diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 4a42e3783..b1c216d3a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -467,13 +467,13 @@ jobs:
 
     - name: no_std lint
       run: |
-        cargo clippy --target=thumbv7em-none-eabihf --no-default-features -p all-is-cubes -p all-is-cubes-render
+        cargo clippy --target=thumbv7em-none-eabihf --no-default-features -p all-is-cubes -p all-is-cubes-render -p all-is-cubes-mesh
 
     - name: no_std build
       # This is `cargo build`, not `cargo check`, because `cargo check` won't detect problems like
       # use of undefined linker symbols. Not sure if that matters.
       run: |
-        cargo build --target=thumbv7em-none-eabihf --no-default-features -p all-is-cubes -p all-is-cubes-render
+        cargo build --target=thumbv7em-none-eabihf --no-default-features -p all-is-cubes -p all-is-cubes-render -p all-is-cubes-mesh
 
   fuzz:
     # Don't spend time on fuzzing if the build failed indicating the code is bad other ways
diff --git a/all-is-cubes-desktop/Cargo.toml b/all-is-cubes-desktop/Cargo.toml
index 15540a7b5..89de6edb1 100644
--- a/all-is-cubes-desktop/Cargo.toml
+++ b/all-is-cubes-desktop/Cargo.toml
@@ -38,7 +38,12 @@ required-features = ["record"]
 # builds.
 default = ["audio", "import", "record", "terminal"]
 # Producing image or video recording, or any exported/saved data.
-record = ["dep:png", "all-is-cubes-port/export", "all-is-cubes-port/all-formats"]
+record = [
+    "dep:png",
+    "all-is-cubes-mesh", # used in glTF recording
+    "all-is-cubes-port/export",
+    "all-is-cubes-port/all-formats",
+]
 # Importing non-native data formats.
 import = ["all-is-cubes-port/import", "all-is-cubes-port/all-formats"]
 # Required for `--graphics=terminal` and `--graphics=print`;
@@ -47,7 +52,12 @@ terminal = ["dep:ratatui", "dep:unicode-width"]
 # Game audio output support.
 audio = ["dep:kira"]
 # Adds rerun logging support. Intended mainly for development of All is Cubes itself.
-rerun = ["dep:re_sdk", "all-is-cubes/rerun", "all-is-cubes-gpu/rerun"]
+rerun = [
+    "dep:re_sdk",
+    "all-is-cubes/rerun",
+    "all-is-cubes-gpu/rerun",
+    "all-is-cubes-mesh",
+]
 # TODO: Define a feature with which to turn off windowing & GPU support.
 
 [dependencies]
@@ -55,7 +65,7 @@ all-is-cubes = { workspace = true, features = ["auto-threads", "save"] }
 # TODO: make template support an optional feature, and this dependency with it
 all-is-cubes-content = { workspace = true }
 all-is-cubes-gpu = { workspace = true, features = ["auto-threads", "wgpu"] }
-all-is-cubes-mesh = { workspace = true } 
+all-is-cubes-mesh = { workspace = true, optional = true, features = ["dynamic"] } # TODO: make this optional
 # TODO: make all file access an optional feature
 all-is-cubes-port = { workspace = true, features = ["import", "native"] }
 # TODO: make raytracer optional
diff --git a/all-is-cubes-gpu/Cargo.toml b/all-is-cubes-gpu/Cargo.toml
index 34adb0ca1..36d5db1c7 100644
--- a/all-is-cubes-gpu/Cargo.toml
+++ b/all-is-cubes-gpu/Cargo.toml
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ auto-threads = [
 
 [dependencies]
 all-is-cubes = { workspace = true, features = ["std"] }
-all-is-cubes-mesh = { workspace = true }
+all-is-cubes-mesh = { workspace = true, features = ["dynamic"] }
 all-is-cubes-render = { workspace = true, features = ["raytracer"] }
 bytemuck = { workspace = true, features = ["derive"] }
 cfg-if = { workspace = true }
diff --git a/all-is-cubes-mesh/Cargo.toml b/all-is-cubes-mesh/Cargo.toml
index 8d70a1bde..f4b012383 100644
--- a/all-is-cubes-mesh/Cargo.toml
+++ b/all-is-cubes-mesh/Cargo.toml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ categories = ["games", "graphics", "rendering"]
 keywords = ["all-is-cubes", "voxel", "mesh"]
 
 [package.metadata.docs.rs]
-features = ["_full-documentation"]
+features = ["_full-documentation", "arbitrary", "dynamic"]
 
 [lib]
 # Disable running as benchmark so that the default doesn't interfere with Criterion usage.
@@ -31,6 +31,14 @@ required-features = ["rerun"]
 
