<'_>],
 ) {
+    // Redact secret-looking spans (bearer tokens, API keys, `sk-` keys) before
+    // `message` reaches any log sink or Sentry event. The parallel `tracing`
+    // log line below is emitted in every build — including slim builds with no
+    // `crash-reporting` `before_send` hook — so scrub once, up front.
+    let scrubbed = crate::core::log_redaction::scrub_secrets(message);
+    let message = scrubbed.as_str();
+    // Sentry-touching behaviour is gated behind `crash-reporting`. The
+    // diagnostic `tracing::error!` stays compiled in both builds (see the
+    // `#[cfg(not(...))]` companion below) so stderr / file appenders keep the
+    // record even in a sentry-free build.
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     sentry::with_scope(
         |scope| {
             scope.set_tag("domain", domain);
@@ -2419,6 +2430,20 @@ pub(crate) fn report_error_message(
             );
         },
     );
+    #[cfg(not(feature = "crash-reporting"))]
+    {
+        // Sentry compiled out: `extra` tags have no scope to attach to, so
+        // discard them explicitly to avoid an unused-variable warning while
+        // still emitting the diagnostic log line.
+        let _ = extra;
+        tracing::error!(
+            target: REPORT_ERROR_TRACING_TARGET,
+            domain = domain,
+            operation = operation,
+            error = %message,
+            "[observability] {domain}.{operation} failed: {message}"
+        );
+    }
 }
 
 /// Capture a message to Sentry at **warning** severity with structured tags.
@@ -2436,12 +2461,24 @@ pub(crate) fn report_error_message(
 /// `sentry::capture_message` rather than the `sentry-tracing` bridge; the
 /// accompanying diagnostic line is tagged with [`REPORT_ERROR_TRACING_TARGET`]
 /// so the production layer ignores it and we never double-report.
+// Its sole caller is the `http-server`-gated RPC handler (unrecognised-method
+// reporting, #3567), so it has no caller in a slim build (#5048). Kept compiled
+// for the crash-reporting carve-out; the allow keeps the disabled build quiet.
+#[cfg_attr(not(feature = "http-server"), allow(dead_code))]
 pub(crate) fn report_warning_message(
     message: &str,
     domain: &str,
     operation: &str,
     extra: &[Tag<'_>],
 ) {
+    // Redact secret-looking spans before `message` reaches any log sink or
+    // Sentry event — see the note in `report_error_message`.
+    let scrubbed = crate::core::log_redaction::scrub_secrets(message);
+    let message = scrubbed.as_str();
+    // Sentry-touching behaviour is gated behind `crash-reporting`; the
+    // diagnostic `tracing::warn!` stays compiled in both builds (see the
+    // `#[cfg(not(...))]` companion below).
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     sentry::with_scope(
         |scope| {
             scope.set_tag("domain", domain);
@@ -2461,6 +2498,17 @@ pub(crate) fn report_warning_message(
             );
         },
     );
+    #[cfg(not(feature = "crash-reporting"))]
+    {
+        let _ = extra;
+        tracing::warn!(
+            target: REPORT_ERROR_TRACING_TARGET,
+            domain = domain,
+            operation = operation,
+            message = %message,
+            "[observability] {domain}.{operation} warning: {message}"
+        );
+    }
 }
 
 /// Returns true when a Sentry event is a per-attempt provider HTTP failure
@@ -2480,6 +2528,7 @@ pub(crate) fn report_warning_message(
 ///   for its own reasons doesn't get silently dropped
 /// - tag `failure == "non_2xx"` (the marker set by `ops::api_error`)
 /// - tag `status` parses to one of [`TRANSIENT_PROVIDER_HTTP_STATUSES`]
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 pub fn is_transient_provider_http_failure(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     let tags = &event.tags;
     if tags.get("domain").map(String::as_str) != Some("llm_provider") {
@@ -2507,6 +2556,7 @@ pub fn is_transient_provider_http_failure(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -
 /// single-source [`crate::openhuman::inference::provider::managed_error_skips_sentry`]
 /// (managed-envelope gated, so a BYO payload carrying an `errorCode`-shaped
 /// field is not wrongly dropped) so the layers can't drift.
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 pub fn is_backend_error_code_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     let direct = event.message.as_deref();
     let from_logentry = event.logentry.as_ref().map(|log| log.message.as_str());
@@ -2534,6 +2584,7 @@ pub fn is_backend_error_code_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool
 /// suppressed. A non-streaming `domain=llm_provider, failure=transport` event
 /// carries a different `operation` tag and must keep paging, so the
 /// observability blind spot stays as narrow as F7 intends.
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 pub fn is_transient_provider_transport_failure(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     let tags = &event.tags;
     if tags.get("domain").map(String::as_str) != Some("llm_provider") {
@@ -2559,6 +2610,7 @@ pub fn is_transient_provider_transport_failure(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'
 /// where the aggregate body starts with the reliable-provider exhaustion
 /// prefix and contains transient HTTP/transport wording already classified by
 /// [`is_transient_message_failure`].
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 pub fn is_all_transient_provider_exhaustion_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     let tags = &event.tags;
     if tags.get("domain").map(String::as_str) != Some("llm_provider") {
@@ -2577,6 +2629,7 @@ pub fn is_all_transient_provider_exhaustion_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Even
         .any(all_provider_attempts_are_transient)
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 fn all_provider_attempts_are_transient(message: &str) -> bool {
     let Some(attempts) = message.strip_prefix("All providers/models failed. Attempts:") else {
         return false;
@@ -2610,6 +2663,7 @@ fn all_provider_attempts_are_transient(message: &str) -> bool {
 /// the last exception's `value` (the shape `sentry-tracing` produces when
 /// stacktraces are attached). Both fields are checked for the canonical
 /// prefix so the filter stays robust to future Sentry plumbing changes.
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 pub fn is_max_iterations_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     let direct = event.message.as_deref();
     let from_exception = event.exception.last().and_then(|e| e.value.as_deref());
@@ -2633,6 +2687,7 @@ pub fn is_max_iterations_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
 /// Scope: only the three domains that surface session-expired today
 /// (`llm_provider`, `backend_api`, `rpc`). Composio's OAuth-state 401
 /// is excluded — that's actionable and must reach Sentry.
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 pub fn is_session_expired_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     let tags = &event.tags;
     let Some(domain) = tags.get("domain").map(String::as_str) else {
@@ -2695,6 +2750,7 @@ pub fn is_session_expired_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
 /// - `event.message` (or last exception `value`) trims to **exactly**
 ///   `"GET /auth/me"` — strict equality, not `contains`, so a body with
 ///   the chain appended still surfaces.
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 pub fn is_auth_get_me_opaque_transport_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     let tags = &event.tags;
     if tags.get("domain").map(String::as_str) != Some("rpc") {
@@ -2743,6 +2799,7 @@ pub fn is_updater_transient_message(message: &str) -> bool {
         .any(|phrase| lower.contains(phrase))
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 fn event_has_transient_transport_phrase(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     event
         .message
@@ -2760,6 +2817,7 @@ fn event_has_transient_transport_phrase(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) ->
         })
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 fn event_has_updater_transient_message(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     event
         .message
@@ -2777,6 +2835,7 @@ fn event_has_updater_transient_message(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> b
         })
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 fn event_has_updater_domain(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     matches!(
         event.tags.get("domain").map(String::as_str),
@@ -2784,6 +2843,7 @@ fn event_has_updater_domain(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     )
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 fn is_transient_domain_failure(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>, domain: &str) -> bool {
     let tags = &event.tags;
     if tags.get("domain").map(String::as_str) != Some(domain) {
@@ -2801,6 +2861,7 @@ fn is_transient_domain_failure(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>, domain: &str
 
