diff --git a/cli/Cargo.toml b/cli/Cargo.toml
index 177f9783cf..0f1c5a8ccb 100644
--- a/cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -15,11 +15,12 @@ test = false
 bench = false
 
 [features]
-default = ["target-x86", "llvm"]
+default = ["target-x86", "llvm", "editor"]
 
 # This is a separate feature because when we generate docs on Netlify,
 # it doesn't have LLVM installed. (Also, it doesn't need to do code gen.)
 llvm = ["inkwell", "roc_gen", "roc_build/llvm"]
+editor = ["roc_editor"]
 
 target-x86 = []
 
@@ -53,7 +54,7 @@ roc_gen = { path = "../compiler/gen", optional = true }
 roc_build = { path = "../compiler/build", default-features = false }
 roc_fmt = { path = "../compiler/fmt" }
 roc_reporting = { path = "../compiler/reporting" }
-roc_editor = { path = "../editor" }
+roc_editor = { path = "../editor", optional = true }
 # TODO switch to clap 3.0.0 once it's out. Tried adding clap = "~3.0.0-beta.1" and cargo wouldn't accept it
 clap = { git = "https://github.com/rtfeldman/clap", branch = "master" }
 const_format = "0.2.8"
diff --git a/cli/src/main.rs b/cli/src/main.rs
index bd38a5e56a..80acc15ada 100644
--- a/cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/cli/src/main.rs
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ fn main() -> io::Result<()> {
 
     let exit_code = match matches.subcommand_name() {
         None => {
-            roc_editor::launch(&[])?;
+            launch_editor(&[])?;
 
             // rustc couldn't infer the error type here
             Result::<i32, io::Error>::Ok(0)
@@ -52,14 +52,14 @@ fn main() -> io::Result<()> {
                 .values_of_os(DIRECTORY_OR_FILES)
             {
                 None => {
-                    roc_editor::launch(&[])?;
+                    launch_editor(&[])?;
                 }
                 Some(values) => {
                     let paths = values
                         .map(|os_str| Path::new(os_str))
                         .collect::<Vec<&Path>>();
 
-                    roc_editor::launch(&paths)?;
+                    launch_editor(&paths)?;
                 }
             }
 
@@ -86,3 +86,13 @@ fn main() -> io::Result<()> {
 
     std::process::exit(exit_code);
 }
+
+#[cfg(feature = "editor")]
+fn launch_editor(filepaths: &[&Path]) -> io::Result<()> {
+    roc_editor::launch(filepaths)
+}
+
+#[cfg(not(feature = "editor"))]
+fn launch_editor(_filepaths: &[&Path]) -> io::Result<()> {
+    panic!("Cannot launch the editor because this build of roc did not include `feature = \"editor\"`!");
+}