diff --git a/crates/tabby/Cargo.toml b/crates/tabby/Cargo.toml
index 0f670dc46439..beee03141eee 100644
--- a/crates/tabby/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/tabby/Cargo.toml
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ edition = "2021"
 
 [features]
 cuda = ["llama-cpp-bindings/cuda"]
+experimental-http = ["dep:http-api-bindings"]
 
 [dependencies]
 tabby-common = { path = "../tabby-common" }
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ tantivy = { workspace = true }
 anyhow = { workspace = true }
 sysinfo = "0.29.8"
 nvml-wrapper = "0.9.0"
-http-api-bindings = { path = "../http-api-bindings" }
+http-api-bindings = { path = "../http-api-bindings", optional = true } # included when build with `experimental-http` feature
 async-stream = { workspace = true }
 axum-streams = { version = "0.9.1", features = ["json"] }
 minijinja = { version = "1.0.8", features = ["loader"] }
diff --git a/crates/tabby/src/serve/engine.rs b/crates/tabby/src/serve/engine.rs
index 9dc7a0a300df..8e28d1271006 100644
--- a/crates/tabby/src/serve/engine.rs
+++ b/crates/tabby/src/serve/engine.rs
@@ -10,39 +10,40 @@ pub async fn create_engine(
     model_id: &str,
     args: &crate::serve::ServeArgs,
 ) -> (Box<dyn TextGeneration>, EngineInfo) {
-    if args.device != super::Device::ExperimentalHttp {
-        if fs::metadata(model_id).is_ok() {
-            let path = PathBuf::from(model_id);
-            let model_path = path.join(GGML_MODEL_RELATIVE_PATH);
-            let engine = create_ggml_engine(
-                &args.device,
-                model_path.display().to_string().as_str(),
-                args.parallelism,
-            );
-            let engine_info = EngineInfo::read(path.join("tabby.json"));
-            (engine, engine_info)
-        } else {
-            let (registry, name) = parse_model_id(model_id);
-            let registry = ModelRegistry::new(registry).await;
-            let model_path = registry.get_model_path(name).display().to_string();
-            let model_info = registry.get_model_info(name);
-            let engine = create_ggml_engine(&args.device, &model_path, args.parallelism);
-            (
-                engine,
-                EngineInfo {
-                    prompt_template: model_info.prompt_template.clone(),
-                    chat_template: model_info.chat_template.clone(),
-                },
-            )
-        }
-    } else {
+    #[cfg(feature = "experimental-http")]
+    if args.device == crate::serve::Device::ExperimentalHttp {
         let (engine, prompt_template) = http_api_bindings::create(model_id);
-        (
+        return (
             engine,
             EngineInfo {
                 prompt_template: Some(prompt_template),
                 chat_template: None,
             },
+        );
+    }
+
+    if fs::metadata(model_id).is_ok() {
+        let path = PathBuf::from(model_id);
+        let model_path = path.join(GGML_MODEL_RELATIVE_PATH);
+        let engine = create_ggml_engine(
+            &args.device,
+            model_path.display().to_string().as_str(),
+            args.parallelism,
+        );
+        let engine_info = EngineInfo::read(path.join("tabby.json"));
+        (engine, engine_info)
+    } else {
+        let (registry, name) = parse_model_id(model_id);
+        let registry = ModelRegistry::new(registry).await;
+        let model_path = registry.get_model_path(name).display().to_string();
+        let model_info = registry.get_model_info(name);
+        let engine = create_ggml_engine(&args.device, &model_path, args.parallelism);
+        (
+            engine,
+            EngineInfo {
+                prompt_template: model_info.prompt_template.clone(),
+                chat_template: model_info.chat_template.clone(),
+            },
         )
     }
 }
diff --git a/crates/tabby/src/serve/mod.rs b/crates/tabby/src/serve/mod.rs
index 1d3bcc7a4f5b..7bee9df68538 100644
--- a/crates/tabby/src/serve/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/tabby/src/serve/mod.rs
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ use tabby_common::{
 use tabby_download::download_model;
 use tokio::time::sleep;
 use tower_http::{cors::CorsLayer, timeout::TimeoutLayer};
-use tracing::{info, warn};
+use tracing::info;
 use utoipa::OpenApi;
 use utoipa_swagger_ui::SwaggerUi;
 
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ pub enum Device {
     #[strum(serialize = "metal")]
     Metal,
 
+    #[cfg(feature = "experimental-http")]
     #[strum(serialize = "experimental_http")]
     ExperimentalHttp,
 }
@@ -131,18 +132,14 @@ pub struct ServeArgs {
 }
 
 pub async fn main(config: &Config, args: &ServeArgs) {
-    if args.device != Device::ExperimentalHttp {
-        if fs::metadata(&args.model).is_ok() {
-            info!("Loading model from local path {}", &args.model);
-        } else {
-            download_model(&args.model, true).await;
-            if let Some(chat_model) = &args.chat_model {
-                download_model(chat_model, true).await;
-            }
-        }
+    #[cfg(feature = "experimental-http")]
+    if args.device == Device::ExperimentalHttp {
+        tracing::warn!("HTTP device is unstable and does not comply with semver expectations.");
     } else {
-        warn!("HTTP device is unstable and does not comply with semver expectations.")
+        load_model(args).await;
     }
+    #[cfg(not(feature = "experimental-http"))]
+    load_model(args).await;
 
     info!("Starting server, this might takes a few minutes...");
 
@@ -172,6 +169,17 @@ pub async fn main(config: &Config, args: &ServeArgs) {
         .unwrap_or_else(|err| fatal!("Error happens during serving: {}", err))
 }
 
+async fn load_model(args: &ServeArgs) {
+    if fs::metadata(&args.model).is_ok() {
+        info!("Loading model from local path {}", &args.model);
+    } else {
+        download_model(&args.model, true).await;
+        if let Some(chat_model) = &args.chat_model {
+            download_model(chat_model, true).await;
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 async fn api_router(args: &ServeArgs, config: &Config) -> Router {
     let code = Arc::new(create_code_search());
     let completion_state = {