 [features]
 default = []
+# Updating meshes as their data sources change. Requires std.
+dynamic = [
+    "dep:flume",
+    "dep:futures-channel",
+    "dep:futures-util",
+    "dep:hashbrown",
+    "dep:log",
+]
 # Adds support for mesh generation performance logging to Rerun.
 rerun = ["all-is-cubes/rerun"]
 # Adds `impl arbitrary::Arbitrary for ...`
@@ -52,13 +60,13 @@ bitvec = { workspace = true }
 bytemuck = { workspace = true }
 cfg-if = { workspace = true }
 either = { workspace = true }
-flume = { workspace = true }
-futures-channel = { workspace = true }
-futures-util = { workspace = true }
-hashbrown = { workspace = true }
+flume = { workspace = true, optional = true }
+futures-channel = { workspace = true, optional = true }
+futures-util = { workspace = true, optional = true }
+hashbrown = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 indoc = { workspace = true }
 itertools = { workspace = true }
-log = { workspace = true }
+log = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 mutants = { workspace = true }
 num-traits = { workspace = true }
 ordered-float = { workspace = true }
diff --git a/all-is-cubes-mesh/benches/mesh.rs b/all-is-cubes-mesh/benches/mesh.rs
index 3e8b79927..5e812f1fd 100644
--- a/all-is-cubes-mesh/benches/mesh.rs
+++ b/all-is-cubes-mesh/benches/mesh.rs
@@ -1,31 +1,27 @@
 #![allow(missing_docs)]
 
-use criterion::{criterion_group, criterion_main, BatchSize, Criterion};
+use criterion::{criterion_main, BatchSize, Criterion};
 
 use all_is_cubes::block::{Block, Resolution::R16, AIR};
 use all_is_cubes::color_block;
 use all_is_cubes::content::make_some_voxel_blocks;
 use all_is_cubes::math::{GridAab, Rgba};
 use all_is_cubes::space::Space;
-use all_is_cubes::time;
-use all_is_cubes::universe::{Handle, Name, Universe};
-use all_is_cubes_render::camera::{Camera, GraphicsOptions, Viewport};
-use all_is_cubes_render::Flaws;
-
-use all_is_cubes_mesh::testing::Allocator;
-use all_is_cubes_mesh::testing::TextureMt as Mt;
-use all_is_cubes_mesh::{
-    block_meshes_for_space, dynamic, BlockMesh, BlockMeshes, MeshOptions, SpaceMesh,
-};
-
-criterion_group!(
-    benches,
-    block_mesh_benches,
-    space_mesh_benches,
-    slow_mesh_benches,
-    dynamic_benches,
-);
+use all_is_cubes::universe::Universe;
+use all_is_cubes_render::camera::GraphicsOptions;
+
+use all_is_cubes_mesh::testing::{Allocator, TextureMt as Mt};
+use all_is_cubes_mesh::{block_meshes_for_space, BlockMesh, BlockMeshes, MeshOptions, SpaceMesh};
+
 criterion_main!(benches);
+fn benches() {
+    let mut c = Criterion::default().configure_from_args();
+    block_mesh_benches(&mut c);
+    space_mesh_benches(&mut c);
+    slow_mesh_benches(&mut c);
+    #[cfg(feature = "dynamic")]
+    dynamic_benches(&mut c);
+}
 
 fn block_mesh_benches(c: &mut Criterion) {
     let mut g = c.benchmark_group("block");
@@ -172,7 +168,14 @@ fn slow_mesh_benches(c: &mut Criterion) {
     });
 }
 
+#[cfg(feature = "dynamic")]
 fn dynamic_benches(c: &mut Criterion) {
+    use all_is_cubes::time;
+    use all_is_cubes::universe::{Handle, Name};
+    use all_is_cubes_mesh::dynamic;
+    use all_is_cubes_render::camera::{Camera, Viewport};
+    use all_is_cubes_render::Flaws;
+
     let mut g = c.benchmark_group("dynamic");
     let graphics_options = GraphicsOptions::default();
     let camera = Camera::new(graphics_options, Viewport::with_scale(1.0, [100, 100]));
diff --git a/all-is-cubes-mesh/src/block_mesh.rs b/all-is-cubes-mesh/src/block_mesh.rs
index e0a65044e..57bd23e7d 100644
--- a/all-is-cubes-mesh/src/block_mesh.rs
+++ b/all-is-cubes-mesh/src/block_mesh.rs
@@ -151,6 +151,7 @@ impl<M: MeshTypes + 'static> BlockMesh<M> {
     // chunk meshes. That's implemented but not fully settled yet. Think about whether this should
     // be public and whether it should count indices or whole triangles.
     // Whatever is decided, also update `MeshMeta::count_indices()`.
+    #[cfg_attr(not(feature = "dynamic"), allow(dead_code))]
     pub(crate) fn count_indices(&self) -> usize {
         self.all_face_meshes()
             .map(|(_, fm)| fm.indices_opaque.len() + fm.indices_transparent.len())
@@ -160,6 +161,7 @@ impl<M: MeshTypes + 'static> BlockMesh<M> {
     /// Update this mesh's textures in-place to the given new block data, if this is
     /// possible without changing the vertices.
     // TODO: non-public while we decide whether it's a good interface
+    #[cfg_attr(not(feature = "dynamic"), allow(dead_code))]
     #[must_use]
     #[mutants::skip] // optimization, doesn't change things if it fails
     pub(crate) fn try_update_texture_only(&mut self, block: &EvaluatedBlock) -> bool {
diff --git a/all-is-cubes-mesh/src/block_mesh/viz.rs b/all-is-cubes-mesh/src/block_mesh/viz.rs
index f56ef5d80..ea02d75bc 100644
--- a/all-is-cubes-mesh/src/block_mesh/viz.rs
+++ b/all-is-cubes-mesh/src/block_mesh/viz.rs
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ use {
     all_is_cubes::math::{Cube, GridAab, GridVector},
     all_is_cubes::rerun_glue as rg,
     alloc::vec::Vec,
+    core::iter,
     itertools::Itertools as _,
 };
 
