diff --git a/crates/bevy_ecs/Cargo.toml b/crates/bevy_ecs/Cargo.toml
index fc7e6d20b8..0106286c52 100644
--- a/crates/bevy_ecs/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/bevy_ecs/Cargo.toml
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ disqualified = { version = "1.0", default-features = false }
 fixedbitset = { version = "0.5", default-features = false }
 serde = { version = "1", default-features = false, features = [
   "alloc",
+  "serde_derive",
 ], optional = true }
 thiserror = { version = "2", default-features = false }
 derive_more = { version = "1", default-features = false, features = [