diff --git a/crates/fff-core/src/constraints.rs b/crates/fff-core/src/constraints.rs
index 68ac06d1..6a11abe4 100644
--- a/crates/fff-core/src/constraints.rs
+++ b/crates/fff-core/src/constraints.rs
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ pub(crate) fn apply_constraints<'a, T: Constrainable + Sync>(
 
 #[cfg(feature = "zlob")]
 type GlobPattern = zlob::ZlobPattern;
-#[cfg(not(feature = "zlob"))]
+#[cfg(all(not(feature = "zlob"), feature = "ripgrep"))]
 type GlobPattern = globset::GlobMatcher;
 
 /// How `Constraint::Glob` is evaluated for each item.
@@ -440,7 +440,7 @@ fn compiled_matches(p: &GlobPattern, path: &str) -> bool {
 }
 
 #[inline]
-#[cfg(not(feature = "zlob"))]
+#[cfg(all(not(feature = "zlob"), feature = "ripgrep"))]
 fn compiled_matches(p: &GlobPattern, path: &str) -> bool {
     p.is_match(path)
 }
@@ -553,7 +553,7 @@ fn compile_one(pattern: &str) -> Option<GlobPattern> {
     zlob::ZlobPattern::compile(pattern, zlob::ZlobFlags::RECOMMENDED).ok()
 }
 
-#[cfg(not(feature = "zlob"))]
+#[cfg(all(not(feature = "zlob"), feature = "ripgrep"))]
 fn compile_one(pattern: &str) -> Option<GlobPattern> {
     globset::Glob::new(pattern)
         .ok()
@@ -577,7 +577,7 @@ fn match_glob_pattern(pattern: &str, paths: &[&str]) -> Vec<bool> {
     mask
 }
 
-#[cfg(not(feature = "zlob"))]
+#[cfg(all(not(feature = "zlob"), feature = "ripgrep"))]
 fn match_glob_pattern(pattern: &str, paths: &[&str]) -> Vec<bool> {
     let mut mask = vec![false; paths.len()];
     let Ok(glob) = globset::Glob::new(pattern) else {
diff --git a/crates/fff-core/src/ignore.rs b/crates/fff-core/src/ignore.rs
index 961e0085..ac29f523 100644
--- a/crates/fff-core/src/ignore.rs
+++ b/crates/fff-core/src/ignore.rs
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ pub(crate) const IGNORED_DIRS: &[&str] = &[
     "AppData/Roaming",
 ];
 
-#[cfg(not(feature = "zlob"))]
+#[cfg(all(not(feature = "zlob"), feature = "ripgrep"))]
 pub(crate) fn non_git_repo_overrides(base_path: &Path) -> Option<ignore::overrides::Override> {
     use ignore::overrides::OverrideBuilder;
 
diff --git a/crates/fff-core/src/lib.rs b/crates/fff-core/src/lib.rs
index b4e390a5..e9a78dba 100644
--- a/crates/fff-core/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/fff-core/src/lib.rs
@@ -94,6 +94,12 @@
 //! # Ok::<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>>(())
 //! ```
 
+#[cfg(not(any(feature = "ripgrep", feature = "zlob")))]
+compile_error!(
+    "fff-search requires either the `ripgrep` (default) or `zlob` feature. \
+     Enable one, e.g. `--features ripgrep` or `--features zlob`."
+);
+
 mod background_watcher;
 mod git_status_worker;
 pub(crate) mod parallelism;
diff --git a/crates/fff-core/src/walk/mod.rs b/crates/fff-core/src/walk/mod.rs
index 2c2768fe..a533f0bb 100644
--- a/crates/fff-core/src/walk/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/fff-core/src/walk/mod.rs
@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@ mod zlob;
 #[cfg(feature = "zlob")]
 pub(crate) use zlob::walk_collect_files;
 
-#[cfg(not(feature = "zlob"))]
+#[cfg(all(not(feature = "zlob"), feature = "ripgrep"))]
 mod ripgrep;
-#[cfg(not(feature = "zlob"))]
+#[cfg(all(not(feature = "zlob"), feature = "ripgrep"))]
 pub(crate) use ripgrep::walk_collect_files;
 
 pub(crate) struct WalkOutput {