diff --git a/packages/babel-preset/index.js b/packages/babel-preset/index.js
index cf35e360..86fee469 100644
--- a/packages/babel-preset/index.js
+++ b/packages/babel-preset/index.js
@@ -229,6 +229,11 @@ function preset(api, explicitOptions = {}) {
             messagesDir: 'build/messages',
           };
 
+    // unless explict, don't extract messages in dev mode
+    if (development && intlOpts.extractMessages == null) {
+      intlOpts.extractMessages = false;
+    }
+
     presets.push([intlPreset, intlOpts]);
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/babel-preset/intl-preset.js b/packages/babel-preset/intl-preset.js
index 36bc61bd..b86d3af3 100644
--- a/packages/babel-preset/intl-preset.js
+++ b/packages/babel-preset/intl-preset.js
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ module.exports = function intlPreset(_, options = {}) {
     messagesDir,
     prefix,
     idInterpolationPattern = '[sha512:contenthash:base64:6]',
+    extractMessages = true,
     ...rest
   } = options;
 
@@ -40,7 +41,7 @@ module.exports = function intlPreset(_, options = {}) {
           overrideIdFn,
           ...rest,
           onMsgExtracted(filename, messages) {
-            if (!messages?.length) return;
+            if (!messages?.length || !extractMessages) return;
 
             if (!filename.startsWith(workspaceRoot)) {
               throw new Error(