 /// Transient backend API failures (gateway hiccups, scheduled downtime).
 /// Match by event tags written by report_error at the authed_json call site.
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 pub fn is_transient_backend_api_failure(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     is_transient_domain_failure(event, "backend_api")
 }
@@ -2811,6 +2872,7 @@ pub fn is_transient_backend_api_failure(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) ->
 /// path is missing, private, or otherwise unavailable to that user. The install
 /// RPC still returns the error so the UI can surface it, but Sentry should keep
 /// reporting server-side and transport failures only.
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 pub fn is_skill_install_user_fetch_failure(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     let tags = &event.tags;
     if tags.get("domain").map(String::as_str) != Some("skills") {
@@ -2841,6 +2903,7 @@ pub fn is_skill_install_user_fetch_failure(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>)
 /// would otherwise escape the integrations-scoped filter (OPENHUMAN-TAURI-35
 /// ~139ev, -2H ~26ev: `[composio] list_connections failed: Backend returned
 /// 502 …` events that landed in Sentry under `domain=composio`).
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 pub fn is_transient_integrations_failure(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     is_transient_domain_failure(event, "integrations")
         || is_transient_domain_failure(event, "composio")
@@ -2858,6 +2921,7 @@ pub fn is_transient_integrations_failure(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) ->
 /// `domain=skills`, `failure=non_2xx`, and a 4xx `status`. A 5xx is a genuine
 /// remote failure and stays reportable. Drops TAURI-RUST-CGE (~1,446 events /
 /// 72 users on `openhuman@0.57.53`).
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 pub fn is_skills_install_client_error_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     let tags = &event.tags;
     if tags.get("domain").map(String::as_str) != Some("skills") {
@@ -2879,6 +2943,7 @@ pub fn is_skills_install_client_error_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>)
 /// `"failed to check for updates: error sending request for url (...latest.json)"`.
 /// Match both shapes, but never drop an arbitrary update-domain event unless
 /// it also has a transient status/transport marker.
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 pub fn is_updater_transient_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     if event_has_updater_transient_message(event) {
         return true;
@@ -2967,6 +3032,7 @@ pub fn is_suppressed_usage_probe_backoff(msg: &str) -> bool {
 /// the emit-site classifier — any non_2xx/400 event that carries the
 /// budget-exhausted phrasing is dropped regardless of which domain produced
 /// it, so a future re-emitter under a different tag still gets filtered.
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 pub fn is_budget_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     let tags = &event.tags;
     if tags.get("failure").map(String::as_str) != Some("non_2xx") {
@@ -3033,6 +3099,7 @@ pub fn is_insufficient_credits_message(text: &str) -> bool {
 ///   failure (`"402"` or `"payment required"`), AND
 /// - that same text carries an insufficient-credits phrase
 ///   (`provider::body_indicates_insufficient_credits`).
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 pub fn is_insufficient_credits_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     if event
         .message
@@ -3073,6 +3140,7 @@ pub fn is_quota_exhausted_message(text: &str) -> bool {
 /// that catches all of them, keyed on the formatted message rather than tags so
 /// it matches regardless of which path emitted it (and regardless of whether
 /// the upstream wrapped the 402 in a 500 envelope).
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 pub fn is_quota_exhausted_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     if event
         .message
@@ -3117,6 +3185,7 @@ pub fn is_ollama_cloud_internal_500_message_any(text: &str) -> bool {
 /// net for any other compatible-provider path (`chat_with_system`,
 /// `chat_with_history`, the non-native cascades) that reports the same body,
 /// keyed on the message rather than tags so it matches regardless of emitter.
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 pub fn is_ollama_cloud_internal_500_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     if event
         .message
@@ -3145,6 +3214,7 @@ pub fn is_ollama_cloud_internal_500_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -
 /// - tag `status == "404"`
 /// - tag `method == "PATCH"` or `"DELETE"`
 /// - event message or exception value contains both `"/channels/"` and `"/messages/"`
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 pub fn is_channel_message_not_found_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     let tags = &event.tags;
     if tags.get("domain").map(String::as_str) != Some("backend_api") {
@@ -3163,6 +3233,7 @@ pub fn is_channel_message_not_found_event(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -
     event_contains_channel_message_path(event)
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 fn event_contains_channel_message_path(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     let has_pattern = |s: &str| s.contains("/channels/") && s.contains("/messages/");
     if event.message.as_deref().is_some_and(has_pattern) {
@@ -3175,6 +3246,7 @@ fn event_contains_channel_message_path(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> b
         .any(|exc| exc.value.as_deref().is_some_and(has_pattern))
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 fn event_contains_budget_exhausted_message(event: &sentry::protocol::Event<'_>) -> bool {
     if event
         .message
@@ -6286,6 +6358,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     fn event_with_tags(pairs: &[(&str, &str)]) -> sentry::protocol::Event<'static> {
         let mut event = sentry::protocol::Event::default();
         let mut tags: std::collections::BTreeMap<String, String> =
@@ -6297,6 +6370,7 @@ mod tests {
         event
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     fn event_with_tags_and_message(
         pairs: &[(&str, &str)],
         message: &str,
@@ -6306,6 +6380,7 @@ mod tests {
         event
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn transient_filter_drops_429_408_502_503_504() {
         for status in ["429", "408", "502", "503", "504"] {
@@ -6321,6 +6396,7 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn custom_openai_502_event_shape_is_transient_provider_http() {
         let event = event_with_tags_and_message(
@@ -6338,6 +6414,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn transient_filter_keeps_permanent_failures() {
         for status in ["400", "401", "403", "404", "500"] {
@@ -6353,6 +6430,7 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn transient_filter_keeps_aggregate_all_exhausted() {
         let event = event_with_tags(&[
@@ -6366,6 +6444,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn transient_filter_keeps_events_with_no_status_tag() {
         let event = event_with_tags(&[("domain", "llm_provider"), ("failure", "non_2xx")]);
@@ -6382,6 +6461,7 @@ mod tests {
     // "llm_provider", ..)` so the domain tag is consistent), but the broader
     // point is: any future caller that re-uses the same tag set for a
     // different domain must NOT be silently dropped by this filter.
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn transient_filter_keeps_events_with_no_domain_tag() {
         let event = event_with_tags(&[("failure", "non_2xx"), ("status", "503")]);
@@ -6391,6 +6471,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn transient_filter_keeps_events_from_other_domains() {
         let event = event_with_tags(&[
@@ -6404,6 +6485,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn backend_api_filter_drops_transient_statuses() {
         for status in TRANSIENT_HTTP_STATUSES {
@@ -6419,6 +6501,7 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn backend_api_filter_drops_transient_transport_phrases() {
         for phrase in TRANSIENT_TRANSPORT_PHRASES {
@@ -6433,6 +6516,7 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn backend_api_filter_keeps_non_transient_failures() {
         for status in ["404", "500"] {
@@ -6467,6 +6551,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn skills_install_fetch_filter_drops_client_error_statuses() {
         for status in ["400", "401", "403", "404", "410", "499"] {
@@ -6483,6 +6568,7 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn skills_install_fetch_filter_keeps_server_and_wrong_shape_failures() {
         for status in ["500", "502", "503"] {
@@ -6526,6 +6612,7 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn integrations_filter_drops_transient_statuses() {
         for status in TRANSIENT_HTTP_STATUSES {
@@ -6541,6 +6628,7 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn integrations_filter_drops_transient_transport_phrases() {
         for phrase in TRANSIENT_TRANSPORT_PHRASES {
@@ -6555,6 +6643,7 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn integrations_filter_keeps_non_transient_failures() {
         for status in ["404", "500"] {
@@ -6598,6 +6687,7 @@ mod tests {
     /// `SKILL.md`) is expected user-input state — the before_send net must drop
     /// it, while a genuine 5xx remote failure and unrelated domains stay
     /// reportable.
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn skills_install_client_error_filter_drops_4xx_keeps_5xx() {
         // 4xx (esp. 404/410) = missing skill / wrong URL → dropped.
@@ -6646,6 +6736,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn composio_domain_routes_through_integrations_filter() {
         // OPENHUMAN-TAURI-35 (~139 events) / -2H (~26 events):
@@ -6697,6 +6788,7 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn composio_list_connections_503_504_wrappers_stay_filtered() {
         for (status, reason) in [("503", "Service Unavailable"), ("504", "Gateway Timeout")] {
@@ -6738,6 +6830,7 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn updater_transient_403_is_dropped() {
         let event = event_with_tags_and_message(
@@ -6755,6 +6848,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn updater_github_403_message_only_shapes_are_dropped() {
         for event in [
@@ -6768,6 +6862,7 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn updater_transient_502_is_dropped() {
         let event = event_with_tags_and_message(
@@ -6784,6 +6879,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn updater_real_panic_still_reported() {
         let event = event_with_tags_and_message(
@@ -6796,6 +6892,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn updater_endpoint_non_success_message_is_dropped() {
         // TAURI-RUST-CD (~151 events / 9 days, Windows): `tauri-plugin-updater`
@@ -6817,6 +6914,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn updater_endpoint_non_success_anchor_does_not_silence_unrelated_errors() {
         // The new anchor is the literal plugin string. Other updater failures
@@ -6887,6 +6985,7 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn budget_filter_drops_budget_message_on_tagged_400() {
         let event = event_with_tags_and_message(
@@ -6897,6 +6996,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(is_budget_event(&event));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn budget_filter_drops_budget_exception_on_tagged_400() {
         let mut event = event_with_tags(&[("failure", "non_2xx"), ("status", "400")]);
@@ -6908,6 +7008,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(is_budget_event(&event));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn budget_filter_keeps_non_budget_400() {
         let event = event_with_tags_and_message(
@@ -6918,6 +7019,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(!is_budget_event(&event));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn budget_filter_requires_non_2xx_failure_and_400_status() {
         let message = "Budget exceeded — add credits to continue";
@@ -6964,12 +7066,14 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     fn event_with_message(msg: &str) -> sentry::protocol::Event<'static> {
         let mut event = sentry::protocol::Event::default();
         event.message = Some(msg.to_string());
         event
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     fn event_with_exception_value(value: &str) -> sentry::protocol::Event<'static> {
         let mut event = sentry::protocol::Event::default();
         event.exception = vec![sentry::protocol::Exception {
@@ -6980,6 +7084,7 @@ mod tests {
         event
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn quota_exhausted_filter_matches_500_wrapped_kiro_event() {
         // TAURI-RUST-C9A: verbatim message as formatted by the provider emit
@@ -6994,6 +7099,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(is_quota_exhausted_message(body));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn quota_exhausted_filter_matches_responses_usage_limit_reached_event() {
         // TAURI-RUST-AFE: verbatim message as formatted by the `chat_via_responses`
@@ -7013,6 +7119,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(is_quota_exhausted_message(body));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn quota_exhausted_filter_ignores_generic_500_and_rate_limit() {
         // A generic 500 outage and a 429 rate-limit are not plan-quota
@@ -7025,6 +7132,7 @@ mod tests {
         )));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn insufficient_credits_filter_matches_message_path() {
         // Verbatim TAURI-RUST-C62 message as formatted by the provider emit
@@ -7036,6 +7144,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(is_insufficient_credits_event(&event));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn insufficient_credits_filter_matches_exception_path() {
         let event = event_with_exception_value(
@@ -7044,6 +7153,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(is_insufficient_credits_event(&event));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn insufficient_credits_filter_requires_both_402_and_credit_phrase() {
         // A 402 with no credit phrase must NOT be swallowed (could be another
@@ -7058,6 +7168,7 @@ mod tests {
         )));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn insufficient_credits_filter_ignores_402_digits_in_a_non_402_body() {
         // A non-402 error whose body merely contains the digits "402" and a
@@ -7112,6 +7223,7 @@ mod tests {
         ));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn is_insufficient_credits_event_delegates_to_message_matcher() {
         // Parity: the event-level filter is now a thin wrapper over the
@@ -7141,6 +7253,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn ollama_cloud_internal_500_before_send_matches_raw_and_reraised_shapes() {
         // The outermost net catches BOTH the raw emit body (any compatible
@@ -7170,6 +7283,7 @@ mod tests {
         )));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn session_expired_before_send_matches_core_401_events() {
         let msg = "SESSION_EXPIRED: backend session not active — sign in to resume LLM work";
@@ -7189,6 +7303,7 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn session_expired_before_send_stays_domain_scoped() {
         let event = event_with_tags_and_message(
@@ -7201,6 +7316,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn max_iterations_filter_matches_message_path() {
         // `report_error_message` calls `sentry::capture_message`, which
@@ -7210,6 +7326,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(is_max_iterations_event(&event));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn max_iterations_filter_matches_exception_path() {
         // sentry-tracing with attach_stacktrace=true populates the
@@ -7221,6 +7338,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(is_max_iterations_event(&event));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn max_iterations_filter_keeps_unrelated_events() {
         assert!(!is_max_iterations_event(&event_with_message(
@@ -7232,6 +7350,7 @@ mod tests {
 
