diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 685b40afcc..7dc9b6274b 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -4541,7 +4541,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "base58",
  "bitvec",
  "blake2",
- "cfg-if",
  "derivative",
  "derive_more",
  "either",
@@ -4636,7 +4635,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "sp-core",
  "sp-core-hashing",
  "sp-keyring",
- "subxt",
+ "subxt-core",
  "thiserror",
  "zeroize",
 ]
diff --git a/core/Cargo.toml b/core/Cargo.toml
index 8435c04209..0b950f4ae9 100644
--- a/core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/core/Cargo.toml
@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@ sp-core-hashing = { workspace = true }
 # Included if the "substrate-compat" feature is enabled.
 sp-core = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 sp-runtime = { workspace = true, optional = true }
-cfg-if = { workspace = true }
 either = { workspace = true }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
diff --git a/core/src/config/extrinsic_params.rs b/core/src/config/extrinsic_params.rs
index 9e6396d1b1..f0efbf0153 100644
--- a/core/src/config/extrinsic_params.rs
+++ b/core/src/config/extrinsic_params.rs
@@ -10,10 +10,9 @@
 use crate::client::ClientBase;
 
 use super::Config;
-use crate::prelude::*;
+use alloc::string::String;
+use alloc::vec::Vec;
 use core::fmt::Debug;
-use string::String;
-use vec::Vec;
 
 use derive_more::Display;
 
diff --git a/core/src/config/signed_extensions.rs b/core/src/config/signed_extensions.rs
index 2bf6a1bc51..d09704beb2 100644
--- a/core/src/config/signed_extensions.rs
+++ b/core/src/config/signed_extensions.rs
@@ -10,17 +10,16 @@
 use super::extrinsic_params::{ExtrinsicParams, ExtrinsicParamsEncoder, ExtrinsicParamsError};
 use super::Config;
 use crate::client::ClientBase;
-use crate::prelude::*;
 use crate::utils::Era;
-use borrow::ToOwned;
-use boxed::Box;
+use alloc::borrow::ToOwned;
+use alloc::boxed::Box;
+use alloc::collections::BTreeMap;
+use alloc::vec::Vec;
 use codec::{Compact, Encode};
-use collections::BTreeMap;
 use core::fmt::Debug;
 use derivative::Derivative;
 use scale_decode::DecodeAsType;
 use scale_info::PortableRegistry;
-use vec::Vec;
 
 /// A single [`SignedExtension`] has a unique name, but is otherwise the
 /// same as [`ExtrinsicParams`] in describing how to encode the extra and
diff --git a/core/src/config/substrate.rs b/core/src/config/substrate.rs
index b8e930c882..a7c5e99215 100644
--- a/core/src/config/substrate.rs
+++ b/core/src/config/substrate.rs
@@ -5,13 +5,12 @@
 //! Substrate specific configuration
 
 use super::{Config, DefaultExtrinsicParams, DefaultExtrinsicParamsBuilder, Hasher, Header};
-use crate::prelude::*;
 pub use crate::utils::{AccountId32, MultiAddress, MultiSignature};
+use alloc::string::String;
+use alloc::vec::Vec;
 use codec::{Decode, Encode};
 pub use primitive_types::{H256, U256};
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
-use string::String;
-use vec::Vec;
 
 /// Default set of commonly used types by Substrate runtimes.
 // Note: We only use this at the type level, so it should be impossible to
@@ -209,7 +208,7 @@ impl<'a> serde::Deserialize<'a> for DigestItem {
     {
         let r = impl_serde::serialize::deserialize(de)?;
         Decode::decode(&mut &r[..])
-            .map_err(|e| serde::de::Error::custom(format!("Decode error: {e}")))
+            .map_err(|e| serde::de::Error::custom(alloc::format!("Decode error: {e}")))
     }
 }
 
@@ -292,7 +291,7 @@ impl From<U256> for NumberOrHex {
 
 /// A quick helper to encode some bytes to hex.
 fn to_hex(bytes: impl AsRef<[u8]>) -> String {
-    format!("0x{}", hex::encode(bytes.as_ref()))
+    alloc::format!("0x{}", hex::encode(bytes.as_ref()))
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]
diff --git a/core/src/dynamic.rs b/core/src/dynamic.rs
index a1a8aeaa22..c3686b483c 100644
--- a/core/src/dynamic.rs
+++ b/core/src/dynamic.rs
@@ -6,10 +6,9 @@
 //! transactions, storage and constant lookups.
 
