diff --git a/common_settings.bzl b/common_settings.bzl
index 4773a175aa..28a9c21958 100644
--- a/common_settings.bzl
+++ b/common_settings.bzl
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ load("//:distro.bzl", "distro_flag")
 def ovms_cc_library(**kwargs):
     """
     Wrapper for cc_library that sets default copts and linkopts if not provided.
+    Transitive defines (PYTHON_DISABLE, MEDIAPIPE_DISABLE) are always set via 'defines'
+    so that any target depending on an ovms_cc_library automatically gets these macros.
     """
     if "copts" not in kwargs:
         kwargs["copts"] = COMMON_STATIC_LIBS_COPTS + select({
@@ -41,10 +43,14 @@ def ovms_cc_library(**kwargs):
         })
     if "local_defines" not in kwargs:
         kwargs["local_defines"] = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES
+    if "defines" not in kwargs:
+        kwargs["defines"] = COMMON_DEFINES
     if "additional_copts" in kwargs:
         kwargs["copts"] += kwargs.pop("additional_copts")
     if "additional_linkopts" in kwargs:
         kwargs["linkopts"] += kwargs.pop("additional_linkopts")
+    if "additional_local_defines" in kwargs:
+        kwargs["local_defines"] += kwargs.pop("additional_local_defines")
 
     native.cc_library(
         **kwargs
@@ -235,18 +241,18 @@ COMMON_STATIC_LIBS_LINKOPTS = select({
                     "/LTCG",
                 ],
                 })
-COPTS_PYTHON = select({
-    "//conditions:default": ["-DPYTHON_DISABLE=1"],
-    "//:not_disable_python" : ["-DPYTHON_DISABLE=0"],
-})
-COPTS_MEDIAPIPE = select({
-    "//conditions:default": ["-DMEDIAPIPE_DISABLE=1"],
-    "//:not_disable_mediapipe" : ["-DMEDIAPIPE_DISABLE=0"],
-})
 COPTS_DROGON = select({
     "//conditions:default": ["-DUSE_DROGON=0"],
     "//:enable_drogon" : ["-DUSE_DROGON=1"],
 })
+DEFINES_PYTHON = select({
+    "//conditions:default": ["PYTHON_DISABLE=1"],
+    "//:not_disable_python" : ["PYTHON_DISABLE=0"],
+})
+DEFINES_MEDIAPIPE = select({
+    "//conditions:default": ["MEDIAPIPE_DISABLE=1"],
+    "//:not_disable_mediapipe" : ["MEDIAPIPE_DISABLE=0"],
+})
 COMMON_FUZZER_COPTS = [
     "-fsanitize=address",
     "-fprofile-generate",
@@ -259,6 +265,7 @@ COMMON_FUZZER_LINKOPTS = [
     "-static-libasan",
 ]
 COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES = ["SPDLOG_ACTIVE_LEVEL=SPDLOG_LEVEL_TRACE"]
+COMMON_DEFINES = DEFINES_PYTHON + DEFINES_MEDIAPIPE
 PYBIND_DEPS = [
     "//third_party:python3",
     "@pybind11//:pybind11_embed",
diff --git a/src/BUILD b/src/BUILD
index c2d9aec3b1..2899b61968 100644
--- a/src/BUILD
+++ b/src/BUILD
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 load("@bazel_skylib//lib:selects.bzl", "selects")
 load("@mediapipe//mediapipe/framework:more_selects.bzl", "more_selects")
 load("//:common_settings.bzl",
-     "COMMON_STATIC_TEST_COPTS", "COMMON_STATIC_LIBS_COPTS", "COMMON_STATIC_LIBS_LINKOPTS", "COMMON_FUZZER_COPTS", "COMMON_FUZZER_LINKOPTS", "COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES", "COPTS_PYTHON", "COPTS_MEDIAPIPE", "COPTS_DROGON",
+     "COMMON_STATIC_TEST_COPTS", "COMMON_STATIC_LIBS_COPTS", "COMMON_STATIC_LIBS_LINKOPTS", "COMMON_FUZZER_COPTS", "COMMON_FUZZER_LINKOPTS", "COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES", "COPTS_DROGON",
      "create_config_settings", "PYBIND_DEPS", "ovms_cc_library")
 