     // ── is_channel_message_not_found_event (TAURI-R7) ────────────────────────
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     fn channel_message_404_event(method: &str) -> sentry::protocol::Event<'static> {
         let mut event = sentry::protocol::Event::default();
         event.tags.insert("domain".into(), "backend_api".into());
@@ -7245,6 +7364,7 @@ mod tests {
         event
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn channel_message_not_found_filter_matches_patch() {
         // Canonical TAURI-R7 shape: PATCH 404 on a channel-message path.
@@ -7253,6 +7373,7 @@ mod tests {
         ));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn channel_message_not_found_filter_matches_delete() {
         assert!(is_channel_message_not_found_event(
@@ -7260,6 +7381,7 @@ mod tests {
         ));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn channel_message_not_found_filter_ignores_get_404() {
         // GET 404 on a channel-message path is NOT an expected state — must keep Sentry signal.
@@ -7268,6 +7390,7 @@ mod tests {
         ));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn channel_message_not_found_filter_ignores_non_channel_path() {
         let mut event = channel_message_404_event("PATCH");
@@ -7275,6 +7398,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(!is_channel_message_not_found_event(&event));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn channel_message_not_found_filter_ignores_wrong_status() {
         let mut event = channel_message_404_event("PATCH");
@@ -7282,6 +7406,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(!is_channel_message_not_found_event(&event));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn channel_message_not_found_filter_ignores_wrong_domain() {
         let mut event = channel_message_404_event("PATCH");
@@ -7289,6 +7414,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(!is_channel_message_not_found_event(&event));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn channel_message_not_found_filter_matches_exception_path() {
         // sentry-tracing with attach_stacktrace=true populates exception list.
@@ -7709,6 +7835,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn expected_kind_ignores_byo_errors_that_carry_an_error_code_token() {
         // CodeRabbit: a BYO / direct-provider envelope whose body happens to
@@ -7727,6 +7854,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn before_send_filter_drops_backend_owned_error_code_events() {
         for code in [
@@ -7760,6 +7888,7 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn before_send_filter_keeps_malformed_bad_request_event() {
         let event = event_with_message(
@@ -7772,12 +7901,14 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn before_send_filter_matches_error_code_in_exception_value() {
         let event = event_with_exception_value(&managed_body("500", "INTERNAL_ERROR"));
         assert!(is_backend_error_code_event(&event));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn transient_provider_transport_filter_drops_flaky_network_blips() {
         // F7: a streaming transport timeout/reset under
@@ -7806,6 +7937,7 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn transient_provider_transport_filter_keeps_non_transient_transport() {
         // A genuine, non-transient transport failure (e.g. an unexpected
@@ -7821,6 +7953,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(!is_transient_provider_transport_failure(&event));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn transient_provider_transport_filter_scoped_to_streaming_operations() {
         // CodeRabbit: a NON-streaming llm_provider transport failure with the
@@ -7847,6 +7980,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(!is_transient_provider_transport_failure(&no_op));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn transient_provider_transport_filter_scoped_to_llm_provider() {
         // Same shape under a different domain must not be claimed by this
@@ -7870,6 +8004,7 @@ mod tests {
     // `openhuman::credentials::ops::auth_get_me` for the broader
     // context.
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     fn auth_get_me_tags() -> Vec<(&'static str, &'static str)> {
         vec![
             ("domain", "rpc"),
@@ -7879,6 +8014,7 @@ mod tests {
         ]
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn auth_get_me_opaque_filter_drops_bare_method_path_message() {
         let event = event_with_tags_and_message(&auth_get_me_tags(), "GET /auth/me");
@@ -7888,6 +8024,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn auth_get_me_opaque_filter_tolerates_surrounding_whitespace() {
         let event = event_with_tags_and_message(&auth_get_me_tags(), "  GET /auth/me  ");
@@ -7897,6 +8034,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn auth_get_me_opaque_filter_keeps_full_anyhow_chain_message() {
         // Post-fix shape from `auth_get_me` now using `format!("{e:#}")`.
@@ -7912,6 +8050,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn auth_get_me_opaque_filter_keeps_other_rpc_methods() {
         // Same opaque shape but for a different RPC must NOT be dropped —
@@ -7937,6 +8076,7 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn auth_get_me_opaque_filter_requires_rpc_invoke_method_domain() {
         // Wrong domain → must surface.
@@ -7956,6 +8096,7 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(!is_auth_get_me_opaque_transport_event(&event));
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn auth_get_me_opaque_filter_matches_exception_value_path() {
         // sentry-tracing path: message empty, exception last value carries
@@ -7971,6 +8112,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     #[test]
     fn auth_get_me_opaque_filter_ignores_empty_and_unrelated() {
         // No message and no exception → false.
diff --git a/src/core/runtime/builder.rs b/src/core/runtime/builder.rs
index 8af72b7d3..a1a5c1a27 100644
--- a/src/core/runtime/builder.rs
+++ b/src/core/runtime/builder.rs
@@ -389,6 +389,12 @@ impl CoreRuntime {
     /// When `rpc_http` is not selected this returns immediately (a harness-only
     /// embedder has no transport to run); background services selected in the
     /// [`ServiceSet`] are still spawned.
+    ///
+    /// In a slim build compiled without the `http-server` feature an `rpc_http`
+    /// request cannot be honoured — the axum / Socket.IO transport is compiled
+    /// out — so `serve` returns a build-feature `Err` rather than binding no
+    /// listener and reporting success. The no-transport (`!rpc_http`) path above
+    /// is unaffected and still returns `Ok(())`.
     pub async fn serve(
         &self,
         ready_tx: Option<tokio::sync::oneshot::Sender<EmbeddedReadySignal>>,
@@ -401,6 +407,55 @@ impl CoreRuntime {
             return Ok(());
         }
 
+        // Transport compiled out (#5048): run the selected background services
+        // and return without binding an HTTP/Socket.IO listener — same shape as
+        // the no-`rpc_http` guard above. The desktop shell always ships
+        // `http-server`; this keeps slim / headless-embedding builds linkable.
+        #[cfg(not(feature = "http-server"))]
+        {
+            // `rpc_http` was requested (we passed the guard above) but the HTTP +
+            // Socket.IO transport is compiled out of this slim build. Fail loudly
+            // rather than returning Ok with no listener bound — a supervisor / CLI
+            // (`openhuman run`, `serve`, `--headless-api`) would otherwise observe
+            // a clean start while the requested API is unavailable. Embedders that
+            // genuinely want no transport leave `ServiceSet::rpc_http` unset, which
+            // is handled by the early return above.
+            //
+            // The bind inputs are only read by the compiled-out `serve_http`; touch
+            // them so they don't read as dead fields in the slim build.
+            let _ = (
+                ready_tx,
+                shutdown_token,
+                self.has_operator_token,
+                self.host.as_ref(),
+                self.port,
+            );
+            anyhow::bail!(
+                "rpc_http transport was requested but this build was compiled \
+                 without the `http-server` feature; rebuild with the default \
+                 `http-server` feature, or use an embedding that does not set \
+                 `ServiceSet::rpc_http`"
+            );
+        }
+
+        #[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
+        {
+            self.serve_http(ready_tx, shutdown_token).await
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// HTTP + Socket.IO transport body of [`Self::serve`].
+    ///
+    /// Compiled only under the `http-server` feature (#5048): builds the axum
+    /// router, binds the listener, starts the selected background services, and
+    /// serves until shutdown. With the feature off, [`serve`](Self::serve) runs
+    /// background services and returns without binding (see the arms above).
+    #[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
+    async fn serve_http(
+        &self,
+        ready_tx: Option<tokio::sync::oneshot::Sender<EmbeddedReadySignal>>,
+        shutdown_token: Option<CancellationToken>,
+    ) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         // --- Host / port resolution ---
         let (resolved_port, port_source) = match self.port {
             Some(p) => (p, "builder port"),
diff --git a/src/core/runtime/mod.rs b/src/core/runtime/mod.rs
index 4b3e3a314..299a6a15f 100644
--- a/src/core/runtime/mod.rs
+++ b/src/core/runtime/mod.rs
@@ -24,6 +24,23 @@
 //! on every multi-thread runtime that may host an agent turn.
 pub const AGENT_WORKER_STACK_BYTES: usize = 16 * 1024 * 1024;
 
+/// Upper bound on tokio's blocking-thread pool for the long-lived multi-thread
+/// runtimes tuned with [`AGENT_WORKER_STACK_BYTES`] (the desktop Tauri host and
+/// the `openhuman-core` JSON-RPC / `agent_cli` servers).
+///
+/// Tokio defaults `max_blocking_threads` to **512**. That is doubly wasteful on
+/// these runtimes: `thread_stack_size` sizes *blocking* threads too, not just
+/// workers, so an idle pool that grew to the cap could pin up to
+/// `512 × 16 MiB` of stack — the opposite of the embedded RAM budget in #5046.
+/// `spawn_blocking` on these paths backs SQLite, filesystem grep/glob, document
+/// parsing, and URL guarding: bounded, bursty concurrency. 64 leaves generous
+/// headroom over any realistic concurrent-blocking count while capping the idle
+/// footprint, and threads still retire after tokio's 10 s idle timeout.
+///
+/// Set `.max_blocking_threads(MAX_BLOCKING_THREADS)` alongside
+/// `.thread_stack_size(AGENT_WORKER_STACK_BYTES)` on every such runtime.
+pub const MAX_BLOCKING_THREADS: usize = 64;
+
 pub mod builder;
 pub mod context;
 pub mod services;
diff --git a/src/core/shutdown.rs b/src/core/shutdown.rs
index fe93ecb0f..4d569f4d7 100644
--- a/src/core/shutdown.rs
+++ b/src/core/shutdown.rs
@@ -56,8 +56,12 @@ async fn run_hooks() {
 /// signal (SIGINT on all platforms, plus SIGTERM on Unix), then runs all
 /// registered shutdown hooks.
 ///
-/// This is intended to be used with [`axum::serve`]'s `with_graceful_shutdown`
-/// method or in the main loop to handle clean exits.
+/// This is intended to be used with `axum::serve`'s `with_graceful_shutdown`
+/// method or in the main loop to handle clean exits. (Plain code span, not an
+/// intra-doc link: the direct `axum` dependency/API surface is unavailable in
+/// slim builds — the `http-server` feature (#5048) gates it, and it remains
+/// only transitively via `tinychannels` — where an intra-doc link to it would
+/// fail rustdoc.)
 pub async fn signal() {
     // Wait for the OS to send a termination signal.
     wait_for_signal().await;
diff --git a/src/core/socketio.rs b/src/core/socketio.rs
index 1b35bcec7..663a36a5d 100644
--- a/src/core/socketio.rs
+++ b/src/core/socketio.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,18 @@
 use serde::Deserialize;
 use serde::Serialize;
+// `json!` + socketioxide are used only by the socketioxide event-transport
+// bodies below, all gated with the `http-server` feature (#5048). The inert
+// event payload types further down (`WebChannelEvent`, `TurnUsagePayload`,
+// `SubagentUsagePayload`, `SubagentProgressDetail`) stay compiled in every build
+// — ~10 always-on domains (web_chat, cron, channels, agent, agentbox, …)
+// construct them — so `serde` stays ungated and only the transport surface is
+// gated (type carve-out; see AGENTS.md and this module's `pub mod` in
+// `core::mod`, which is intentionally NOT gated).
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use serde_json::json;
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use socketioxide::extract::{Data, SocketRef, TryData};
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use socketioxide::SocketIo;
 
 /// Marker stored in [`SocketRef::extensions`] once a connection has presented a
@@ -11,6 +22,7 @@ use socketioxide::SocketIo;
 /// into the JSON-RPC dispatcher or the web-chat orchestrator: an unauthenticated
 /// socket that never picked up the marker is allowed to receive broadcast-style
 /// events (read-only) but cannot trigger executable work.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 #[derive(Clone, Copy, Debug)]
 struct AuthedConnection;
 
