diff --git a/abci/Cargo.toml b/abci/Cargo.toml
index eea3cc3..e5b4129 100644
--- a/abci/Cargo.toml
+++ b/abci/Cargo.toml
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ crypto = ["dep:lhash"]
 tcp = ["server"]
 unix = ["server"]
 tracing-span = ["dep:uuid"]
+serde = ["tenderdash-proto/serde", "dep:serde_json"]
 
 [[example]]
 name = "echo_socket"
@@ -47,16 +48,14 @@ required-features = ["server"]
 
 [dependencies]
 uuid = { version = "1.8.0", features = ["v4", "fast-rng"], optional = true }
-tenderdash-proto = { path = "../proto", default-features = false, features = [
-    "serde",
-] }
+tenderdash-proto = { path = "../proto", default-features = false }
 bytes = { version = "1.6.0" }
 tracing = { version = "0.1.40", default-features = false }
 tracing-subscriber = { version = "0.3.18", optional = true, default-features = false, features = [
     "ansi",
     "env-filter",
 ] }
-serde_json = "1.0.115"
+serde_json = { version = "1.0.128", optional = true }
 thiserror = { version = "1.0.58" }
 url = { version = "2.5.0" }
 semver = { version = "1.0.22" }
diff --git a/abci/src/application.rs b/abci/src/application.rs
index 3081041..94c30b0 100644
--- a/abci/src/application.rs
+++ b/abci/src/application.rs
@@ -193,6 +193,27 @@ impl<A: Application> RequestDispatcher for A {
     }
 }
 
+/// Serialize message for logging.
+///
+/// This macro is used to serialize the message for logging.
+/// When `serde` feature is enabled, it uses `serde_json`, otherwise, it uses
+/// `format!` macro.
+macro_rules! serialize {
+    ($($key:expr => $value:expr),* $(,)?) => {
+        {
+            #[cfg(feature = "serde")]
+            {
+                serde_json::json!({ $($key: $value),* }).to_string()
+            }
+
+            #[cfg(not(feature = "serde"))]
+            {
+                format!(stringify!($($key " {:?}",)*), $($value,)*)
+            }
+        }
+    };
+}
+
 fn serialize_response_for_logging(response: &response::Value) -> String {
     match response {
         response::Value::PrepareProposal(response) => {
@@ -202,10 +223,10 @@ fn serialize_response_for_logging(response: &response::Value) -> String {
                 .map(|tx_record| {
                     // Convert each byte array in tx_record to hex string
                     let tx_hex = hex::encode(&tx_record.tx);
-                    serde_json::json!({
-                        "action": tx_record.action, // Adjust according to actual fields
-                        "tx": tx_hex,
-                    })
+                    serialize!(
+                        "action" => tx_record.action, // Adjust according to actual fields
+                        "tx" => tx_hex,
+                    )
                     .to_string()
                 })
                 .collect();
@@ -219,14 +240,14 @@ fn serialize_response_for_logging(response: &response::Value) -> String {
             let validator_set_update =
                 validator_set_update_to_string(response.validator_set_update.as_ref());
 
-            serde_json::json!({
-                "tx_records": tx_records_hex,
-                "app_hash": app_hash_hex,
-                "tx_results": tx_results_hex,
-                "consensus_param_updates": consensus_params,
-                "core_chain_lock_update": response.core_chain_lock_update,
-                "validator_set_update": validator_set_update,
-            })
+            serialize!(
+                "tx_records" => tx_records_hex,
+                "app_hash" => app_hash_hex,
+                "tx_results" => tx_results_hex,
+                "consensus_param_updates" => consensus_params,
+                "core_chain_lock_update" => response.core_chain_lock_update,
+                "validator_set_update" => validator_set_update,
+            )
             .to_string()
         },
         response::Value::ProcessProposal(response) => {
@@ -246,15 +267,16 @@ fn serialize_response_for_logging(response: &response::Value) -> String {
             let validator_set_update =
                 validator_set_update_to_string(response.validator_set_update.as_ref());
 
