diff --git a/components/esp_websocket_client/CMakeLists.txt b/components/esp_websocket_client/CMakeLists.txt
index de17d6fdd..af21d9d08 100644
--- a/components/esp_websocket_client/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/components/esp_websocket_client/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+if(NOT CONFIG_WS_TRANSPORT AND NOT CMAKE_BUILD_EARLY_EXPANSION)
+    message(STATUS "Websocket transport is disabled so the esp_websocket_client component will not be built")
+    # note: the component is still included in the build so it can become visible again in config
+    # without needing to re-run CMake. However no source or header files are built.
+    idf_component_register()
+    return()
+endif()
+
 idf_component_register(SRCS "esp_websocket_client.c"
                     INCLUDE_DIRS "include"
                     REQUIRES lwip esp-tls tcp_transport nghttp
diff --git a/components/esp_websocket_client/component.mk b/components/esp_websocket_client/component.mk
index e69de29bb..300fea3da 100644
--- a/components/esp_websocket_client/component.mk
+++ b/components/esp_websocket_client/component.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+ifdef CONFIG_WS_TRANSPORT
+COMPONENT_SRCDIRS := .
+COMPONENT_ADD_INCLUDEDIRS := include
+endif