@@ -20,6 +32,7 @@ struct AuthedConnection;
 /// headers, so the handshake `auth` map is the only header-equivalent slot
 /// available for our per-process bearer. The socket-IO Node/JS clients all
 /// surface `io(url, { auth: { token: "<hex>" } })` for this.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 #[derive(Debug, Default, Deserialize)]
 struct HandshakeAuth {
     #[serde(default)]
@@ -47,6 +60,7 @@ struct HandshakeAuth {
 /// A missing `Origin` header is treated as a native (non-browser) client
 /// and accepted — only the cross-origin browser-page case is the targeted
 /// bad actor here.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub(crate) fn origin_is_allowed(origin: Option<&str>) -> bool {
     let Some(origin) = origin else {
         return true; // native clients (CLI, Tauri shell) — no Origin header
@@ -73,6 +87,7 @@ pub(crate) fn origin_is_allowed(origin: Option<&str>) -> bool {
 }
 
 /// True when `socket` finished the handshake with a valid bearer token.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn socket_is_authed(socket: &SocketRef) -> bool {
     socket.extensions.get::<AuthedConnection>().is_some()
 }
@@ -80,6 +95,7 @@ fn socket_is_authed(socket: &SocketRef) -> bool {
 /// Best-effort disconnect. Called when we discover an unauthenticated socket
 /// inside an event handler — the connect path already disconnects the bad
 /// origins / wrong tokens, so this is purely a defense-in-depth path.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn drop_unauthed(socket: &SocketRef, reason: &'static str) {
     log::warn!(
         "[socketio] dropping unauthenticated socket id={} reason={}",
@@ -343,6 +359,7 @@ pub struct SubagentProgressDetail {
     pub dirty_status: Option<bool>,
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 #[derive(Debug, Deserialize)]
 struct SocketRpcRequest {
     id: serde_json::Value,
@@ -351,6 +368,7 @@ struct SocketRpcRequest {
     params: serde_json::Value,
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 #[derive(Debug, Deserialize)]
 struct ChatStartPayload {
     thread_id: String,
@@ -369,6 +387,7 @@ struct ChatStartPayload {
     queue_mode: Option<String>,
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 #[derive(Debug, Deserialize)]
 struct ChatCancelPayload {
     thread_id: String,
@@ -379,6 +398,7 @@ struct ChatCancelPayload {
     request_id: Option<String>,
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 #[derive(Debug, Deserialize)]
 struct ThreadSubscribePayload {
     thread_id: String,
@@ -391,6 +411,7 @@ struct ThreadSubscribePayload {
 /// - `rpc:request`: Invoking JSON-RPC methods over WebSocket.
 /// - `chat:start`: Initiating a new chat turn.
 /// - `chat:cancel`: Aborting an active chat turn.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub fn attach_socketio() -> (socketioxide::layer::SocketIoLayer, SocketIo) {
     let (layer, io) = SocketIo::new_layer();
 
@@ -612,6 +633,7 @@ pub fn attach_socketio() -> (socketioxide::layer::SocketIoLayer, SocketIo) {
 /// 3. **Overlay Bridge**: Forwards attention bubble events to all clients.
 /// 4. **Core Notification Bridge**: Forwards core notification events to all clients.
 /// 5. **Transcription Bridge**: Forwards real-time speech-to-text results to all clients.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub fn spawn_web_channel_bridge(io: SocketIo) {
     // 1. Web channel events → per-client rooms.
     let io_web = io.clone();
@@ -1462,6 +1484,7 @@ pub fn spawn_web_channel_bridge(io: SocketIo) {
 /// listener for telegram/discord); `last_error` carries the disconnect reason.
 /// Matches the shape consumed by the frontend
 /// `normalizeChannelConnectionUpdatePayload`.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub(crate) fn channel_connection_update_payload(
     channel: &str,
     status: &str,
@@ -1486,6 +1509,7 @@ pub(crate) fn channel_connection_update_payload(
 /// so both the happy and error paths are logged with enough context
 /// (room name + client id) to diagnose missing welcome messages from
 /// logs alone.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn join_room_logged(socket: &SocketRef, room: &str, client_id: &str) {
     match socket.join(room.to_string()) {
         Ok(()) => log::debug!("[socketio] joined room '{room}' for client {client_id}"),
@@ -1493,6 +1517,7 @@ fn join_room_logged(socket: &SocketRef, room: &str, client_id: &str) {
     }
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn emit_web_channel_event(io: &SocketIo, event: WebChannelEvent) {
     let name = event.event.clone();
     // Deliver to the initiating client's own room AND the per-thread room. The
@@ -1555,8 +1580,10 @@ fn emit_web_channel_event(io: &SocketIo, event: WebChannelEvent) {
 /// is suppressed for exactly these. Enumerated explicitly rather than matched by
 /// a `*_delta` suffix, so a future *discrete* event whose name happens to end in
 /// `_delta` still gets its compat alias instead of being silently dropped.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 const STREAMING_DELTA_EVENTS: &[&str] = &["text_delta", "thinking_delta", "tool_args_delta"];
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn event_alias(name: &str) -> Option<String> {
     // Match against the canonical underscore form after stripping a `subagent_`
     // prefix (subagent streaming mirrors the parent's deltas), so `text_delta`,
@@ -1576,6 +1603,7 @@ fn event_alias(name: &str) -> Option<String> {
     None
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn emit_with_aliases(socket: &SocketRef, name: &str, payload: &serde_json::Value) {
     let _ = socket.emit(name, payload);
     if let Some(alias) = event_alias(name) {
@@ -1583,7 +1611,9 @@ fn emit_with_aliases(socket: &SocketRef, name: &str, payload: &serde_json::Value
     }
 }
 
-#[cfg(test)]
+// Every test here names a gated fn (`channel_connection_update_payload`,
+// `event_alias`, `origin_is_allowed`), so the module gates in lockstep (#5048).
+#[cfg(all(test, feature = "http-server"))]
 mod tests {
     use super::{channel_connection_update_payload, event_alias, origin_is_allowed};
 
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index fbd3b4167..b958d7a02 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -5,9 +5,6 @@
 //! - Setting up secret scrubbing for outgoing error reports.
 //! - Dispatching command-line arguments to the core logic in `openhuman_core`.
 
-use once_cell::sync::Lazy;
-use regex::Regex;
-
 /// Main application entry point.
 ///
 /// It initializes the Sentry SDK for error monitoring, ensuring that sensitive
@@ -33,6 +30,10 @@ fn main() {
     //      the GH org-level variable can be renamed)
     //   3. Each of the same names baked at compile time via `option_env!`
     // If none resolve to a non-empty value, `sentry::init` returns a no-op guard.
+    //
+    // The whole init (guard + secret-scrubbing `before_send`) is gated on the
+    // `crash-reporting` feature; a slim build compiles it out entirely.
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     let _sentry_guard = sentry::init(sentry::ClientOptions {
         dsn: std::env::var("OPENHUMAN_CORE_SENTRY_DSN")
             .ok()
@@ -259,6 +260,7 @@ fn restore_default_sigpipe() {}
 /// `app/src/utils/config.ts`) so events from every surface group under
 /// the same release in the Sentry dashboard and benefit from the same
 /// source-map upload.
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 fn build_release_tag() -> String {
     let version = env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION");
     let sha = option_env!("OPENHUMAN_BUILD_SHA").unwrap_or("").trim();
@@ -275,6 +277,7 @@ fn build_release_tag() -> String {
 /// Honors `OPENHUMAN_APP_ENV` at runtime (`staging` / `production`) so the
 /// same binary could in principle be redeployed between environments; falls
 /// back to debug/release detection when unset.
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 fn resolve_environment() -> String {
     if let Ok(value) = std::env::var("OPENHUMAN_APP_ENV") {
         let trimmed = value.trim().to_ascii_lowercase();
@@ -293,53 +296,16 @@ fn resolve_environment() -> String {
 // Secret scrubbing
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-/// Ordered most-specific → least-specific. Keep in sync with
-/// `src/openhuman/memory/safety/mod.rs`.
-static SECRET_PATTERNS: Lazy<Vec<(Regex, &'static str)>> = Lazy::new(|| {
-    vec![
-        // Matches "Bearer <token>" and redacts the token.
-        (Regex::new(r"(?i)(bearer\s+)\S+").unwrap(), "${1}[REDACTED]"),
-        // Matches "api-key: <key>" or "api_key=<key>" and redacts the key.
-        (
-            Regex::new(r"(?i)(api[_-]?key[=:\s]+)\S+").unwrap(),
-            "${1}[REDACTED]",
-        ),
-        // \b anchor prevents matching `cancellation_token=` etc.
-        (
-            Regex::new(r"(?i)\b(token[=:\s]+)\S+").unwrap(),
-            "${1}[REDACTED]",
-        ),
-        // Anthropic keys (sk-ant-api03-...) contain hyphens the generic
-        // sk- pattern below won't match.
-        (
-            Regex::new(r"sk-ant-[A-Za-z0-9\-_]{16,}").unwrap(),
-            "[REDACTED]",
-        ),
-        // OpenAI admin keys (sk-admin-...).
-        (
-            Regex::new(r"sk-admin-[A-Za-z0-9\-_]{12,}").unwrap(),
-            "[REDACTED]",
-        ),
-        // OpenAI project-scoped and org-scoped keys (sk-proj-... / sk-org-...).
-        (
-            Regex::new(r"sk-(?:proj|org)-[A-Za-z0-9\-_]{12,}").unwrap(),
-            "[REDACTED]",
-        ),
-        // Generic catch-all for any sk- format not covered above.
-        (Regex::new(r"sk-[a-zA-Z0-9]{20,}").unwrap(), "[REDACTED]"),
-    ]
-});
-
-/// Replaces patterns that look like secrets with `[REDACTED]`.
+/// Sentry `before_send` secret scrubbing. Delegates to the shared, always-on
+/// [`openhuman_core::core::log_redaction::scrub_secrets`] so the redaction
+/// patterns stay a single source of truth (the same pass also runs on the
+/// always-on diagnostic logs in `core::observability`).
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 fn scrub_secrets(input: &str) -> String {
-    let mut result = input.to_string();
-    for (re, replacement) in SECRET_PATTERNS.iter() {
-        result = re.replace_all(&result, *replacement).into_owned();
-    }
-    result
+    openhuman_core::core::log_redaction::scrub_secrets(input)
 }
 
-#[cfg(test)]
+#[cfg(all(test, feature = "crash-reporting"))]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
 
diff --git a/src/openhuman/accessibility/permissions.rs b/src/openhuman/accessibility/permissions.rs
index 1fda7a7c0..eeb03b542 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/accessibility/permissions.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/accessibility/permissions.rs
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ pub fn detect_input_monitoring_permission() -> PermissionState {
 ///
 /// **Linux** standard desktops don't enforce per-app permissions; Flatpak/Snap
 /// sandboxes are detected separately.
-#[cfg(any(target_os = "macos", target_os = "windows"))]
+#[cfg(all(feature = "inference", any(target_os = "macos", target_os = "windows")))]
 pub fn detect_microphone_permission() -> PermissionState {
     use cpal::traits::HostTrait;
     let host = cpal::default_host();
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ pub fn detect_microphone_permission() -> PermissionState {
     }
 }
 
