diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index ca8aab2608b0..e762579e1353 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1560,6 +1560,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "prettyplease",
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
+ "rustc_version 0.4.1",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
  "slotmap",
@@ -2633,7 +2634,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "byteorder",
  "libc",
  "nom 2.2.1",
- "rustc_version",
+ "rustc_version 0.2.3",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -3067,6 +3068,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "semver 0.9.0",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "rustc_version"
+version = "0.4.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "cfcb3a22ef46e85b45de6ee7e79d063319ebb6594faafcf1c225ea92ab6e9b92"
+dependencies = [
+ "semver 1.0.23",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "rustix"
 version = "0.38.34"
diff --git a/hydroflow/Cargo.toml b/hydroflow/Cargo.toml
index 7c0473f41ef8..e55322b13168 100644
--- a/hydroflow/Cargo.toml
+++ b/hydroflow/Cargo.toml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ workspace = true
 [features]
 default = [ "macros", "nightly", "debugging" ]
 
-nightly = [ "hydroflow_macro", "hydroflow_macro/diagnostics" ]
+nightly = []
 macros = [ "hydroflow_macro", "hydroflow_datalog" ]
 hydroflow_macro = [ "dep:hydroflow_macro" ]
 hydroflow_datalog = [ "dep:hydroflow_datalog" ]
diff --git a/hydroflow_datalog/Cargo.toml b/hydroflow_datalog/Cargo.toml
index 58a62cab9d3b..c4771f901c7a 100644
--- a/hydroflow_datalog/Cargo.toml
+++ b/hydroflow_datalog/Cargo.toml
@@ -14,9 +14,6 @@ workspace = true
 proc-macro = true
 path = "src/lib.rs"
 
-[features]
-diagnostics = [ "hydroflow_datalog_core/diagnostics" ]
-
 [dependencies]
 quote = "1.0.35"
 syn = { version = "2.0.46", features = [ "parsing", "extra-traits" ] }
diff --git a/hydroflow_datalog_core/Cargo.toml b/hydroflow_datalog_core/Cargo.toml
index 79b541b1bf30..ab7a2b1a7688 100644
--- a/hydroflow_datalog_core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/hydroflow_datalog_core/Cargo.toml
@@ -13,10 +13,6 @@ workspace = true
 [lib]
 path = "src/lib.rs"
 
-[features]
-default = []
-diagnostics = [ "hydroflow_lang/diagnostics" ]
-
 [dependencies]
 quote = "1.0.35"
 slotmap = "1.0.0"
diff --git a/hydroflow_lang/Cargo.toml b/hydroflow_lang/Cargo.toml
index b1321b5ebf72..256d2b9269bb 100644
--- a/hydroflow_lang/Cargo.toml
+++ b/hydroflow_lang/Cargo.toml
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ workspace = true
 
 [features]
 default = []
-diagnostics = []
 debugging = [ "dep:data-encoding", "dep:webbrowser", "clap-derive" ]
 clap-derive = [ "dep:clap" ]
 
@@ -34,3 +33,4 @@ webbrowser = { version = "1.0.0", optional = true }
 
 [build-dependencies]
 syn = { version = "2.0.46", features = [ "extra-traits", "full", "parsing" ] }
+rustc_version = "0.4.0"
diff --git a/hydroflow_lang/build.rs b/hydroflow_lang/build.rs
index d2e0af6f8487..fe39425917ac 100644
--- a/hydroflow_lang/build.rs
+++ b/hydroflow_lang/build.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ use std::fs::File;
 use std::io::{BufWriter, Error, ErrorKind, Result, Write};
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 
+use rustc_version::{version_meta, Channel};
 use syn::{
     parse_quote, AttrStyle, Expr, ExprLit, Ident, Item, Lit, Member, Meta, MetaNameValue, Path,
 };
@@ -12,6 +13,15 @@ const OPS_PATH: &str = "src/graph/ops";
 