 COPTS_OV_TRACE = select({
@@ -32,7 +32,9 @@ COPTS_CLOUD = select({
     "//:not_disable_cloud" : ["-DCLOUD_DISABLE=0"],
 })
 
-COPTS_TESTS = COMMON_STATIC_TEST_COPTS + COPTS_PYTHON + COPTS_MEDIAPIPE + COPTS_DROGON + COPTS_CLOUD
+COPTS_TESTS = COMMON_STATIC_TEST_COPTS + COPTS_DROGON + COPTS_CLOUD
+
+LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES
 
 config_setting(
     name = "windows",
@@ -320,7 +322,6 @@ ovms_cc_library(
         "//:not_disable_mediapipe": ["//third_party:genai"],
         "//conditions:default": [],
     }),
-    additional_copts = COPTS_MEDIAPIPE,
     visibility = ["//visibility:public",],
     alwayslink = 1,
 )
@@ -557,7 +558,6 @@ ovms_cc_library(
         "@mediapipe//mediapipe/framework/formats:tensor",
     ],
     visibility = ["//visibility:public",],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_PYTHON + COPTS_MEDIAPIPE,
     alwayslink = 1,
 )
 ovms_cc_library(
@@ -583,7 +583,6 @@ ovms_cc_library(
         "@mediapipe//mediapipe/framework/formats:tensor",
     ],
     visibility = ["//visibility:public",],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_PYTHON + COPTS_MEDIAPIPE,
     alwayslink = 1,
 )
 ovms_cc_library(
@@ -658,7 +657,6 @@ ovms_cc_library(
         "//src/port:rapidjson_writer",
     ],
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_MEDIAPIPE,
 )
 ovms_cc_library(
     name = "rest_parser_utils",
@@ -765,7 +763,6 @@ ovms_cc_library(
         "modelmanager",
         "//src/metrics:libovmsmetrics",
     ],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_PYTHON,
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
 )
 ovms_cc_library(
@@ -965,7 +962,7 @@ ovms_cc_library(
                     ],
                 }),
     visibility = ["//visibility:public",],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_PYTHON + COPTS_MEDIAPIPE + COPTS_DROGON + COPTS_OV_TRACE,
+    additional_copts = COPTS_DROGON + COPTS_OV_TRACE,
     additional_linkopts = select({
                 "//conditions:default": ["-lOpenCL"], # TODO make as direct dependency
                 "//src:windows" : ["/DEFAULTLIB:Rpcrt4.lib"],}),
@@ -1370,7 +1367,7 @@ ovms_cc_library(
         "//src/port:rapidjson_stringbuffer",
     ],
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_MEDIAPIPE + COPTS_DROGON,
+    additional_copts = COPTS_DROGON,
 )
 
 
@@ -2558,8 +2555,6 @@ cc_test(
             ":test_utils",
             ":test_test_with_temp_dir",
             ":test_platform_utils",
-            "//src/rerank:rerank_api_handler",
-            ":embeddings_handler_tests",
             ":tokenize_parser_tests",
             ":inferencerequest_test",
             ":libtest_environment",
@@ -2599,6 +2594,8 @@ cc_test(
                 "@mediapipe//mediapipe/calculators/ovms:ovms_calculator",
                 "@mediapipe//mediapipe/framework:calculator_runner",
                 ":text2image_test",
+                "//src/rerank:rerank_api_handler",
+                ":embeddings_handler_tests",
             ],
             "//:disable_mediapipe" :
             [
@@ -2606,7 +2603,7 @@ cc_test(
             ],
         }),
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     linkopts = LINKOPTS_ADJUSTED,
 )
 