-#[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
+#[cfg(all(feature = "inference", target_os = "linux"))]
 pub fn detect_microphone_permission() -> PermissionState {
     // Standard Linux desktops (PulseAudio/PipeWire) don't enforce app-level mic permissions.
     // Detect Flatpak sandbox — if sandboxed, probe CPAL as a permission proxy.
@@ -189,6 +189,21 @@ pub fn detect_microphone_permission() -> PermissionState {
     }
 }
 
+/// With the `inference` feature off, the `cpal` audio-device probe is compiled
+/// out along with the whisper engine, so the microphone cannot be inspected.
+/// Report `Unknown` on otherwise-supported desktop platforms rather than a
+/// misleading `Granted`/`Denied`.
+#[cfg(all(
+    not(feature = "inference"),
+    any(target_os = "macos", target_os = "windows", target_os = "linux")
+))]
+pub fn detect_microphone_permission() -> PermissionState {
+    log::debug!(
+        "[permissions] microphone probe unavailable (built without the `inference` feature)"
+    );
+    PermissionState::Unknown
+}
+
 #[cfg(not(any(target_os = "macos", target_os = "windows", target_os = "linux")))]
 pub fn detect_microphone_permission() -> PermissionState {
     PermissionState::Unsupported
diff --git a/src/openhuman/agent/multimodal.rs b/src/openhuman/agent/multimodal.rs
index bba7579ea..f5a7e5a2e 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/agent/multimodal.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/agent/multimodal.rs
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ const FILE_MARKER_PREFIX: &str = "[FILE:";
 /// may run before the worker is abandoned and the file degrades to a
 /// metadata-only reference. PDFs known to choke the parser (extremely
 /// large, encrypted, malformed) must not stall a chat turn.
+#[cfg(feature = "documents")]
 const PDF_EXTRACTION_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_secs(60);
 
 /// Worst-case length budget reserved for the rendered truncation
@@ -1550,6 +1551,7 @@ fn extract_utf8_text(bytes: &[u8]) -> Result<String, String> {
 /// extracted text on success; on timeout / panic / parse error the
 /// caller degrades the file to [`FilePayload::Reference`] rather than
 /// surface the failure to the user (avoids Sentry noise on broken PDFs).
+#[cfg(feature = "documents")]
 async fn extract_pdf_text(bytes: Vec<u8>) -> Result<String, String> {
     let extraction = tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || {
         pdf_extract::extract_text_from_mem(&bytes).map_err(|error| error.to_string())
@@ -1566,6 +1568,15 @@ async fn extract_pdf_text(bytes: Vec<u8>) -> Result<String, String> {
     }
 }
 
+/// Disabled variant when the `documents` feature is off: `pdf-extract` is not
+/// compiled in, so signal failure and let the caller degrade the file to
+/// [`FilePayload::Reference`] — the same path a parse error / timeout takes.
+#[cfg(not(feature = "documents"))]
+async fn extract_pdf_text(_bytes: Vec<u8>) -> Result<String, String> {
+    log::debug!("[multimodal] pdf text extraction skipped: built without the `documents` feature");
+    Err("pdf text extraction disabled (built without the `documents` feature)".to_string())
+}
+
 /// Truncate `text` to at most `max_chars` Unicode scalar values, leaving
 /// room for the rendered `"\n[…truncated {dropped} chars]"` suffix.
 /// The reservation uses [`TEXT_TRUNCATION_SUFFIX_BUDGET`] — the
diff --git a/src/openhuman/agent_registry/agents/loader.rs b/src/openhuman/agent_registry/agents/loader.rs
index 6d32e7106..ed7288714 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/agent_registry/agents/loader.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/agent_registry/agents/loader.rs
@@ -340,12 +340,32 @@ pub const BUILTINS: &[BuiltinAgent] = &[
 /// baked into the binary and therefore must always be valid. Unit tests
 /// below keep that invariant honest.
 pub fn load_builtins() -> Result<Vec<AgentDefinition>> {
-    let defs: Vec<AgentDefinition> = BUILTINS.iter().map(parse_builtin).collect::<Result<_>>()?;
+    let defs: Vec<AgentDefinition> = BUILTINS
+        .iter()
+        .filter(|b| builtin_enabled(b))
+        .map(parse_builtin)
+        .collect::<Result<_>>()?;
     validate_tier_hierarchy(&defs)
         .context("built-in agents violate the spawn-hierarchy contract")?;
     Ok(defs)
 }
 
+/// Compile-time gate for built-ins whose deck/document tool is feature-gated.
+///
+/// `presentation_agent` delegates deck creation to `generate_presentation`,
+/// which only registers under the `documents` feature (see `tools::ops`). In a
+/// slim build without `documents`, the agent would still be advertised as
+/// `make_presentation` while its filtered tool surface no longer contains any
+/// tool able to produce a deck, so it is dropped from the registry in lockstep
+/// with its tool.
+fn builtin_enabled(_b: &BuiltinAgent) -> bool {
+    #[cfg(not(feature = "documents"))]
+    if _b.id == "presentation_agent" {
+        return false;
+    }
+    true
+}
+
 /// Validate the cross-agent spawn-hierarchy contract documented on
 /// [`AgentTier`].
 ///
@@ -464,7 +484,35 @@ mod tests {
     #[test]
     fn all_builtins_parse() {
         let defs = load_builtins().expect("built-in TOML must parse");
-        assert_eq!(defs.len(), BUILTINS.len());
+        // `load_builtins` filters feature-gated built-ins (e.g. `presentation_agent`
+        // when `documents` is off), so compare against the same filtered count
+        // rather than the raw `BUILTINS` length.
+        let expected = BUILTINS.iter().filter(|b| builtin_enabled(b)).count();
+        assert_eq!(defs.len(), expected);
+    }
+
+    /// Pins the `presentation_agent` compile-time gate, both directions: it is
+    /// registered under the `documents` feature (its `generate_presentation`
+    /// deck tool lives there) and filtered out of the registry without it, so
+    /// slim builds never advertise `make_presentation` with no tool to fulfil it.
+    #[cfg(feature = "documents")]
+    #[test]
+    fn presentation_agent_registered_when_documents_on() {
+        let defs = load_builtins().expect("built-in TOML must parse");
+        assert!(
+            defs.iter().any(|d| d.id == "presentation_agent"),
+            "presentation_agent must register when the `documents` feature is on"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[cfg(not(feature = "documents"))]
+    #[test]
+    fn presentation_agent_absent_when_documents_off() {
+        let defs = load_builtins().expect("built-in TOML must parse");
+        assert!(
+            !defs.iter().any(|d| d.id == "presentation_agent"),
+            "presentation_agent must be filtered from the registry when `documents` is off"
+        );
     }
 
     #[test]
@@ -1305,18 +1353,25 @@ mod tests {
             other => panic!("scheduler_agent must use Named tool scope, got {other:?}"),
         }
 
-        let presentation = find("presentation_agent");
-        match &presentation.tools {
-            ToolScope::Named(names) => {
-                assert!(names.iter().any(|name| name == "generate_presentation"));
-                assert!(!names.iter().any(|name| name == "call_memory_agent"));
-                assert!(names.iter().any(|name| name == "web_search_tool"));
+        // `presentation_agent` is only registered under the `documents` feature
+        // (its deck tool `generate_presentation` is gated there and the agent is
+        // filtered from the registry in lockstep — see `builtin_enabled`), so
+        // skip its assertions in slim builds where it is intentionally absent.
+        #[cfg(feature = "documents")]
+        {
+            let presentation = find("presentation_agent");
+            match &presentation.tools {
+                ToolScope::Named(names) => {
+                    assert!(names.iter().any(|name| name == "generate_presentation"));
+                    assert!(!names.iter().any(|name| name == "call_memory_agent"));
+                    assert!(names.iter().any(|name| name == "web_search_tool"));
+                }
+                other => panic!("presentation_agent must use Named tool scope, got {other:?}"),
             }
-            other => panic!("presentation_agent must use Named tool scope, got {other:?}"),
+            // Memory pre-fetch is no longer eager; `omit_memory_context = false`
+            // still gives the deck builder the cheap per-turn recall.
+            assert_eq!(presentation.trigger_memory_agent, TriggerMemoryAgent::Never);
         }
-        // Memory pre-fetch is no longer eager; `omit_memory_context = false`
-        // still gives the deck builder the cheap per-turn recall.
-        assert_eq!(presentation.trigger_memory_agent, TriggerMemoryAgent::Never);
 
         let desktop = find("desktop_control_agent");
         match &desktop.tools {
diff --git a/src/openhuman/agentbox/mod.rs b/src/openhuman/agentbox/mod.rs
index 29c786f22..9d359edae 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/agentbox/mod.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/agentbox/mod.rs
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@
 //! See `docs/superpowers/specs/2026-06-12-agentbox-marketplace-integration-design.md`.
 
 pub mod env;
+// The `/run` + `/jobs/{id}` HTTP surface is axum-only, so it and the
+// `agentbox_router` re-export are exclusive to the `http-server` feature
+// (#5048). The axum-free `ops`/`status`/`store`/`schemas`/`invoker` stay
+// compiled — the AgentBox controllers + status RPC remain available in slim
+// builds; only the router (merged by the gated `core::jsonrpc` router) is shed.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub mod http;
 pub mod invoker;
 pub mod ops;
@@ -16,17 +22,21 @@ pub mod store;
 pub mod types;
 
 pub use env::{agentbox_mode_enabled, register_gmi_provider_if_present};
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub use http::router as agentbox_router;
 pub use schemas::{all_agentbox_controller_schemas, all_agentbox_registered_controllers};
 pub use status::agentbox_status;
 pub use store::JobStore;
 pub use types::{AgentBoxProviderInfo, AgentBoxStatus};
 
-#[cfg(test)]
+// Exercises `build_core_http_router` (axum) — gated in lockstep (#5048).
+#[cfg(all(test, feature = "http-server"))]
 mod disabled_mode_tests;
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod env_tests;
-#[cfg(test)]
+// Drives the gated `agentbox::http::router` via `tower::ServiceExt` — gated in
+// lockstep (#5048).
+#[cfg(all(test, feature = "http-server"))]
 mod http_tests;
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod ops_tests;
diff --git a/src/openhuman/artifacts/ops.rs b/src/openhuman/artifacts/ops.rs
index 892436437..8dedc4153 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/artifacts/ops.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/artifacts/ops.rs
@@ -1,12 +1,19 @@
 use serde_json::{json, Value};
 
-use crate::openhuman::approval::{ApprovalChatContext, APPROVAL_CHAT_CONTEXT};
 use crate::openhuman::config::Config;
-use crate::openhuman::security::SecurityPolicy;
-use crate::openhuman::tools::traits::Tool;
-use crate::openhuman::tools::PresentationTool;
 use crate::rpc::RpcOutcome;
 
+// Imports used only by the `documents`-gated presentation regeneration helper
+// below; when the feature is off the PresentationTool is compiled out.
+#[cfg(feature = "documents")]
+use crate::openhuman::approval::{ApprovalChatContext, APPROVAL_CHAT_CONTEXT};
+#[cfg(feature = "documents")]
+use crate::openhuman::security::SecurityPolicy;
+#[cfg(feature = "documents")]
+use crate::openhuman::tools::traits::Tool;
+#[cfg(feature = "documents")]
+use crate::openhuman::tools::PresentationTool;
+
 use super::store;
 use super::types::ArtifactKind;
 
