First of all thanks for your effort!
I'd like to have ability to work without api component. My project is a standalone device witch is not necessarily need to connect to Home Assistant. Right now if I don't define api section I get compilation error as required sources are not included. api component itself requires network, in my case it is WiFi, but WiFi with BLE is not the best approach. So I'd really want to be able use this without integration with HA.
This will also avoid redundant sources being added to firmware.