diff --git a/aptos-move/aptos-vm/Cargo.toml b/aptos-move/aptos-vm/Cargo.toml
index 4949892ed9324..64f3d16d042d0 100644
--- a/aptos-move/aptos-vm/Cargo.toml
+++ b/aptos-move/aptos-vm/Cargo.toml
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ num_cpus = { workspace = true }
 once_cell = { workspace = true }
 ouroboros = { workspace = true }
 rand = { workspace = true }
-rayon = { workspace = true }
+rayon = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 serde = { workspace = true }
 serde_json = { workspace = true }
 smallvec = { workspace = true }
@@ -74,7 +74,8 @@ proptest = { workspace = true }
 rand_core = { workspace = true }
 
 [features]
-default = []
+default = ["sharded"]
+sharded = ["rayon"]
 fuzzing = ["move-core-types/fuzzing", "move-binary-format/fuzzing", "move-vm-types/fuzzing", "aptos-framework/fuzzing", "aptos-types/fuzzing"]
 failpoints = ["fail/failpoints", "move-vm-runtime/failpoints"]
 testing = ["move-unit-test", "aptos-framework/testing"]
diff --git a/aptos-move/aptos-vm/src/aptos_vm.rs b/aptos-move/aptos-vm/src/aptos_vm.rs
index ff2b7c805fec8..644b6ad67f03a 100644
--- a/aptos-move/aptos-vm/src/aptos_vm.rs
+++ b/aptos-move/aptos-vm/src/aptos_vm.rs
@@ -17,12 +17,16 @@ use crate::{
         },
         AptosMoveResolver, MoveVmExt, SessionExt, SessionId,
     },
-    sharded_block_executor::{executor_client::ExecutorClient, ShardedBlockExecutor},
     system_module_names::*,
     transaction_metadata::TransactionMetadata,
     transaction_validation, verifier,
     verifier::randomness::has_randomness_attribute,
-    VMExecutor, VMValidator,
+    SerialVMExecutor, VMValidator,
+};
+#[cfg(feature = "sharded")]
+use crate::{
+    sharded_block_executor::{executor_client::ExecutorClient, ShardedBlockExecutor},
+    VMExecutor,
 };
 use anyhow::anyhow;
 use aptos_block_executor::txn_commit_hook::NoOpTransactionCommitHook;
@@ -42,9 +46,8 @@ use aptos_types::state_store::StateViewId;
 use aptos_types::{
     account_config,
     account_config::{new_block_event_key, AccountResource},
-    block_executor::{
-        config::{BlockExecutorConfig, BlockExecutorConfigFromOnchain, BlockExecutorLocalConfig},
-        partitioner::PartitionedTransactions,
+    block_executor::config::{
+        BlockExecutorConfig, BlockExecutorConfigFromOnchain, BlockExecutorLocalConfig,
     },
     block_metadata::BlockMetadata,
     block_metadata_ext::{BlockMetadataExt, BlockMetadataWithRandomness},
@@ -56,7 +59,7 @@ use aptos_types::{
         TimedFeatureOverride, TimedFeatures, TimedFeaturesBuilder,
     },
     randomness::Randomness,
-    state_store::{StateView, TStateView},
+    state_store::StateView,
     transaction::{
         authenticator::AnySignature, signature_verified_transaction::SignatureVerifiedTransaction,
         BlockOutput, EntryFunction, ExecutionError, ExecutionStatus, ModuleBundle, Multisig,
@@ -66,6 +69,8 @@ use aptos_types::{
     },
     vm_status::{AbortLocation, StatusCode, VMStatus},
 };
+#[cfg(feature = "sharded")]
+use aptos_types::{block_executor::partitioner::PartitionedTransactions, state_store::TStateView};
 use aptos_utils::{aptos_try, return_on_failure};
 use aptos_vm_logging::{log_schema::AdapterLogSchema, speculative_error, speculative_log};
 use aptos_vm_types::{
@@ -2263,7 +2268,7 @@ impl AptosVM {
 }
 
 // Executor external API
-impl VMExecutor for AptosVM {
+impl SerialVMExecutor for AptosVM {
     /// Execute a block of `transactions`. The output vector will have the exact same length as the
     /// input vector. The discarded transactions will be marked as `TransactionStatus::Discard` and
     /// have an empty `WriteSet`. Also `state_view` is immutable, and does not have interior
@@ -2310,7 +2315,10 @@ impl VMExecutor for AptosVM {
         }
         ret
     }
+}
 
+#[cfg(feature = "sharded")]
+impl VMExecutor for AptosVM {
     fn execute_block_sharded<S: StateView + Sync + Send + 'static, C: ExecutorClient<S>>(
         sharded_block_executor: &ShardedBlockExecutor<S, C>,
         transactions: PartitionedTransactions,
diff --git a/aptos-move/aptos-vm/src/lib.rs b/aptos-move/aptos-vm/src/lib.rs
index 7709bf9e21e6f..919e55fb0e451 100644
--- a/aptos-move/aptos-vm/src/lib.rs
+++ b/aptos-move/aptos-vm/src/lib.rs
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ pub mod gas;
 mod keyless_validation;
 pub mod move_vm_ext;
 pub mod natives;
+#[cfg(feature = "sharded")]
 pub mod sharded_block_executor;
 pub mod system_module_names;
 pub mod testing;
@@ -121,11 +122,12 @@ pub mod validator_txns;
 pub mod verifier;
 
 pub use crate::aptos_vm::{AptosSimulationVM, AptosVM};
+#[cfg(feature = "sharded")]
 use crate::sharded_block_executor::{executor_client::ExecutorClient, ShardedBlockExecutor};
+#[cfg(feature = "sharded")]
+use aptos_types::block_executor::partitioner::PartitionedTransactions;
 use aptos_types::{
-    block_executor::{
-        config::BlockExecutorConfigFromOnchain, partitioner::PartitionedTransactions,
-    },
+    block_executor::config::BlockExecutorConfigFromOnchain,
     state_store::StateView,
     transaction::{
         signature_verified_transaction::SignatureVerifiedTransaction, BlockOutput,
@@ -133,7 +135,9 @@ use aptos_types::{
     },
     vm_status::VMStatus,
 };
-use std::{marker::Sync, sync::Arc};
+use std::marker::Sync;
+#[cfg(feature = "sharded")]
+use std::sync::Arc;
 pub use verifier::view_function::determine_is_view;
 
 /// This trait describes the VM's validation interfaces.
@@ -146,8 +150,9 @@ pub trait VMValidator {
     ) -> VMValidatorResult;
 }
 
-/// This trait describes the VM's execution interface.
-pub trait VMExecutor: Send + Sync {
+/// This trait describes the VM's execution interface, without the sharded
+/// execution method which is only available when the `sharded` feature is enabled.
+pub trait SerialVMExecutor: Send + Sync {
     // NOTE: At the moment there are no persistent caches that live past the end of a block (that's
     // why execute_block doesn't take &self.)
     // There are some cache invalidation issues around transactions publishing code that need to be
@@ -173,7 +178,11 @@ pub trait VMExecutor: Send + Sync {
         )
         .map(BlockOutput::into_transaction_outputs_forced)
     }
+}
 
+/// This trait augments `SerialVMExecutor` with sharded execution capabilities.
+#[cfg(feature = "sharded")]
+pub trait VMExecutor: SerialVMExecutor {
     /// Executes a block of transactions using a sharded block executor and returns the results.
     fn execute_block_sharded<S: StateView + Sync + Send + 'static, E: ExecutorClient<S>>(
         sharded_block_executor: &ShardedBlockExecutor<S, E>,