-            serde_json::json!({
-                "status": status_string,
-                "app_hash": app_hash_hex,
-                "tx_results": tx_results_hex,
-                "consensus_param_updates": consensus_params,
-                "validator_set_update": validator_set_update,
-            })
+            serialize!(
+                "status" => status_string,
+                "app_hash" => app_hash_hex,
+                "tx_results" => tx_results_hex,
+                "consensus_param_updates" => consensus_params,
+                "validator_set_update" => validator_set_update,
+            )
             .to_string()
         },
+
         value => format!("{:?}", value),
     }
 }
@@ -270,20 +292,21 @@ fn exec_tx_results_to_string(tx_results: &[ExecTxResult]) -> Vec<String> {
             // replace this with the actual serialization of `Event`.
             let events_serialized = format!("{:?}", tx_result.events);
 
-            serde_json::json!({
-                "code": tx_result.code,
-                "data": data_hex,
-                "log": tx_result.log,
-                "info": tx_result.info,
-                "gas_used": tx_result.gas_used,
-                "events": events_serialized,
-                "codespace": tx_result.codespace,
-            })
+            serialize!(
+                "code" => tx_result.code,
+                "data" =>data_hex,
+                "log" => tx_result.log,
+                "info" => tx_result.info,
+                "gas_used" => tx_result.gas_used,
+                "events" => events_serialized,
+                "codespace" => tx_result.codespace,
+            )
             .to_string()
         })
         .collect()
 }
 
+/// Serialize `ValidatorSetUpdate` to string for logging.
 fn validator_set_update_to_string(validator_set_update: Option<&ValidatorSetUpdate>) -> String {
     validator_set_update
         .as_ref()
@@ -295,20 +318,20 @@ fn validator_set_update_to_string(validator_set_update: Option<&ValidatorSetUpda
                 .iter()
                 .map(|validator_update| {
                     let pro_tx_hash_hex = hex::encode(&validator_update.pro_tx_hash);
-                    serde_json::json!({
-                    "pub_key" : validator_update.pub_key,
-                                        "power" :validator_update.power,
-                    "pro_tx_hash" : pro_tx_hash_hex,
-                    "node_address" : validator_update.node_address,
-                                })
+                    serialize!(
+                        "pub_key" => validator_update.pub_key,
+                        "power" => validator_update.power,
+                        "pro_tx_hash" => pro_tx_hash_hex,
+                        "node_address" => validator_update.node_address,
+                    )
                     .to_string()
                 })
                 .collect();
-            serde_json::json!({
-            "validator_updates": validator_updates_string,
-            "threshold_public_key": validator_set_update.threshold_public_key,
-            "quorum_hash": quorum_hash_hex,
-                        })
+            serialize!(
+                "validator_updates" => validator_updates_string,
+                "threshold_public_key" => validator_set_update.threshold_public_key,
+                "quorum_hash" => quorum_hash_hex,
+            )
             .to_string()
         })
         .unwrap_or("None".to_string())
diff --git a/proto/Cargo.toml b/proto/Cargo.toml
index f1ef186..fbf4618 100644
--- a/proto/Cargo.toml
+++ b/proto/Cargo.toml
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ all-features = true
 #
 # Sometimes cleaning the build cache with `cargo clean` might be necessary to solve
 # issues related to outdated generated files.
-default = ["grpc", "serde"]
+default = ["grpc"]
 
 # Enable standard library support; DEPRECATED - use `grpc` instead
 std = ["grpc"]
diff --git a/proto/src/lib.rs b/proto/src/lib.rs
index c49f3b5..399fa72 100644
--- a/proto/src/lib.rs
+++ b/proto/src/lib.rs
@@ -49,9 +49,7 @@ pub mod serializers;
 mod time;
 
 pub use meta::ABCI_VERSION;
-use prelude::*;
-#[cfg(feature = "grpc")]
-pub use tonic;
+pub use prelude::*;
 
 /// Allows for easy Google Protocol Buffers encoding and decoding of domain
 /// types with validation.
diff --git a/proto/src/prelude.rs b/proto/src/prelude.rs
index a4d54c2..7fa30e1 100644
--- a/proto/src/prelude.rs
+++ b/proto/src/prelude.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // Re-export according to alloc::prelude::v1 because it is not yet stabilized
 // https://doc.rust-lang.org/src/alloc/prelude/v1.rs.html
-#[allow(unused_imports)]
+#![allow(unused_imports)]
 pub use alloc::{
     borrow::ToOwned,
     boxed::Box,
@@ -11,5 +11,7 @@ pub use alloc::{
 };
 pub use core::prelude::v1::*;
 
-#[allow(unused_imports)]
+#[cfg(feature = "grpc")]
+pub use tonic;
+
 pub use crate::time::{FromMillis, ToMillis};