bevy-cargo-features

Bevy 0.19 — Cargo features

When to use this skill

• Choose a supported application profile without enabling the full default set.
• Compose a custom renderer or a headless server.
• Enable native controller input, window/input APIs, or browser rendering.
• Diagnose types/plugins missing after disabling default features.

Canonical profiles

Bevy's default is 2d + 3d + ui + audio. To select a profile, disabling defaults is essential:

# 3D game with Bevy UI, but no audio or 2D renderer
bevy = { version = "0.19", default-features = false, features = ["3d", "ui"] }

# 2D game with audio, but no 3D renderer or UI
# bevy = { version = "0.19", default-features = false, features = ["2d", "audio"] }

Writing features = ["3d"] while leaving default features enabled does not trim anything: Cargo unions feature sets.

Collection layers

Layer	Features	Meaning
Profiles	2d, 3d, ui, audio	Complete app shapes
Built-in render	2d_bevy_render, 3d_bevy_render, ui_bevy_render	Bevy's renderer for one domain
API only	2d_api, 3d_api, ui_api	Components/assets without a render backend
Baseline	default_app, default_platform	Core app services vs platform/window/input services
Grouped	scene, picking, dev	Related feature collections

API-only features cannot draw. They are for custom/external renderers that consume Bevy's world-side types.

Headless server

bevy = { version = "0.19", default-features = false, features = [
    "default_app",
    "multi_threaded",
    "serialize",
    "bevy_world_serialization", # omit if the server never loads saved worlds
] }

Use MinimalPlugins, then add only the service plugins the server needs. bevy_scene is BSN in 0.19; classic reflected world serialization is bevy_world_serialization.

Custom renderer

bevy = { version = "0.19", default-features = false, features = [
    "default_app",
    "3d_api",
] }

Add bevy_winit/platform input only if the custom renderer shares Bevy's window event loop. Add 3d_bevy_render instead of 3d_api if you actually want Bevy's built-in renderer.

Input and controllers

• mouse, keyboard, gamepad, touch, and gestures enable API pieces.
• For native controller discovery/input, enable bevy_gilrs; it also enables gamepad. The gamepad feature alone is not the platform backend.
• The high-level default_platform collection includes bevy_gilrs, Winit, desktop window backends, default font, and webgl2.

Browser profile

bevy = { version = "0.19", default-features = false, features = [
    "3d",
    "ui",
    "touch",
    # "webgpu", # overrides WebGL2; use a separate WebGPU artifact
] }

The 3d profile already includes the default platform and WebGL2 path. Enabling webgpu overrides webgl2; it is not a runtime fallback build. See bevy-wasm-webgpu.

0.19 implications and traps

• 2d and 3d no longer imply ui; add ui explicitly.
• 2d, 3d, and ui no longer imply audio; add audio or a lower-level codec combination explicitly.
• scene now enables both bevy_world_serialization and the new BSN bevy_scene.
• Keep dev, dynamic_linking, file watchers, tracing, and dev tools behind a project development feature; do not ship them accidentally.
• Native Linux window backends are x11 and wayland; target-specific mobile activity features are mutually exclusive where documented. Do not invent windows or macos Bevy feature names.
• Profile collections are the stable starting point. Use lower-level collections only when compile time, binary size, or a custom renderer makes the maintenance cost worthwhile.

See also

• bevy-rendering — renderer decision boundary.
• bevy-wasm-webgpu — browser build pipeline.
• bevy-a11y — input/backend requirements for accessibility.
• bevy-migration-0-18-to-0-19 — changed implications.