diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index e9eec7a..d7e97c6 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ edition = "2021"
 repository = "https://github.com/ecmwf/qubed"
 
 [dependencies]
-rsfdb = {git = "https://github.com/ecmwf/rsfdb", branch = "develop"}
+# rsfdb = {git = "https://github.com/ecmwf/rsfdb", branch = "develop"}
 serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = "1.0"
 pyo3 = "0.23"
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 305b71a..d3bf608 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ features = ["pyo3/extension-module"]
 
 
 [project.optional-dependencies]
+rust-backend = ["maturin"]
 
 docs = [
     "sphinx",