diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 588935b6f..e8aee4567 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -81,6 +81,9 @@ jobs:
             rustc: nightly
             allow_failure: true
             extra_args: --features=unstable
+          - os: ubuntu-20.04
+            rustc: nightly
+            extra_args: --no-default-features
           - os: ubuntu-22.04
           - os: macOS-11
           # M1 CPU
diff --git a/src/cache/cache.rs b/src/cache/cache.rs
index 3c07983a9..f5aa43178 100644
--- a/src/cache/cache.rs
+++ b/src/cache/cache.rs
@@ -674,7 +674,9 @@ pub fn storage_from_config(
                 return Ok(Arc::new(storage));
             }
             #[allow(unreachable_patterns)]
-            _ => bail!("cache type is not enabled"),
+            // if we build only with `cargo build --no-default-features`
+            // we only want to use sccache with a local cache (no remote storage)
+            _ => {}
         }
     }