@@ -2620,7 +2617,7 @@ cc_library(
         ":ovms_lib",
     ],
     linkstatic = 1,
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
     linkopts = COMMON_STATIC_LIBS_LINKOPTS,
 )
@@ -2631,7 +2628,7 @@ cc_library(
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
     linkstatic = 1,
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
     linkopts = COMMON_STATIC_LIBS_LINKOPTS,
 )
@@ -2643,7 +2640,7 @@ cc_library(
             ":modelconfig",
     ],
     linkstatic = 1,
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
     linkopts = COMMON_STATIC_LIBS_LINKOPTS,
 )
@@ -2657,7 +2654,7 @@ cc_library(
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
         "//src/pull_module:cmd_exec",
     ],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
     linkopts = COMMON_STATIC_LIBS_LINKOPTS,
 )
@@ -2673,7 +2670,7 @@ cc_library(
         "test/test_file_utils.cpp",
         ],
     deps = [],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
     linkopts = COMMON_STATIC_LIBS_LINKOPTS,
 )
@@ -2698,7 +2695,7 @@ cc_library(
         "//src:test_light_test_utils",
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
     linkopts = COMMON_STATIC_LIBS_LINKOPTS,
 )
@@ -2713,7 +2710,7 @@ cc_library(
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
     linkstatic = 1,
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
     linkopts = COMMON_STATIC_LIBS_LINKOPTS,
 )
@@ -2725,7 +2722,7 @@ cc_library( # DO NOT ADD BIG DEPENDENCIES HERE
             "@com_github_gabime_spdlog//:spdlog",
     ],
     linkstatic = 1,
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
     linkopts = COMMON_STATIC_LIBS_LINKOPTS,
 )
@@ -2738,7 +2735,7 @@ cc_library(
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
     linkstatic = 1,
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
     linkopts = COMMON_STATIC_LIBS_LINKOPTS,
 )
@@ -2753,7 +2750,7 @@ cc_library(
     srcs = [
         "test/environment.cpp",
         ],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
     linkopts = [],
     deps = [
@@ -2772,7 +2769,7 @@ cc_library(
             "libovmslogging",
             "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
 )
 cc_library(
@@ -2785,7 +2782,7 @@ cc_library(
     deps = PYBIND_DEPS + [
             "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
 )
 cc_library(
@@ -2799,7 +2796,7 @@ cc_library(
             "libovmslogging",
             "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
 )
 cc_library(
@@ -2820,6 +2817,7 @@ cc_library(
             "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
 )
 cc_library(
     name = "libgit2_test",
@@ -2836,7 +2834,7 @@ cc_library(
         "//src:ovms_lib",
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
 )
         
@@ -2861,7 +2859,7 @@ cc_library(
         "@cpp_httplib//:cpp_httplib",
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
 )
 cc_library(
@@ -2883,7 +2881,7 @@ cc_library(
         "libovmsstring_utils",
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
 )
 cc_library(
@@ -2898,7 +2896,7 @@ cc_library(
         "libovmsstring_utils",
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
 )
 
@@ -2916,7 +2914,7 @@ cc_library(
         "//src:libovms_systeminfo",
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
 )
 cc_library(
@@ -2933,7 +2931,7 @@ cc_library(
         "//src:libovms_server_settings",
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
 )
 cc_library(
@@ -2950,7 +2948,7 @@ cc_library(
         "//src:libovms_server_settings",
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
 )
 cc_library(
@@ -2969,7 +2967,7 @@ cc_library(
         "//src:libovms_server_settings",
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
 )
 cc_library(
@@ -3004,7 +3002,7 @@ cc_library(
 	":libovmsoclutils",
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS + ["-lOpenCL",
         ] + select({
             "//:redhat_build": [],
@@ -3021,7 +3019,7 @@ cc_library(
         "//src:network_utils",
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
 )
 
@@ -3036,7 +3034,7 @@ cc_library(
         "//src/image_gen:imagegenutils",
         "//src/image_gen:imagegen_init",
     ],
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
 )
 
@@ -3068,6 +3066,7 @@ cc_library(
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     linkopts = [],
 )
 cc_library(
@@ -3081,6 +3080,7 @@ cc_library(
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     linkopts = [],
 )
 
@@ -3095,6 +3095,7 @@ cc_library(
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest",
     ],
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
     linkopts = [],
 )
 