 use crate::metadata::{DecodeWithMetadata, Metadata};
-use crate::prelude::*;
+use alloc::vec::Vec;
 use scale_decode::DecodeAsType;
 pub use scale_value::{At, Value};
-use vec::Vec;
 
 /// A [`scale_value::Value`] type endowed with contextual information
 /// regarding what type was used to decode each part of it. This implements
diff --git a/core/src/error.rs b/core/src/error.rs
index 8ca8c6db6d..038ee74747 100644
--- a/core/src/error.rs
+++ b/core/src/error.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+use alloc::string::String;
 use derive_more::{Display, From};
 
 #[derive(Debug, Display, From)]
diff --git a/core/src/lib.rs b/core/src/lib.rs
index 20d03f0dea..11b8a23eec 100644
--- a/core/src/lib.rs
+++ b/core/src/lib.rs
@@ -8,12 +8,13 @@
 
 #![cfg_attr(not(feature = "std"), no_std)]
 
+extern crate alloc;
+
 pub mod client;
 pub mod config;
 pub mod dynamic;
 mod error;
 pub mod metadata;
-pub mod prelude;
 pub mod signer;
 pub mod storage;
 pub mod tx;
@@ -26,7 +27,14 @@ pub use config::{
     PolkadotExtrinsicParams, SubstrateConfig, SubstrateExtrinsicParams,
 };
 
+pub use signer::Signer;
+
 pub use metadata::Metadata;
 
 #[macro_use]
 mod macros;
+
+mod marker {
+    /// A unit marker struct that is only used for specialized generics.
+    pub struct Yes;
+}
diff --git a/core/src/marker.rs b/core/src/marker.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..aaf7f841f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/marker.rs
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+pub struct Yes;
diff --git a/core/src/metadata/decode_encode_traits.rs b/core/src/metadata/decode_encode_traits.rs
index 4b9089a001..3bc4dc87b0 100644
--- a/core/src/metadata/decode_encode_traits.rs
+++ b/core/src/metadata/decode_encode_traits.rs
@@ -3,8 +3,7 @@
 // see LICENSE for license details.
 
 use super::Metadata;
-use crate::prelude::*;
-use vec::Vec;
+use alloc::vec::Vec;
 
 /// This trait is implemented for all types that also implement [`scale_decode::DecodeAsType`].
 pub trait DecodeWithMetadata: Sized {
diff --git a/core/src/metadata/metadata_type.rs b/core/src/metadata/metadata_type.rs
index 48d822189a..7bd5c5c080 100644
--- a/core/src/metadata/metadata_type.rs
+++ b/core/src/metadata/metadata_type.rs
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@
 // This file is dual-licensed as Apache-2.0 or GPL-3.0.
 // see LICENSE for license details.
 
-use crate::{prelude::*, MetadataError};
-use borrow::ToOwned;
-use sync::Arc;
+use crate::error::MetadataError;
+use alloc::borrow::ToOwned;
+use alloc::sync::Arc;
 
 /// A cheaply clone-able representation of the runtime metadata received from a node.
 #[derive(Clone, Debug)]
diff --git a/core/src/prelude.rs b/core/src/prelude.rs
deleted file mode 100644
index 007bd44665..0000000000
--- a/core/src/prelude.rs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,59 +0,0 @@
-// Copyright 2019-2023 Parity Technologies (UK) Ltd.
-// This file is dual-licensed as Apache-2.0 or GPL-3.0.
-// see LICENSE for license details.
-
-#[cfg(not(feature = "std"))]
-extern crate alloc;
-
-use cfg_if::cfg_if;
-
-cfg_if! {
-    if #[cfg(feature = "std")] {
-        #[allow(unused)]
-        pub use std::{
-            any,
-            borrow,
-            boxed,
-            cmp,
-            collections,
-            fmt,
-            format,
-            hash,
-            marker,
-            mem,
-            num,
-            ops,
-            string,
-            sync,
-            time,
-            vec,
-            rc,
-            iter,
-        };
-    } else {
-        #[allow(unused)]
-        pub use alloc::{
-            borrow,
-            boxed,
-            collections,
-            format,
-            string,
-            sync,
-            vec,
-            rc
-        };
-        #[allow(unused)]
-        pub use core::{
-            any,
-            cmp,
-            fmt,
-            hash,
-            marker,
-            mem,
-            num,
-            ops,
-            time,
-            iter,
-        };
-    }
-}
diff --git a/core/src/storage/mod.rs b/core/src/storage/mod.rs
index e37eb0383a..a1976ecd16 100644
--- a/core/src/storage/mod.rs
+++ b/core/src/storage/mod.rs
@@ -4,9 +4,12 @@
 
 //! Types associated with accessing and working with storage items.
 
