diff --git a/crates/nu-protocol/Cargo.toml b/crates/nu-protocol/Cargo.toml
index bf1a4aab59..4c448ff16d 100644
--- a/crates/nu-protocol/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/nu-protocol/Cargo.toml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ nu-utils = { path = "../nu-utils", version = "0.90.0" }
 nu-path = { path = "../nu-path", version = "0.90.0" }
 nu-system = { path = "../nu-system", version = "0.90.0" }
 
-byte-unit = "5.1"
+byte-unit = { version = "5.1", features = [ "serde" ] }
 chrono = { version = "0.4", features = [ "serde", "std", "unstable-locales" ], default-features = false }
 chrono-humanize = "0.2"
 fancy-regex = "0.12"