 fn main() {
     println!("cargo::rerun-if-changed={}", OPS_PATH);
+
+    println!("cargo::rustc-check-cfg=cfg(nightly)");
+    if matches!(
+        version_meta().map(|meta| meta.channel),
+        Ok(Channel::Nightly)
+    ) {
+        println!("cargo:rustc-cfg=nightly");
+    }
+
     if Err(VarError::NotPresent) != var("CARGO_CFG_HYDROFLOW_GENERATE_DOCS") {
         if let Err(err) = generate_op_docs() {
             eprintln!("hydroflow_lang/build.rs error: {:?}", err);
diff --git a/hydroflow_lang/src/diagnostic.rs b/hydroflow_lang/src/diagnostic.rs
index 44ec8c588a8d..0941bfc319c1 100644
--- a/hydroflow_lang/src/diagnostic.rs
+++ b/hydroflow_lang/src/diagnostic.rs
@@ -40,8 +40,8 @@ impl Level {
 /// Diagnostic. A warning or error (or lower [`Level`]) with a message and span. Shown by IDEs
 /// usually as a squiggly red or yellow underline.
 ///
-/// Must call [`Diagnostic::emit`] or manually emit the output of [`Diagnostic::to_tokens`] for the
-/// diagnostic to show up.
+/// Diagnostics must be emitted via [`Diagnostic::try_emit`], [`Diagnostic::to_tokens`], or
+/// [`Diagnostic::try_emit_all`] for diagnostics to show up.
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Serialize, Deserialize)]
 pub struct Diagnostic<S = Span> {
     /// Span (source code location).
@@ -68,23 +68,47 @@ impl Diagnostic {
         }
     }
 
-    /// Emit the diagnostic. Only works from the `proc_macro` context. Does not work outside of
-    /// that e.g. in normal runtime execution or in tests.
-    pub fn emit(&self) {
-        #[cfg(feature = "diagnostics")]
+    /// Emit if possible, otherwise return `Err` containing a [`TokenStream`] of a
+    /// `compile_error!(...)` call.
+    pub fn try_emit(&self) -> Result<(), TokenStream> {
+        #[cfg(nightly)]
         {
-            let pm_diag = match self.level {
-                Level::Error => self.span.unwrap().error(&*self.message),
-                Level::Warning => self.span.unwrap().warning(&*self.message),
-                Level::Note => self.span.unwrap().note(&*self.message),
-                Level::Help => self.span.unwrap().help(&*self.message),
-            };
-            pm_diag.emit();
+            if let Ok(()) = std::panic::catch_unwind(|| {
+                let pm_diag = match self.level {
+                    Level::Error => self.span.unwrap().error(&*self.message),
+                    Level::Warning => self.span.unwrap().warning(&*self.message),
+                    Level::Note => self.span.unwrap().note(&*self.message),
+                    Level::Help => self.span.unwrap().help(&*self.message),
+                };
+                pm_diag.emit()
+            }) {
+                return Ok(());
+            }
+        }
+        Err(self.to_tokens())
+    }
+
+    /// Emits all if possible, otherwise returns `Err` containing a [`TokenStream`] of
+    /// `compile_error!(...)` calls.
+    pub fn try_emit_all<'a>(
+        diagnostics: impl IntoIterator<Item = &'a Self>,
+    ) -> Result<(), TokenStream> {
+        if let Some(tokens) = diagnostics
+            .into_iter()
+            .filter_map(|diag| diag.try_emit().err())
+            .reduce(|mut tokens, next| {
+                tokens.extend(next);
+                tokens
+            })
+        {
+            Err(tokens)
+        } else {
+            Ok(())
         }
     }
 
-    /// Used to emulate [`Diagnostic::emit`] by turning this diagnostic into a properly spanned [`TokenStream`]
-    /// that emits an error with this diagnostic's message.
+    /// Used to emulate `proc_macro::Diagnostic::emit` by turning this diagnostic into a properly spanned [`TokenStream`]
+    /// that emits an error via `compile_error!(...)` with this diagnostic's message.
     pub fn to_tokens(&self) -> TokenStream {
         let msg_lit: Literal = Literal::string(&self.message);
         let unique_ident = {
@@ -98,7 +122,7 @@ impl Diagnostic {
         if Level::Error == self.level {
             quote_spanned! {self.span=>
                 {
-                    ::std::compile_error!(#msg_lit);
+                    ::core::compile_error!(#msg_lit);
                 }
             }
         } else {
@@ -169,7 +193,7 @@ pub struct SerdeSpan {
 }
 impl From<Span> for SerdeSpan {
     fn from(span: Span) -> Self {
-        #[cfg(feature = "diagnostics")]
+        #[cfg(nightly)]
         let path = span
             .unwrap()
             .source_file()
@@ -178,7 +202,7 @@ impl From<Span> for SerdeSpan {
             .to_string()
             .into();
 
