diff --git a/veilid-core/Cargo.toml b/veilid-core/Cargo.toml
index cb77a8dc..545539bc 100644
--- a/veilid-core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/veilid-core/Cargo.toml
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ trust-dns-resolver = { version = "0.22.0", optional = true }
 enum-as-inner = "=0.5.1"                                     # temporary fix for trust-dns-resolver v0.22.0
 
 # Serialization
-capnp = { version = "0.18.1", default-features = false }
+capnp = { version = "0.18.1", default-features = false, features = [ "alloc" ] }
 serde = { version = "1.0.183", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = { version = "1.0.105" }
 serde-big-array = "0.5.1"