diff --git a/crates/owlry/Cargo.toml b/crates/owlry/Cargo.toml
index c98ff8f..24546bc 100644
--- a/crates/owlry/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/owlry/Cargo.toml
@@ -65,19 +65,23 @@ futures-channel = "0.3"
 
 # Lua 5.4 runtime for user configuration (Phase 3 — opt-in preview in 2.1).
 # Vendored C source so AUR clean-chroot builds don't depend on a system Lua.
-# IMPORTANT: features live on the `lua` cargo feature row below, NOT inline
-# here. Inline `features = [...]` on an `optional = true` dep get dropped
-# by cargo's feature resolver in clean chroots (e.g. `cargo build --frozen`
-# under makepkg), producing a build that tries to link against a non-vendored
-# system liblua. Same gotcha we hit with rusqlite during the v2 migration.
-mlua = { version = "0.11", optional = true }
+#
+# NOT optional. Initial designs gated mlua/glob/notify behind `optional = true`
+# so non-lua builds wouldn't pay for them, but cargo's feature resolver in
+# clean chroots (`cargo build --frozen` under makepkg) silently fails to
+# propagate `mlua/vendored` across the optional boundary — the build script
+# ends up emitting `-llua5.4` against a non-existent system liblua. Inlining
+# the features on a *non-optional* dep dodges that footgun entirely. The cost
+# is a few MB of extra compile time for minimal builds; the `lua` cargo
+# feature still gates whether the `lua` module is compiled at all.
+mlua = { version = "0.11", features = ["lua54", "vendored", "send", "serialize"] }
 
 # Glob pattern support for `owlry.util.glob` (Phase 3.6). Pure-Rust; small.
-glob = { version = "0.3", optional = true }
+glob = "0.3"
 
 # Filesystem watching for owlry.lua hot reload (Phase 3.7). On Linux the
 # inotify backend is unconditional, so default features are fine.
-notify = { version = "6", optional = true }
+notify = "6"
 
 [build-dependencies]
 # GResource compilation for bundled icons
@@ -102,18 +106,10 @@ systemd = []
 websearch = []
 
 # Lua config layer (Phase 3 — opt-in preview in 2.1, default in 2.2, mandatory in 3.0).
-# Pulls in mlua's vendored Lua 5.4 runtime, glob for owlry.util.glob, and
-# notify for owlry.lua hot reload. mlua features are listed here (not inline
-# on the dep above) so cargo's feature resolver keeps them in clean chroots.
-lua = [
-    "dep:mlua",
-    "mlua/lua54",
-    "mlua/vendored",
-    "mlua/send",
-    "mlua/serialize",
-    "dep:glob",
-    "dep:notify",
-]
+# Pure marker feature: gates the `lua` module compilation via cfg. Deps
+# (mlua / glob / notify) are unconditionally pulled in to dodge the chroot
+# feature-propagation footgun documented on the mlua line above.
+lua = []
 
 # Bookmarks deferred for 2.0 alongside the widget providers (D20+).
 # Returns in a later 2.x release with a pure-Rust path that doesn't pull