-        #[cfg(not(feature = "diagnostics"))]
+        #[cfg(not(nightly))]
         let path = "unknown".into();
 
         Self {
diff --git a/hydroflow_lang/src/graph/hydroflow_graph.rs b/hydroflow_lang/src/graph/hydroflow_graph.rs
index ac857f72cc5f..b174393631b2 100644
--- a/hydroflow_lang/src/graph/hydroflow_graph.rs
+++ b/hydroflow_lang/src/graph/hydroflow_graph.rs
@@ -1006,10 +1006,10 @@ impl HydroflowGraph {
                             subgraph_op_iter_code.push(write_iterator);
 
                             if include_type_guards {
-                                #[cfg(not(feature = "diagnostics"))]
+                                #[cfg(not(nightly))]
                                 let source_info = Option::<String>::None;
 
-                                #[cfg(feature = "diagnostics")]
+                                #[cfg(nightly)]
                                 let source_info = std::panic::catch_unwind(|| op_span.unwrap())
                                     .map(|op_span| {
                                         format!(
@@ -1029,7 +1029,7 @@ impl HydroflowGraph {
                                     .ok();
 
                                 #[cfg_attr(
-                                    not(feature = "diagnostics"),
+                                    not(nightly),
                                     expect(
                                         clippy::unnecessary_literal_unwrap,
                                         reason = "conditional compilation"
diff --git a/hydroflow_lang/src/lib.rs b/hydroflow_lang/src/lib.rs
index 91d06c49be0b..2b824532e81c 100644
--- a/hydroflow_lang/src/lib.rs
+++ b/hydroflow_lang/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 //! Hydroflow surface syntax
 
 #![warn(missing_docs)]
-#![cfg_attr(
-    feature = "diagnostics",
-    feature(proc_macro_diagnostic, proc_macro_span)
-)]
+#![cfg_attr(nightly, feature(proc_macro_diagnostic, proc_macro_span))]
 pub mod diagnostic;
 pub mod graph;
 pub mod parse;
diff --git a/hydroflow_lang/src/pretty_span.rs b/hydroflow_lang/src/pretty_span.rs
index 8ad6ae6ee3dc..0af791ed0d94 100644
--- a/hydroflow_lang/src/pretty_span.rs
+++ b/hydroflow_lang/src/pretty_span.rs
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 pub struct PrettySpan(pub proc_macro2::Span);
 impl std::fmt::Display for PrettySpan {
     fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
-        #[cfg(feature = "diagnostics")]
+        #[cfg(nightly)]
         {
             if let Ok(span) = std::panic::catch_unwind(|| self.0.unwrap()) {
                 write!(
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ impl std::fmt::Display for PrettySpan {
 
         write!(
             f,
-            "nopath:{}:{}",
+            "unknown:{}:{}",
             self.0.start().line,
             self.0.start().column
         )
diff --git a/hydroflow_macro/Cargo.toml b/hydroflow_macro/Cargo.toml
index 947cd24a997e..16c9450b7fdd 100644
--- a/hydroflow_macro/Cargo.toml
+++ b/hydroflow_macro/Cargo.toml
@@ -13,9 +13,6 @@ workspace = true
 [lib]
 proc-macro = true
 
-[features]
-diagnostics = [ "hydroflow_lang/diagnostics" ]
-
 [dependencies]
 # Note: If we ever compile this proc macro crate to WASM (e.g., if we are
 # building on a WASM host), we may need to turn diagnostics off for WASM if
diff --git a/hydroflow_plus/Cargo.toml b/hydroflow_plus/Cargo.toml
index 23ad3d334337..d209f43f81ac 100644
--- a/hydroflow_plus/Cargo.toml
+++ b/hydroflow_plus/Cargo.toml
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ path = "src/lib.rs"
 
 [features]
 default = ["deploy_runtime"]
-diagnostics = [ "hydroflow_lang/diagnostics" ]
 stageleft_devel = []
 deploy_runtime = [ "hydroflow/deploy_integration" ]
 deploy = [ "deploy_runtime", "dep:hydro_deploy", "dep:trybuild-internals-api", "dep:toml", "dep:prettyplease" ]