diff --git a/pingora-core/Cargo.toml b/pingora-core/Cargo.toml
index 496e4015..09c2a2a0 100644
--- a/pingora-core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/pingora-core/Cargo.toml
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ sentry = { version = "0.26", features = [
     "panic",
     "reqwest",
     "rustls",
-], default-features = false }
+], default-features = false, optional = true }
 regex = "1"
 percent-encoding = "2.1"
 parking_lot = { version = "0.12", features = ["arc_lock"] }
@@ -85,8 +85,9 @@ hyperlocal = "0.8"
 jemallocator = "0.5"
 
 [features]
-default = ["openssl"]
+default = ["openssl", "sentry"]
 openssl = ["pingora-openssl", "some_tls"]
 boringssl = ["pingora-boringssl", "some_tls"]
 patched_http1 = []
-some_tls = []
\ No newline at end of file
+some_tls = []
+sentry = ["dep:sentry"]
diff --git a/pingora-core/src/server/mod.rs b/pingora-core/src/server/mod.rs
index d9e57ddc..375ed87b 100644
--- a/pingora-core/src/server/mod.rs
+++ b/pingora-core/src/server/mod.rs
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ use daemon::daemonize;
 use log::{debug, error, info, warn};
 use pingora_runtime::Runtime;
 use pingora_timeout::fast_timeout;
+#[cfg(feature = "sentry")]
 use sentry::ClientOptions;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 use std::thread;
@@ -70,6 +71,8 @@ pub struct Server {
     /// The Sentry ClientOptions.
     ///
     /// Panics and other events sentry captures will be sent to this DSN **only in release mode**
+    #[cfg(feature = "sentry")]
+    #[cfg_attr(docsrs, doc(cfg(feature = "sentry")))]
     pub sentry: Option<ClientOptions>,
 }
 
@@ -116,7 +119,7 @@ impl Server {
                         Err(e) => {
                             error!("Unable to send listener sockets to new process: {e}");
                             // sentry log error on fd send failure
-                            #[cfg(not(debug_assertions))]
+                            #[cfg(all(not(debug_assertions), feature = "sentry"))]
                             sentry::capture_error(&e);
                         }
                     }
@@ -191,6 +194,7 @@ impl Server {
             shutdown_recv: rx,
             configuration: Arc::new(conf),
             options: Some(opt),
+            #[cfg(feature = "sentry")]
             sentry: None,
         }
     }
@@ -231,6 +235,7 @@ impl Server {
             shutdown_recv: rx,
             configuration: Arc::new(conf),
             options: opt,
+            #[cfg(feature = "sentry")]
             sentry: None,
         })
     }
@@ -256,7 +261,7 @@ impl Server {
         debug!("{:#?}", self.options);
 
         /* only init sentry in release builds */
-        #[cfg(not(debug_assertions))]
+        #[cfg(all(not(debug_assertions), feature = "sentry"))]
         let _guard = self.sentry.as_ref().map(|opts| sentry::init(opts.clone()));
 
         if self.options.as_ref().map_or(false, |o| o.test) {
@@ -271,7 +276,7 @@ impl Server {
             }
             Err(e) => {
                 // sentry log error on fd load failure
-                #[cfg(not(debug_assertions))]
+                #[cfg(all(not(debug_assertions), feature = "sentry"))]
                 sentry::capture_error(&e);
 
                 error!("Bootstrap failed on error: {:?}, exiting.", e);
@@ -300,7 +305,7 @@ impl Server {
         }
 
         /* only init sentry in release builds */
-        #[cfg(not(debug_assertions))]
+        #[cfg(all(not(debug_assertions), feature = "sentry"))]
         let _guard = self.sentry.as_ref().map(|opts| sentry::init(opts.clone()));
 
         let mut runtimes: Vec<Runtime> = Vec::new();