@@ -3110,7 +3111,7 @@ cc_library(
         "//src/llm:output_parsers",
     ],
     copts = COPTS_TESTS,
-    local_defines = COMMON_LOCAL_DEFINES,
+    local_defines = LOCAL_DEFINES_TESTS,
 )
 
 ovms_cc_library(
diff --git a/src/graph_export/BUILD b/src/graph_export/BUILD
index 0630805c53..8e8bfb24c8 100644
--- a/src/graph_export/BUILD
+++ b/src/graph_export/BUILD
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 #
 
 load("@mediapipe//mediapipe/framework/port:build_config.bzl", "mediapipe_cc_proto_library", "mediapipe_proto_library")
-load("//:common_settings.bzl", "COPTS_MEDIAPIPE", "ovms_cc_library")
+load("//:common_settings.bzl", "ovms_cc_library")
 
 ovms_cc_library(
     name = "graph_export",
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@ ovms_cc_library(
                 ],
             "//:disable_mediapipe": []
             }),
-    additional_copts = COPTS_MEDIAPIPE,
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
 )
 
diff --git a/src/llm/BUILD b/src/llm/BUILD
index 979a42fdc9..0195973540 100644
--- a/src/llm/BUILD
+++ b/src/llm/BUILD
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 #
 
 load("@mediapipe//mediapipe/framework/port:build_config.bzl", "mediapipe_cc_proto_library", "mediapipe_proto_library")
-load("//:common_settings.bzl", "ovms_cc_library", "PYBIND_DEPS", "COPTS_PYTHON")
+load("//:common_settings.bzl", "ovms_cc_library", "PYBIND_DEPS")
 
 ovms_cc_library(
     name = "llmcalculator",
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ ovms_cc_library(
         "//src:libovmslogging",
         "//src:libovmsstring_utils",],
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_PYTHON,
     alwayslink = 1, # needed, so the calculator can be registered by MediaPipe
 )
 
@@ -65,7 +64,6 @@ ovms_cc_library(
         ":output_parsers",
         "//third_party:genai",],
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_PYTHON
 )
 
 ovms_cc_library(
@@ -85,7 +83,6 @@ ovms_cc_library(
         ":output_parsers",
         "//third_party:genai",],
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_PYTHON
 )
 
 ovms_cc_library(
@@ -105,7 +102,6 @@ ovms_cc_library(
         ":output_parsers",
         "//third_party:genai",],
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_PYTHON
 )
 
 ovms_cc_library(
@@ -116,7 +112,6 @@ ovms_cc_library(
             "//src/port:rapidjson_document",
             ":apis_tool_schema_wrapper",],
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_PYTHON
 )
 
 ovms_cc_library(
@@ -291,7 +286,6 @@ ovms_cc_library(
         "//src:libovmslogging",
         "//third_party:genai",],
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_PYTHON
 )
 
 ovms_cc_library(
@@ -348,7 +342,6 @@ ovms_cc_library(
         "//:not_disable_python" : [":py_jinja_template_processor"],
     }),
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_PYTHON
 )
 
 ovms_cc_library(
@@ -362,7 +355,6 @@ ovms_cc_library(
         "//src:libovmsstatus",
     ],
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_PYTHON
 )
 
 ovms_cc_library(
@@ -375,6 +367,5 @@ ovms_cc_library(
             "//src/python:utils",
     ] + PYBIND_DEPS,
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_PYTHON
 )
 
diff --git a/src/mediapipe_internal/BUILD b/src/mediapipe_internal/BUILD
index 247b2c70b9..e47f09bb39 100644
--- a/src/mediapipe_internal/BUILD
+++ b/src/mediapipe_internal/BUILD
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 #
-load("//:common_settings.bzl", "COPTS_PYTHON", "COPTS_MEDIAPIPE", "ovms_cc_library")
+load("//:common_settings.bzl", "ovms_cc_library")
 
 ovms_cc_library(
     name = "node_initializer",
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@ ovms_cc_library(
         "@mediapipe//mediapipe/framework:calculator_graph",
     ],
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_MEDIAPIPE,
 )
 
 ovms_cc_library(
@@ -94,7 +93,6 @@ ovms_cc_library(
         "@mediapipe//mediapipe/framework:calculator_graph",
     ],
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_PYTHON + COPTS_MEDIAPIPE,
 )
 
 ovms_cc_library(
@@ -128,7 +126,6 @@ ovms_cc_library(
         "@mediapipe//mediapipe/framework:calculator_graph",
     ],
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_PYTHON + COPTS_MEDIAPIPE,
 )
 
 ovms_cc_library(
@@ -194,6 +191,5 @@ ovms_cc_library(
         "@mediapipe//mediapipe/framework/port:parse_text_proto",
     ],
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
-    additional_copts = COPTS_PYTHON + COPTS_MEDIAPIPE,
     alwayslink = 1,
 )