@@ -213,11 +214,10 @@ impl Viz {
                 .mesh_vertex_positions
                 .extend(vertex_positions.iter().copied());
             state.mesh_vertex_colors.extend(
-                std::iter::repeat(rg::components::Color(color_fn().into()))
-                    .take(vertex_positions.len()),
+                iter::repeat(rg::components::Color(color_fn().into())).take(vertex_positions.len()),
             );
             state.mesh_vertex_normals.extend(
-                std::iter::repeat(rg::components::Vector3D(rg::convert_vec(
+                iter::repeat(rg::components::Vector3D(rg::convert_vec(
                     normal.normal_vector::<f32, ()>(),
                 )))
                 .take(vertex_positions.len()),
diff --git a/all-is-cubes-mesh/src/lib.rs b/all-is-cubes-mesh/src/lib.rs
index 404f26a61..9d3c28e3b 100644
--- a/all-is-cubes-mesh/src/lib.rs
+++ b/all-is-cubes-mesh/src/lib.rs
@@ -23,20 +23,14 @@
 //! [`GfxVertex`] and [`texture::Allocator`] traits, then implement [`MeshTypes`] to bundle them
 //! together.
 
-// This crate is *almost* `no_std` compatible; the tricky parts are synchronization stuff:
-// * the `Mutex` that `chunked_mesh::CsmTodo` uses.
-// * the `flume` channels used for background mesh calculation.
-// We could address that by exporting `all_is_cubes::util::maybe_sync::Mutex` and using some
-// non-Sync channel implementation, but I don't want to do that (and switch hash maps to
-// `hashbrown`) until I have some imaginable use case for mesh building on a `no_std` target.
-// So for now, the code is just in a state of “reveal how close it is”, hence using `core` and
-// `alloc` imports.
 #![no_std]
 // Crate-specific lint settings. (General settings can be found in the workspace manifest.)
 #![forbid(unsafe_code)]
 #![cfg_attr(test, allow(clippy::large_stack_arrays))]
 
 extern crate alloc;
+
+#[cfg(any(test, feature = "dynamic"))]
 #[macro_use]
 extern crate std;
 
@@ -48,7 +42,9 @@ mod block_vertex;
 pub use block_vertex::*;
 mod block_mesh;
 pub use block_mesh::*;
+#[cfg(feature = "dynamic")]
 mod cache;
+#[cfg(feature = "dynamic")]
 pub mod dynamic;
 mod index_vec;
 pub use index_vec::*;
diff --git a/all-is-cubes-mesh/src/testing.rs b/all-is-cubes-mesh/src/testing.rs
index 3f9a4ad3b..f92438d5c 100644
--- a/all-is-cubes-mesh/src/testing.rs
+++ b/all-is-cubes-mesh/src/testing.rs
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ use all_is_cubes::space::Space;
 use all_is_cubes::util::{ConciseDebug, Fmt};
 use all_is_cubes_render::camera::GraphicsOptions;
 
-use crate::dynamic::DynamicMeshTypes;
 use crate::{block_meshes_for_space, texture, BlockMeshes, BlockVertex, MeshTypes, SpaceMesh};
 
 /// Generic [`MeshTypes`] implementor for tests to use.
@@ -30,8 +29,9 @@ where
     type Alloc = Alloc;
     type Tile = Alloc::Tile;
 }
-impl<Alloc: texture::Allocator + fmt::Debug + 'static, const MBM: usize> DynamicMeshTypes
-    for Mt<Alloc, MBM>
+#[cfg(feature = "dynamic")]
+impl<Alloc: texture::Allocator + fmt::Debug + 'static, const MBM: usize>
+    crate::dynamic::DynamicMeshTypes for Mt<Alloc, MBM>
 where
     Alloc::Point: Fmt<ConciseDebug>, // TODO: clunky bound
 {