-mod storage_address;
+use alloc::vec::Vec;
+
 /// Types representing an address which describes where a storage
 /// entry lives and how to properly decode it.
+pub mod storage_address;
+
 pub mod address {
     pub use super::storage_address::{
         dynamic, make_static_storage_map_key, Address, DynamicAddress, StaticStorageMapKey,
diff --git a/core/src/storage/storage_address.rs b/core/src/storage/storage_address.rs
index 925b0a012e..49d24598a3 100644
--- a/core/src/storage/storage_address.rs
+++ b/core/src/storage/storage_address.rs
@@ -11,9 +11,11 @@ use crate::{
 
 use crate::metadata::{DecodeWithMetadata, EncodeWithMetadata, Metadata};
 use crate::Error;
+use alloc::borrow::{Cow, ToOwned};
+use alloc::string::String;
+use alloc::vec::Vec;
 use derivative::Derivative;
 use scale_info::TypeDef;
-use std::borrow::Cow;
 use subxt_metadata::{StorageEntryType, StorageHasher};
 
 /// This represents a storage address. Anything implementing this trait
@@ -58,14 +60,14 @@ pub struct Yes;
 #[derive(Derivative)]
 #[derivative(
     Clone(bound = "StorageKey: Clone"),
-    Debug(bound = "StorageKey: std::fmt::Debug")
+    Debug(bound = "StorageKey: core::fmt::Debug")
 )]
 pub struct Address<StorageKey, ReturnTy, Fetchable, Defaultable, Iterable> {
     pallet_name: Cow<'static, str>,
     entry_name: Cow<'static, str>,
     storage_entry_keys: Vec<StorageKey>,
     validation_hash: Option<[u8; 32]>,
-    _marker: std::marker::PhantomData<(ReturnTy, Fetchable, Defaultable, Iterable)>,
+    _marker: core::marker::PhantomData<(ReturnTy, Fetchable, Defaultable, Iterable)>,
 }
 
 /// A typical storage address constructed at runtime rather than via the `subxt` macro; this
@@ -89,7 +91,7 @@ where
             entry_name: Cow::Owned(entry_name.into()),
             storage_entry_keys: storage_entry_keys.into_iter().collect(),
             validation_hash: None,
-            _marker: std::marker::PhantomData,
+            _marker: core::marker::PhantomData,
         }
     }
 
@@ -107,7 +109,7 @@ where
             entry_name: Cow::Borrowed(entry_name),
             storage_entry_keys: storage_entry_keys.into_iter().collect(),
             validation_hash: Some(hash),
-            _marker: std::marker::PhantomData,
+            _marker: core::marker::PhantomData,
         }
     }
 
@@ -187,7 +189,7 @@ where
                     TypeDef::Tuple(tuple) => {
                         either::Either::Left(tuple.fields.iter().map(|f| f.id))
                     }
-                    _other => either::Either::Right(std::iter::once(*key_ty)),
+                    _other => either::Either::Right(core::iter::once(*key_ty)),
                 };
 
                 if type_ids.len() < self.storage_entry_keys.len() {
diff --git a/core/src/tx/mod.rs b/core/src/tx/mod.rs
index d9a7c839db..0b7975671c 100644
--- a/core/src/tx/mod.rs
+++ b/core/src/tx/mod.rs
@@ -5,21 +5,16 @@
 //! This module contains the trait and types used to represent
 //! transactions that can be submitted.
 
-use crate::prelude::*;
 use crate::Error;
 use crate::MetadataError;
-use crate::{
-    dynamic::Value,
-    metadata::{self, Metadata},
-};
-use borrow::Cow;
-use borrow::ToOwned;
+use crate::{dynamic::Value, metadata::Metadata};
+use alloc::borrow::{Cow, ToOwned};
+use alloc::string::String;
+use alloc::sync::Arc;
+use alloc::vec::Vec;
 use codec::Encode;
 use scale_encode::EncodeAsFields;
 use scale_value::{Composite, ValueDef, Variant};
-use string::String;
-use sync::Arc;
-use vec::Vec;
 
 /// This represents a transaction payload that can be submitted
 /// to a node.
diff --git a/core/src/utils/account_id.rs b/core/src/utils/account_id.rs
index 7a7ef7949f..28ef331f1d 100644
--- a/core/src/utils/account_id.rs
+++ b/core/src/utils/account_id.rs
@@ -6,12 +6,12 @@
 //! This doesn't contain much functionality itself, but is easy to convert to/from an `sp_core::AccountId32`
 //! for instance, to gain functionality without forcing a dependency on Substrate crates here.
 