@@ -177,6 +184,20 @@ pub async fn ai_regenerate(
         ));
     }
 
+    regenerate_presentation(config, artifact_id, thread_id, client_id).await
+}
+
+/// Re-run the presentation producer tool against an existing artifact id.
+/// Extracted so the whole `documents`-gated tool path (PresentationTool +
+/// approval scope) compiles only when the feature is on; `ai_regenerate` stays
+/// a thin, always-compiled RPC handler.
+#[cfg(feature = "documents")]
+async fn regenerate_presentation(
+    config: &Config,
+    artifact_id: &str,
+    thread_id: &str,
+    client_id: &str,
+) -> Result<RpcOutcome<Value>, String> {
     let args = store::read_artifact_args(&config.workspace_dir, artifact_id).await?;
 
     // A fresh policy from the live config — cheap, sync, and mirrors how
@@ -223,6 +244,24 @@ pub async fn ai_regenerate(
     }
 }
 
+/// Disabled variant: with the `documents` feature off the PresentationTool is
+/// compiled out (and no presentation artifacts can exist), so report the build
+/// limitation rather than pretend to regenerate.
+#[cfg(not(feature = "documents"))]
+async fn regenerate_presentation(
+    _config: &Config,
+    artifact_id: &str,
+    _thread_id: &str,
+    _client_id: &str,
+) -> Result<RpcOutcome<Value>, String> {
+    log::debug!(
+        "[artifacts] presentation regeneration rejected for id={artifact_id}: built without the `documents` feature"
+    );
+    Err(format!(
+        "[artifacts] presentation regeneration is unavailable for id={artifact_id}: built without the `documents` feature"
+    ))
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 #[path = "ops_tests.rs"]
 mod tests;
diff --git a/src/openhuman/composio/ops_tests.rs b/src/openhuman/composio/ops_tests.rs
index be050c62b..a85cbae19 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/composio/ops_tests.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/composio/ops_tests.rs
@@ -2316,6 +2316,7 @@ fn extract_backend_returned_status_handles_mixed_case() {
 // `report_composio_op_error` events flood Sentry again with no test in
 // the composio crate to catch it. These guards make the link explicit.
 
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 #[test]
 fn composio_domain_502_is_dropped_by_before_send() {
     let mut event = sentry::protocol::Event::default();
@@ -2330,6 +2331,7 @@ fn composio_domain_502_is_dropped_by_before_send() {
     );
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
 #[test]
 fn composio_transport_timeout_is_dropped_by_before_send() {
     let mut event = sentry::protocol::Event::default();
diff --git a/src/openhuman/credentials/sentry_scope.rs b/src/openhuman/credentials/sentry_scope.rs
index 76b40d626..d800b2200 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/credentials/sentry_scope.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/credentials/sentry_scope.rs
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ pub fn bind(id: &str) {
         return;
     }
     let id = trimmed.to_string();
+    // Sentry-touching body gated on `crash-reporting`; the signature and the
+    // diagnostic log line stay compiled in both builds. `id` is still consumed
+    // by the `tracing::debug!` below, so no unused-variable guard is needed.
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     sentry::configure_scope(|scope| {
         scope.set_user(Some(sentry::User {
             id: Some(id.clone()),
@@ -43,13 +47,16 @@ pub fn bind(id: &str) {
 /// background loops that survive the teardown grace window are not
 /// mis-attributed to the previously signed-in account.
 pub fn clear() {
+    #[cfg(feature = "crash-reporting")]
     sentry::configure_scope(|scope| {
         scope.set_user(None);
     });
     tracing::debug!("[sentry] scope user cleared");
 }
 
-#[cfg(test)]
+// All four tests use `sentry::test::with_captured_events`, so the module is
+// gated on `crash-reporting` in addition to `test`.
+#[cfg(all(test, feature = "crash-reporting"))]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
 
diff --git a/src/openhuman/inference/http/mod.rs b/src/openhuman/inference/http/mod.rs
index 9984bed9b..bfaa4e765 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/inference/http/mod.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/inference/http/mod.rs
@@ -18,7 +18,14 @@
 /// secret encrypted at rest and scoped to the active user workspace.
 pub const EXTERNAL_OPENAI_COMPAT_PROVIDER: &str = "external-openai-compat";
 
+// The `/v1/*` axum router lives here and is exclusive to the `http-server`
+// feature (#5048). CARVE-OUT: `EXTERNAL_OPENAI_COMPAT_PROVIDER` (above) and
+// `types` stay UNGATED — `core::auth` consumes the provider id (and its inert
+// request/response types are dep-free) in ALL builds, so only the axum
+// `server`/`router` surface is gated.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub mod server;
 pub mod types;
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub use server::router;
diff --git a/src/openhuman/inference/local/service/whisper_engine/mod.rs b/src/openhuman/inference/local/service/whisper_engine/mod.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3254608f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/openhuman/inference/local/service/whisper_engine/mod.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+//! In-process whisper.cpp STT engine, gated behind the `inference` feature.
+//!
+//! This is the whisper/`cpal` dependency shed the `voice` gate deferred (see
+//! the `inference` feature in the root `Cargo.toml`). Structure follows the
+//! type-carve-out variant of the repo's facade + stub pattern (AGENTS.md):
+//!
+//! - [`types`] holds `TranscriptionResult` — an inert, dependency-free data
+//!   type named by always-compiled callers (the local-AI service in
+//!   `../speech.rs`/`../bootstrap.rs`) and by `inference::voice::streaming`.
+//!   It stays compiled in **both** build states, so its fields can never drift.
+//! - `real` owns the actual `whisper-rs` / `WhisperContext` engine and is
+//!   compiled only with `--features inference`.
+//! - `stub` mirrors `real`'s function + handle surface exactly with
+//!   disabled-error / no-op bodies, so those always-compiled callers need no
+//!   per-call `#[cfg]`.
+//!
+//! The stub signatures must match `real` exactly — the disabled build
+//! (`--no-default-features --features tokenjuice-treesitter`) is the only thing
+//! that catches drift, so run it after touching either side.
+
+mod types;
+// The facade re-exports the whole engine surface, but which items a given build
+// actually names depends on downstream feature gates — the voice STT factory
+// (`voice`) consumes `looks_like_wav` / `transcribe_wav_bytes` /
+// `loaded_model_path` etc., while the always-compiled local-AI service uses only
+// a subset. Allow unused re-exports so the enabled and disabled builds keep an
+// identical public surface instead of drifting on which subset they pull.
+#[allow(unused_imports)]
+pub use types::TranscriptionResult;
+
+#[cfg(feature = "inference")]
+mod real;
+#[cfg(feature = "inference")]
+#[allow(unused_imports)]
+pub use real::{
+    is_loaded, load_engine, loaded_model_path, new_handle, transcribe_pcm_f32, transcribe_pcm_i16,
+    transcribe_wav_file, unload_engine, WhisperEngineHandle,
+};
+#[cfg(feature = "inference")]
+#[allow(unused_imports)]
+pub(crate) use real::{looks_like_wav, transcribe_wav_bytes};
+
+#[cfg(not(feature = "inference"))]
+mod stub;
+#[cfg(not(feature = "inference"))]
+#[allow(unused_imports)]
+pub use stub::{
+    is_loaded, load_engine, loaded_model_path, new_handle, transcribe_pcm_f32, transcribe_pcm_i16,
+    transcribe_wav_file, unload_engine, WhisperEngineHandle,
+};
+#[cfg(not(feature = "inference"))]
+#[allow(unused_imports)]
+pub(crate) use stub::{looks_like_wav, transcribe_wav_bytes};
diff --git a/src/openhuman/inference/local/service/whisper_engine.rs b/src/openhuman/inference/local/service/whisper_engine/real.rs
similarity index 97%
rename from src/openhuman/inference/local/service/whisper_engine.rs
rename to src/openhuman/inference/local/service/whisper_engine/real.rs
index 02d552a5f..1a50b3ffd 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/inference/local/service/whisper_engine.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/inference/local/service/whisper_engine/real.rs
@@ -14,25 +14,14 @@ use whisper_rs::{FullParams, SamplingStrategy, WhisperContext, WhisperContextPar
 
 use crate::openhuman::util::utf8_safe_prefix_at_byte_boundary;
 
+use super::types::TranscriptionResult;
+
 /// Per-segment confidence threshold: reject segments with avg log-probability below this.
 const SEGMENT_LOGPROB_REJECT: f32 = -0.7;
 
 /// Per-segment entropy threshold: reject segments with entropy above this.
 const SEGMENT_ENTROPY_REJECT: f32 = 2.4;
 
-/// Result of a transcription call, including confidence metadata.
-#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
-pub struct TranscriptionResult {
-    /// The transcribed text (may be empty if all segments were rejected).
-    pub text: String,
-    /// Average log-probability across accepted segments (higher = more confident).
-    /// `None` if no segments were accepted.
-    pub avg_logprob: Option<f32>,
-    /// Number of segments accepted / total segments produced by Whisper.
-    pub segments_accepted: usize,
-    pub segments_total: usize,
-}
-
 const LOG_PREFIX: &str = "[whisper_engine]";
 
 /// Wraps a loaded `WhisperContext` for reuse across transcription calls.
diff --git a/src/openhuman/inference/local/service/whisper_engine/stub.rs b/src/openhuman/inference/local/service/whisper_engine/stub.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..894108dcb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/openhuman/inference/local/service/whisper_engine/stub.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+//! Disabled facade for the whisper engine — compiled when the `inference`
+//! feature is OFF (`whisper-rs` and `cpal` are dropped from the build).
+//!
+//! Mirrors `real`'s public function + handle surface exactly so the
+//! always-compiled callers (`../speech.rs`, `../bootstrap.rs`,
+//! `inference::voice::streaming`, and the voice STT factory when `voice` is on)
+//! need no per-call `#[cfg]`. Every transcription path returns the disabled
+//! error; loading is a no-op and nothing is ever "loaded".
+
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+use std::sync::Arc;
+
+use parking_lot::Mutex;
+
+use super::types::TranscriptionResult;
+
+const DISABLED: &str = "in-process whisper STT is disabled: this build was compiled without the `inference` feature (rebuild with `--features inference`)";
+
+/// Whisper-free mirror of the real engine handle. Always empty — with the
+/// engine compiled out nothing loads — but keeps the same
+/// `Arc<Mutex<Option<_>>>` shape so `LocalAiService.whisper` still constructs.
+pub type WhisperEngineHandle = Arc<Mutex<Option<()>>>;
+
+/// Create a new (permanently empty) engine handle.
+pub fn new_handle() -> WhisperEngineHandle {
+    Arc::new(Mutex::new(None))
+}
+
+/// No-op: there is no engine to load. Returns the disabled error so callers
+/// log/fall back exactly as they would on a real load failure.
+pub fn load_engine(
+    _handle: &WhisperEngineHandle,
+    _model_path: &Path,
+    _has_gpu: bool,
+    _gpu_description: Option<&str>,
+) -> Result<(), String> {
+    log::debug!("[whisper_engine::stub] load_engine no-op — {DISABLED}");
+    Err(DISABLED.to_string())
+}
+
+/// No-op: nothing is ever loaded.
+pub fn unload_engine(_handle: &WhisperEngineHandle) {}
+
+/// Always `false` — the in-process engine is compiled out.
+pub fn is_loaded(_handle: &WhisperEngineHandle) -> bool {
+    false
+}
+
+/// Always `None` — no model can be loaded.
+pub fn loaded_model_path(_handle: &WhisperEngineHandle) -> Option<PathBuf> {
+    None
+}
+
+pub fn transcribe_pcm_f32(
+    _handle: &WhisperEngineHandle,
+    _audio_f32: &[f32],
+    _language: Option<&str>,
+    _initial_prompt: Option<&str>,
+) -> Result<TranscriptionResult, String> {
+    log::debug!("[whisper] transcribe_pcm_f32 unavailable: built without the `inference` feature");
+    Err(DISABLED.to_string())
+}
+
+pub fn transcribe_pcm_i16(
+    _handle: &WhisperEngineHandle,
+    _audio_i16: &[i16],
+    _language: Option<&str>,
+    _initial_prompt: Option<&str>,
+) -> Result<TranscriptionResult, String> {
+    log::debug!("[whisper] transcribe_pcm_i16 unavailable: built without the `inference` feature");
+    Err(DISABLED.to_string())
+}
+
+pub fn transcribe_wav_file(
+    _handle: &WhisperEngineHandle,
+    _wav_path: &Path,
+    _language: Option<&str>,
+    _initial_prompt: Option<&str>,
+) -> Result<TranscriptionResult, String> {
+    log::debug!("[whisper] transcribe_wav_file unavailable: built without the `inference` feature");
+    Err(DISABLED.to_string())
+}
+
+/// Cheap RIFF/WAVE header sniff — dependency-free, so the stub keeps the real
+/// behaviour rather than a misleading constant (matches `real::looks_like_wav`).
+pub(crate) fn looks_like_wav(bytes: &[u8]) -> bool {
+    bytes.len() >= 12 && &bytes[0..4] == b"RIFF" && &bytes[8..12] == b"WAVE"
+}
+
+pub(crate) fn transcribe_wav_bytes(
+    _handle: &WhisperEngineHandle,
+    _wav_bytes: &[u8],
+    _language: Option<&str>,
+    _initial_prompt: Option<&str>,
+) -> Result<TranscriptionResult, String> {
+    log::debug!(
+        "[whisper] transcribe_wav_bytes unavailable: built without the `inference` feature"
+    );
+    Err(DISABLED.to_string())
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn stub_handle_never_loads_and_transcribe_errors() {
+        let h = new_handle();
+        assert!(!is_loaded(&h));
+        assert!(loaded_model_path(&h).is_none());
+        let err = transcribe_pcm_f32(&h, &[0.0; 16], None, None).unwrap_err();
+        assert!(
+            err.contains("inference"),
+            "disabled error names the gate: {err}"
+        );
+        // i16 + wav paths error the same way.
+        assert!(transcribe_pcm_i16(&h, &[0i16; 16], None, None).is_err());
+        assert!(transcribe_wav_bytes(&h, b"not a wav", None, None).is_err());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn stub_looks_like_wav_matches_real_behaviour() {
+        let mut wav = Vec::new();
+        wav.extend_from_slice(b"RIFF");
+        wav.extend_from_slice(&[0u8; 4]);
+        wav.extend_from_slice(b"WAVE");
+        assert!(looks_like_wav(&wav));
+        assert!(!looks_like_wav(b"OggS...."));
+        assert!(!looks_like_wav(b"RIFF"));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/openhuman/inference/local/service/whisper_engine/types.rs b/src/openhuman/inference/local/service/whisper_engine/types.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..550649775
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/openhuman/inference/local/service/whisper_engine/types.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+//! Inert transcription result type — dependency-free and compiled in both
+//! build states. The `inference` feature gates only the engine (`real`), not
+//! this data type, so always-compiled callers (`../speech.rs`,
+//! `inference::voice::streaming`) name one stable definition regardless of the
+//! feature. See the module docs in `mod.rs` for the carve-out rationale.
+
+/// Result of a transcription call, including confidence metadata.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub struct TranscriptionResult {
+    /// The transcribed text (may be empty if all segments were rejected).
+    pub text: String,
+    /// Average log-probability across accepted segments (higher = more confident).
+    /// `None` if no segments were accepted.
+    pub avg_logprob: Option<f32>,
+    /// Number of segments accepted / total segments produced by Whisper.
+    pub segments_accepted: usize,
+    pub segments_total: usize,
+}
diff --git a/src/openhuman/inference/mod.rs b/src/openhuman/inference/mod.rs
index b0c4bfb29..019050cd2 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/inference/mod.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/inference/mod.rs
@@ -12,6 +12,14 @@
 //! The RPC surface is `inference.*`; old `local_ai_*` RPC names are resolved
 //! by the legacy alias layer for backwards compatibility.
 
+/// `true` when the crate was compiled with the `inference` feature (the
+/// default), i.e. the in-process whisper.cpp STT engine and the `cpal` audio
+/// probe are linked. Lets tests and callers distinguish a slim/headless build
+/// from the desktop build without naming gated symbols. When `false`,
+/// `whisper-rs` and `cpal` are dropped from the dependency graph (verify with
+/// `cargo tree -i whisper-rs` / `cargo tree -i cpal`).
+pub const INFERENCE_COMPILED_IN: bool = cfg!(feature = "inference");
+
 pub mod device;
 pub mod http;
 pub mod local;
diff --git a/src/openhuman/inference/voice/mod.rs b/src/openhuman/inference/voice/mod.rs
index b43640864..4b35ab314 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/inference/voice/mod.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/inference/voice/mod.rs
@@ -9,4 +9,9 @@ pub mod hallucination;
 pub mod local_speech;
 pub mod local_transcribe;
 pub mod postprocess;
+// The dictation WebSocket handler (`handle_dictation_ws`) is the module's whole
+// public surface and axum-only, and its sole caller is the gated core HTTP
+// router (`core::jsonrpc::dictation_ws_handler`). The module is therefore
+// exclusive to the `http-server` feature (#5048) — nothing else references it.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub mod streaming;
diff --git a/src/openhuman/mcp_server/local.rs b/src/openhuman/mcp_server/local.rs
index e1acbc7d8..af63f17e3 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/mcp_server/local.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/mcp_server/local.rs
@@ -14,9 +14,17 @@
 
 use std::net::SocketAddr;
 
+// The in-process HTTP MCP server is axum-only, so everything that starts it is
+// gated with `http-server` (#5048). `LocalMcpEndpoint` (an inert addr+token
+// record) and a disabled-error `ensure_local_http` stay compiled so the
+// always-on Claude-Code driver keeps a stable call surface — with the feature
+// off, `ensure_local_http` returns a built-without-http-server error.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use tokio::sync::Mutex;
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use uuid::Uuid;
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use super::http::{run_http_reporting, HttpServerConfig};
 
 /// Endpoint of the running in-process MCP server: its loopback address and the
@@ -27,6 +35,7 @@ pub struct LocalMcpEndpoint {
     pub token: String,
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 struct RunningServer {
     endpoint: LocalMcpEndpoint,
     /// Liveness handle. If the server task has exited (bind drop, fatal error),
@@ -35,9 +44,11 @@ struct RunningServer {
     handle: tokio::task::JoinHandle<()>,
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 static LOCAL_SERVER: Mutex<Option<RunningServer>> = Mutex::const_new(None);
 
 /// 256-bit random bearer token (two v4 UUIDs, hex). Loopback-only, per process.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 fn mint_token() -> String {
     format!("{}{}", Uuid::new_v4().simple(), Uuid::new_v4().simple())
 }
@@ -47,6 +58,7 @@ fn mint_token() -> String {
 /// and reused across turns; if the previous instance has exited, it is
 /// transparently restarted (and a fresh token minted) so callers never receive
 /// a stale, dead URL.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub async fn ensure_local_http() -> anyhow::Result<LocalMcpEndpoint> {
     let mut guard = LOCAL_SERVER.lock().await;
 
@@ -82,7 +94,38 @@ pub async fn ensure_local_http() -> anyhow::Result<LocalMcpEndpoint> {
     Ok(endpoint)
 }
 
-#[cfg(test)]
+/// Disabled build: the in-process HTTP MCP server is axum-only and needs the
+/// `http-server` feature (#5048). Returns an error so the always-on Claude-Code
+/// driver falls back gracefully instead of pointing at a server that was never
+/// started. Keeps `ensure_local_http` resolvable under `mcp` in both builds.
+#[cfg(not(feature = "http-server"))]
+pub async fn ensure_local_http() -> anyhow::Result<LocalMcpEndpoint> {
+    Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
+        "in-process MCP HTTP server unavailable: built without the http-server feature"
+    ))
+}
+
+// The real-server tests below are `http-server`-gated; this pins the slim
+// build's disabled fallback so both feature branches are covered by the matrix.
+#[cfg(all(test, not(feature = "http-server")))]
+mod disabled_tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn ensure_local_http_reports_unavailable_without_http_server() {
+        let err = ensure_local_http()
+            .await
+            .expect_err("slim build without `http-server` must not start a server");
+        assert!(
+            err.to_string().contains("http-server feature"),
+            "error must name the missing feature, got: {err}"
+        );
+    }
+}
+
+// Every test here starts the real HTTP server (`ensure_local_http`) or mints a
+// token, both gated, so the module gates in lockstep (#5048).
+#[cfg(all(test, feature = "http-server"))]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
 
diff --git a/src/openhuman/mcp_server/mod.rs b/src/openhuman/mcp_server/mod.rs
index ed2ae4972..944f63b17 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/mcp_server/mod.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/mcp_server/mod.rs
@@ -22,7 +22,12 @@
 //! `Value` record consumed by the always-compiled `tool_registry` — is the
 //! same real type in both builds and cannot drift.
 