-use crate::prelude::*;
+use alloc::string::String;
+use alloc::vec;
+use alloc::vec::Vec;
 use codec::{Decode, Encode};
 use derive_more::Display;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
-use string::String;
-use vec::Vec;
 
 /// A 32-byte cryptographic identifier. This is a simplified version of Substrate's
 /// `sp_core::crypto::AccountId32`. To obtain more functionality, convert this into
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ impl<'de> Deserialize<'de> for AccountId32 {
         D: serde::Deserializer<'de>,
     {
         AccountId32::from_ss58check(&String::deserialize(deserializer)?)
-            .map_err(|e| serde::de::Error::custom(format!("{e:?}")))
+            .map_err(|e| serde::de::Error::custom(alloc::format!("{e:?}")))
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/core/src/utils/bits.rs b/core/src/utils/bits.rs
index 5774cd9fcf..dc19509537 100644
--- a/core/src/utils/bits.rs
+++ b/core/src/utils/bits.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@
 
 //! Generic `scale_bits` over `bitvec`-like `BitOrder` and `BitFormat` types.
 
-use crate::prelude::*;
+use alloc::vec;
+use alloc::vec::Vec;
 use codec::{Compact, Input};
 use core::marker::PhantomData;
 use scale_bits::{
@@ -12,7 +13,6 @@ use scale_bits::{
     Bits,
 };
 use scale_decode::IntoVisitor;
-use vec::Vec;
 
 /// Associates `bitvec::store::BitStore` trait with corresponding, type-erased `scale_bits::StoreFormat` enum.
 ///
diff --git a/core/src/utils/mod.rs b/core/src/utils/mod.rs
index 067c43f3f2..54eaf230ed 100644
--- a/core/src/utils/mod.rs
+++ b/core/src/utils/mod.rs
@@ -4,11 +4,10 @@
 
 //! Miscellaneous utility helpers.
 
-use crate::prelude::*;
-use borrow::ToOwned;
+use alloc::borrow::ToOwned;
+use alloc::vec::Vec;
 use codec::{Compact, Decode, Encode};
 use derivative::Derivative;
-use vec::Vec;
 
 mod account_id;
 pub mod bits;
diff --git a/core/src/utils/multi_address.rs b/core/src/utils/multi_address.rs
index c742c34937..3a2d97297d 100644
--- a/core/src/utils/multi_address.rs
+++ b/core/src/utils/multi_address.rs
@@ -6,9 +6,8 @@
 //! This doesn't contain much functionality itself, but is easy to convert to/from an `sp_runtime::MultiAddress`
 //! for instance, to gain functionality without forcing a dependency on Substrate crates here.
 
-use crate::prelude::*;
+use alloc::vec::Vec;
 use codec::{Decode, Encode};
-use vec::Vec;
 
 /// A multi-format address wrapper for on-chain accounts. This is a simplified version of Substrate's
 /// `sp_runtime::MultiAddress`. To obtain more functionality, convert this into that type (this conversion
diff --git a/core/src/utils/static_type.rs b/core/src/utils/static_type.rs
index 9484706b85..257b2d9eae 100644
--- a/core/src/utils/static_type.rs
+++ b/core/src/utils/static_type.rs
@@ -2,11 +2,10 @@
 // This file is dual-licensed as Apache-2.0 or GPL-3.0.
 // see LICENSE for license details.
 
-use crate::prelude::*;
+use alloc::vec::Vec;
 use codec::{Decode, Encode};
 use scale_decode::{visitor::DecodeAsTypeResult, IntoVisitor, Visitor};
 use scale_encode::EncodeAsType;
-use vec::Vec;
 
 /// If the type inside this implements [`Encode`], this will implement [`scale_encode::EncodeAsType`].
 /// If the type inside this implements [`Decode`], this will implement [`scale_decode::DecodeAsType`].
diff --git a/core/src/utils/unchecked_extrinsic.rs b/core/src/utils/unchecked_extrinsic.rs
index 89744ac12a..e661620ec8 100644
--- a/core/src/utils/unchecked_extrinsic.rs
+++ b/core/src/utils/unchecked_extrinsic.rs
@@ -10,11 +10,10 @@
 //! bytes to be re-encoded (length prefixed).
 
 use super::{Encoded, Static};
-use crate::prelude::*;
+use alloc::vec::Vec;
 use codec::{Decode, Encode};
 use core::marker::PhantomData;
 use scale_decode::{visitor::DecodeAsTypeResult, DecodeAsType, IntoVisitor, Visitor};
-use vec::Vec;
 
 /// The unchecked extrinsic from substrate.
 #[derive(Clone, Debug, Eq, PartialEq, Encode)]
diff --git a/core/src/utils/wrapper_opaque.rs b/core/src/utils/wrapper_opaque.rs
index 8ca9ca1758..3c73a1bad1 100644
--- a/core/src/utils/wrapper_opaque.rs
+++ b/core/src/utils/wrapper_opaque.rs
@@ -3,12 +3,11 @@
 // see LICENSE for license details.
 
 use super::PhantomDataSendSync;
-use crate::prelude::*;
+use alloc::vec::Vec;
 use codec::{Compact, Decode, DecodeAll, Encode};
 use derivative::Derivative;
 use scale_decode::{IntoVisitor, Visitor};
 use scale_encode::EncodeAsType;
-use vec::Vec;
 
 /// A wrapper for any type `T` which implement encode/decode in a way compatible with `Vec<u8>`.
 /// [`WrapperKeepOpaque`] stores the type only in its opaque format, aka as a `Vec<u8>`. To
diff --git a/signer/Cargo.toml b/signer/Cargo.toml
index 226237c315..4192e27a09 100644
--- a/signer/Cargo.toml
+++ b/signer/Cargo.toml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ description = "Sign extrinsics to be submitted by Subxt"
 keywords = ["parity", "subxt", "extrinsic", "signer"]
 
 [features]
-default = ["sr25519", "ecdsa", "subxt", "native"]
+default = ["sr25519", "ecdsa", "subxt"]
 
 # Pick the signer implementation(s) you need by enabling the
 # corresponding features. Note: I had more difficulties getting
@@ -26,15 +26,14 @@ ecdsa = ["secp256k1"]
 
 # Make the keypair algorithms here compatible with Subxt's Signer trait,
 # so that they can be used to sign transactions for compatible chains.
-subxt = ["dep:subxt"]
+subxt = ["dep:subxt-core"]
 
 # The getrandom package is used via schnorrkel. We need to enable the JS
 # feature on it if compiling for the web.
-web = ["getrandom/js", "subxt?/web"]
-native = ["subxt?/native"]
+web = ["getrandom/js"]
 
 [dependencies]
-subxt = { workspace = true, optional = true, default-features = false }
+subxt-core = { workspace = true, optional = true, default-features = false }
 regex = { workspace = true }
 hex = { workspace = true }
 codec = { package = "parity-scale-codec", workspace = true, features = ["derive"] }
diff --git a/testing/no-std-tests/Cargo.lock b/testing/no-std-tests/Cargo.lock
index d304f1eb85..184ac58900 100644
--- a/testing/no-std-tests/Cargo.lock
+++ b/testing/no-std-tests/Cargo.lock
@@ -675,9 +675,9 @@ version = "0.34.0"
 dependencies = [
  "base58",
  "blake2",
- "cfg-if",
  "derivative",
  "derive_more",
+ "either",
  "frame-metadata 16.0.0",
  "hex",
  "impl-serde",
diff --git a/testing/no-std-tests/src/main.rs b/testing/no-std-tests/src/main.rs
index 72d4f35152..2812cae098 100644
--- a/testing/no-std-tests/src/main.rs
+++ b/testing/no-std-tests/src/main.rs
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ extern crate alloc;
 // Note: Panics in this function will lead to `Aborted (core dumped)` and a non-zero exit status => suitable for CI tests.
 fn run_tests() {
     subxt_metadata_test();
+    subxt_core_test();
 }
 
 /// Makes sure, subxt-metadata works in a no-std-context:
@@ -49,5 +50,5 @@ fn subxt_metadata_test() {
 }
 
 fn subxt_core_test() {
-    let era = subxt_core::utils::Era::Immortal;
+    let _ = subxt_core::utils::Era::Immortal;
 }