-#[cfg(feature = "mcp")]
+// The Streamable-HTTP + SSE transport is axum-only, so it needs BOTH `mcp` and
+// `http-server` (#5048). The stdio transport (below) works under `mcp` alone;
+// `local`/`stdio` gate their own HTTP-serve paths so `openhuman mcp` (stdio)
+// and the Claude-Code in-process MCP bridge still degrade gracefully when
+// `http-server` is off.
+#[cfg(all(feature = "mcp", feature = "http-server"))]
 mod http;
 #[cfg(feature = "mcp")]
 mod local;
@@ -43,7 +48,7 @@ mod write_dispatch;
 // so `McpToolSpec` survives the gate (see the module note above).
 mod tools;
 
-#[cfg(feature = "mcp")]
+#[cfg(all(feature = "mcp", feature = "http-server"))]
 pub use http::{run_http, run_http_reporting, HttpServerConfig};
 #[cfg(feature = "mcp")]
 pub use local::{ensure_local_http, LocalMcpEndpoint};
diff --git a/src/openhuman/mcp_server/stdio.rs b/src/openhuman/mcp_server/stdio.rs
index 73f3cee14..148deb271 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/mcp_server/stdio.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/mcp_server/stdio.rs
@@ -1,9 +1,14 @@
 use anyhow::{bail, Result};
+// `SocketAddr` + the `http` transport are only reached by the `--transport http`
+// arm, which is axum-only and gated with `http-server` (#5048). The stdio arm
+// (the default, used by Claude Desktop / Cursor) works under `mcp` alone.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use std::net::SocketAddr;
 use tokio::io::{AsyncBufReadExt, AsyncRead, AsyncWrite, AsyncWriteExt, BufReader};
 
 use crate::core::logging::CliLogDefault;
 
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 use super::http::{run_http, HttpServerConfig};
 use super::{protocol, session::McpSession};
 
@@ -84,17 +89,28 @@ pub fn run_stdio_from_cli(args: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
             rt.block_on(async { run_stdio(tokio::io::stdin(), tokio::io::stdout()).await })?;
         }
         McpTransport::Http => {
-            let bind_addr: SocketAddr = format!("{bind_host}:{port}").parse().map_err(|err| {
-                anyhow::anyhow!("invalid bind address `{bind_host}:{port}`: {err}")
-            })?;
-            log::debug!(
-                "[mcp_server] starting HTTP/SSE MCP server bind={bind_addr} auth={}",
-                auth_token.is_some()
-            );
-            rt.block_on(run_http(HttpServerConfig {
-                bind_addr,
-                auth_token,
-            }))?;
+            #[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
+            {
+                let bind_addr: SocketAddr =
+                    format!("{bind_host}:{port}").parse().map_err(|err| {
+                        anyhow::anyhow!("invalid bind address `{bind_host}:{port}`: {err}")
+                    })?;
+                log::debug!(
+                    "[mcp_server] starting HTTP/SSE MCP server bind={bind_addr} auth={}",
+                    auth_token.is_some()
+                );
+                rt.block_on(run_http(HttpServerConfig {
+                    bind_addr,
+                    auth_token,
+                }))?;
+            }
+            // Built without the axum transport (#5048): the stdio path above
+            // still works; `--transport http` reports the build fact.
+            #[cfg(not(feature = "http-server"))]
+            {
+                let _ = (&bind_host, port, &auth_token);
+                bail!("mcp --transport http unavailable: built without the http-server feature");
+            }
         }
     }
     Ok(())
diff --git a/src/openhuman/mod.rs b/src/openhuman/mod.rs
index 72ac30aef..4fcfb0551 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/mod.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/mod.rs
@@ -57,6 +57,12 @@ pub mod flows;
 pub mod harness_init;
 pub mod health;
 pub mod heartbeat;
+// The whole http_host domain is an axum static-directory server, so it is
+// exclusive to the `http-server` feature (#5048). Its only outside reference is
+// the controller-registration push in `core::all`, itself gated in lockstep, so
+// no stub facade is needed — a slim build simply omits the `http_host.*` RPC
+// surface (unknown-method over `/rpc`, absent from `/schema`).
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub mod http_host;
 #[cfg(feature = "media")]
 pub mod image;
diff --git a/src/openhuman/text_input/mod.rs b/src/openhuman/text_input/mod.rs
index c35c6cd63..93d560c4b 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/text_input/mod.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/text_input/mod.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,28 @@
 //! Thin orchestration layer consumed by autocomplete, voice control, and other
 //! text-aware features. All platform work delegates to `accessibility::*`.
 
+// `openhuman text-input run` stands up an axum JSON-RPC dev server, so the
+// whole CLI is exclusive to the `http-server` feature (#5048). When it is off,
+// an inline stub keeps `text_input::cli::run_text_input_command` resolvable for
+// the always-compiled dispatch arm in `core::cli` (mcp precedent) and returns a
+// built-without-the-feature error. The axum-free `ops` (read/insert/ghost,
+// called from `voice::server`) and controllers stay compiled either way.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub(crate) mod cli;
+#[cfg(not(feature = "http-server"))]
+pub(crate) mod cli {
+    //! Disabled `text-input` CLI facade — the real server needs `http-server`.
+    use anyhow::Result;
+
+    /// Stub for [`super::cli::run_text_input_command`] when built without the
+    /// `http-server` feature. Mirrors the real signature so `core::cli`'s
+    /// dispatch arm compiles unchanged.
+    pub(crate) fn run_text_input_command(_args: &[String]) -> Result<()> {
+        Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
+            "text-input server unavailable: built without the http-server feature"
+        ))
+    }
+}
 pub mod ops;
 mod schemas;
 mod types;
diff --git a/src/openhuman/tools/impl/mod.rs b/src/openhuman/tools/impl/mod.rs
index fa92ff96c..c4bdb4894 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/tools/impl/mod.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/tools/impl/mod.rs
@@ -5,17 +5,21 @@ pub mod browser;
 // (not error-degraded) when off.
 #[cfg(feature = "desktop-automation")]
 pub mod computer;
+#[cfg(feature = "documents")]
 pub mod document;
 pub mod filesystem;
 pub mod network;
+#[cfg(feature = "documents")]
 pub mod presentation;
 pub mod system;
 
 pub use browser::*;
 #[cfg(feature = "desktop-automation")]
 pub use computer::*;
+#[cfg(feature = "documents")]
 pub use document::DocumentTool;
 pub use filesystem::*;
 pub use network::*;
+#[cfg(feature = "documents")]
 pub use presentation::PresentationTool;
 pub use system::*;
diff --git a/src/openhuman/tools/ops.rs b/src/openhuman/tools/ops.rs
index 1b9f89430..a892e9031 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/tools/ops.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/tools/ops.rs
@@ -783,6 +783,7 @@ pub fn all_tools_with_runtime(
     // backed) as of the #2780-follow-up rust-engine refactor — no
     // managed Python venv, no first-call install latency. Always
     // registered.
+    #[cfg(feature = "documents")]
     tools.push(Box::new(PresentationTool::new(
         root_config.workspace_dir.clone(),
         security.clone(),
@@ -792,6 +793,7 @@ pub fn all_tools_with_runtime(
     // (docx-rs backed) — no managed runtime, no subprocess — emitting a
     // real `.docx` through the same byte-agnostic artifact pipeline as
     // the presentation tool. Always registered; same constructor shape.
+    #[cfg(feature = "documents")]
     tools.push(Box::new(DocumentTool::new(
         root_config.workspace_dir.clone(),
         security.clone(),
diff --git a/src/openhuman/tools/ops_tests.rs b/src/openhuman/tools/ops_tests.rs
index 414830009..33f848529 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/tools/ops_tests.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/tools/ops_tests.rs
@@ -294,6 +294,76 @@ fn media_tools_absent_when_feature_off() {
     );
 }
 
+// Compile-time `documents` feature gate (#5048). The office-document agent
+// tools (`generate_presentation`, `generate_document`) are present only when
+// the `documents` feature is compiled in — leaf gate, no stub facade, so the
+// disabled build must drop both from the tool list entirely.
+#[cfg(feature = "documents")]
+#[test]
+fn document_tools_registered_when_feature_on() {
+    let tmp = TempDir::new().unwrap();
+    let security = Arc::new(SecurityPolicy::default());
+    let mem = test_memory(&tmp);
+    let browser = BrowserConfig {
+        enabled: false,
+        ..BrowserConfig::default()
+    };
+    let http = crate::openhuman::config::HttpRequestConfig::default();
+    let cfg = test_config(&tmp);
+    let tools = all_tools(
+        Arc::new(Config::default()),
+        &security,
+        AuditLogger::disabled(),
+        mem,
+        &browser,
+        &http,
+        tmp.path(),
+        &HashMap::new(),
+        &cfg,
+    );
+    let names = tool_names(&tools);
+    assert!(
+        names.iter().any(|n| n == "generate_presentation"),
+        "generate_presentation must register with `documents` on; got: {names:?}"
+    );
+    assert!(
+        names.iter().any(|n| n == "generate_document"),
+        "generate_document must register with `documents` on; got: {names:?}"
+    );
+}
+
+#[cfg(not(feature = "documents"))]
+#[test]
+fn document_tools_absent_when_feature_off() {
+    let tmp = TempDir::new().unwrap();
+    let security = Arc::new(SecurityPolicy::default());
+    let mem = test_memory(&tmp);
+    let browser = BrowserConfig {
+        enabled: false,
+        ..BrowserConfig::default()
+    };
+    let http = crate::openhuman::config::HttpRequestConfig::default();
+    let cfg = test_config(&tmp);
+    let tools = all_tools(
+        Arc::new(Config::default()),
+        &security,
+        AuditLogger::disabled(),
+        mem,
+        &browser,
+        &http,
+        tmp.path(),
+        &HashMap::new(),
+        &cfg,
+    );
+    let names = tool_names(&tools);
+    assert!(
+        !names
+            .iter()
+            .any(|n| n == "generate_presentation" || n == "generate_document"),
+        "no document tools may register when the `documents` feature is off; got: {names:?}"
+    );
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn all_tools_registers_gitbooks_when_enabled() {
     let tmp = TempDir::new().unwrap();
diff --git a/src/openhuman/voice/mod.rs b/src/openhuman/voice/mod.rs
index 50b3508d5..7282ee0fe 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/voice/mod.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/voice/mod.rs
@@ -72,7 +72,11 @@ pub use crate::openhuman::inference::voice::local_speech;
 pub use crate::openhuman::inference::voice::local_transcribe;
 #[cfg(feature = "voice")]
 pub use crate::openhuman::inference::voice::postprocess;
-#[cfg(feature = "voice")]
+// `streaming` (the dictation WebSocket handler) is axum-only, so it is compiled
+// only when BOTH `voice` and `http-server` are on (#5048). With `http-server`
+// off, its sole caller (the gated core HTTP router) is absent too, so nothing
+// needs `voice::streaming`.
+#[cfg(all(feature = "voice", feature = "http-server"))]
 pub use crate::openhuman::inference::voice::streaming;
 
 #[cfg(feature = "voice")]
diff --git a/src/openhuman/voice/stub.rs b/src/openhuman/voice/stub.rs
index d9ee2d2e2..91928449c 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/voice/stub.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/voice/stub.rs
@@ -187,6 +187,11 @@ pub mod always_on {
 // streaming::handle_dictation_ws (re-exported from inference::voice in real)
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+// axum-only, and its sole caller (`core::jsonrpc::dictation_ws_handler`) is
+// gated the same way, so the stub's dictation-WS surface is exclusive to the
+// `http-server` feature too (#5048): voice-OFF + http-server-OFF needs no
+// `voice::streaming` at all.
+#[cfg(feature = "http-server")]
 pub mod streaming {
     use std::sync::Arc;