Faster startup (4/4): Lazy imports and V8 compile cache

[gonzaloriestra]

WHY are these changes introduced?

The CLI requires too much time to start working, it feels slow

WHAT is this pull request doing?

Defers heavy module imports to point of use across the codebase and enables V8 compile caching for faster subsequent runs.

• base-command.ts: lazy imports for ui.js (600KB React/Ink), error-handler.js, notifications-system.js, environments.js — only loaded when actually needed
• prerun hook: parallel imports via Promise.all for analytics, notifications, and package-manager modules
• postrun hook: lazy imports for analytics, deprecations, and output modules
• node-package-manager.ts: lazy latest-version import (~113ms saved)
• context/local.ts: lazy fs.js and system.js to break circular dependency chains
• is-global.ts: lazy imports for output.js, system.js, version.js, ui.js
• custom-oclif-loader.ts: fire-and-forget init hooks via runHook override so app-init and hydrogen-init run in background
• V8 compile cache: module.enableCompileCache() in dev.js/run.js caches bytecode between runs, eliminating ~30ms compile overhead

Combined improvement: ~130ms across all commands

How to test your changes?

• All commands work correctly (hooks fire in background)
• shopify version / shopify help return correct output
• Second run is faster than first (V8 cache warm)

Measuring impact

• n/a - this doesn't need measurement, e.g. a linting rule or a bug-fix

Checklist

• I've considered possible cross-platform impacts (Mac, Linux, Windows)
• I've considered possible documentation changes

Made with Cursor

[gonzaloriestra]

Warning

This pull request is not mergeable via GitHub because a downstack PR is open. Once all requirements are satisfied, merge this PR as a stack on Graphite.
Learn more

• Faster startup (4/4): Lazy imports and V8 compile cache #7054 👈 (View in Graphite)
• Faster startup (3/4): Inline app-init and hydrogen-init hooks #7053
• Faster startup (2/4): Fire-and-forget hooks + process.exit(0) #7052
• Faster startup (1/4): Lazy command loading #7010 : 1 other dependent PR (#7015 )
• main

This stack of pull requests is managed by Graphite. Learn more about stacking.

[github-actions]

Coverage report

St.❔	Category	Percentage	Covered / Total
🟢	Statements	82.27%	15186/18458
🟡	Branches	74.59%	7467/10011
🟢	Functions	81.39%	3813/4685
🟢	Lines	82.65%	14360/17374

Test suite run success

4000 tests passing in 1531 suites.

Report generated by 🧪jest coverage report action from 0b07426

[github-actions]

Differences in type declarations

We detected differences in the type declarations generated by Typescript for this branch compared to the baseline ('main' branch). Please, review them to ensure they are backward-compatible. Here are some important things to keep in mind:

• Some seemingly private modules might be re-exported through public modules.
• If the branch is behind main you might see odd diffs, rebase main into this branch.

New type declarations

packages/cli-kit/dist/public/node/custom-oclif-loader.d.ts

import { Command, Config } from '@oclif/core';
import { Options } from '@oclif/core/interfaces';
/**
 * Optional lazy command loader function.
 * If set, ShopifyConfig will use it to load individual commands on demand
 * instead of importing the entire COMMANDS module (which triggers loading all packages).
 */
export type LazyCommandLoader = (id: string) => Promise<typeof Command | undefined>;
export declare class ShopifyConfig extends Config {
    private lazyCommandLoader?;
    constructor(options: Options);
    /**
     * Set a lazy command loader that will be used to load individual command classes on demand,
     * bypassing the default oclif behavior of importing the entire COMMANDS module.
     *
     * @param loader - The lazy command loader function.
     */
    setLazyCommandLoader(loader: LazyCommandLoader): void;
    /**
     * Override runHook to make init hooks non-blocking for faster startup.
     * Init hooks (app-init, hydrogen-init) set up LocalStorage and check hydrogen —
     * these are setup tasks that don't need to complete before commands run.
     *
     * @param event - The hook event name.
     * @param opts - Options to pass to the hook.
     * @param timeout - Optional timeout for the hook.
     * @param captureErrors - Whether to capture errors instead of throwing.
     * @returns The hook result with successes and failures arrays.
     */
    runHook(event: string, opts: any, timeout?: number, captureErrors?: boolean): Promise<any>;
    /**
     * Override runCommand to use lazy loading when available.
     * Instead of calling cmd.load() which triggers loading ALL commands via index.js,
     * we directly import only the needed command module.
     *
     * @param id - The command ID to run.
     * @param argv - The arguments to pass to the command.
     * @param cachedCommand - An optional cached command loadable.
     * @returns The command result.
     */
    runCommand<T = unknown>(id: string, argv?: string[], cachedCommand?: Command.Loadable | null): Promise<T>;
    customPriority(commands: Command.Loadable[]): Command.Loadable | undefined;
}

Existing type declarations

packages/cli-kit/dist/public/node/cli-launcher.d.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
+import type { LazyCommandLoader } from './custom-oclif-loader.js';
 interface Options {
     moduleURL: string;
     argv?: string[];
+    lazyCommandLoader?: LazyCommandLoader;
 }
 /**
  * Launches the CLI.

packages/cli-kit/dist/public/node/cli.d.ts

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import type { LazyCommandLoader } from './custom-oclif-loader.js';
 /**
  * IMPORTANT NOTE: Imports in this module are dynamic to ensure that "setupEnvironmentVariables" can dynamically
  * set the DEBUG environment variable before the 'debug' package sets up its configuration when modules
@@ -7,6 +8,8 @@ interface RunCLIOptions {
     /** The value of import.meta.url of the CLI executable module */
     moduleURL: string;
     development: boolean;
+    /** Optional lazy command loader for on-demand command loading */
+    lazyCommandLoader?: LazyCommandLoader;
 }
 /**
  * A function that abstracts away setting up the environment and running
@@ -17,6 +20,7 @@ export declare function runCLI(options: RunCLIOptions & {
     runInCreateMode?: boolean;
 }, launchCLI?: (options: {
     moduleURL: string;
+    lazyCommandLoader?: LazyCommandLoader;
 }) => Promise<void>, argv?: string[], env?: NodeJS.ProcessEnv, versions?: NodeJS.ProcessVersions): Promise<void>;
 /**
  * A function for create-x CLIs that automatically runs the "init" command.
@@ -38,5 +42,5 @@ export declare const jsonFlag: {
 /**
  * Clear the CLI cache, used to store some API responses and handle notifications status
  */
-export declare function clearCache(): void;
+export declare function clearCache(): Promise<void>;
 export {};
\ No newline at end of file

packages/cli-kit/dist/public/node/error.d.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { AlertCustomSection } from './ui.js';
+import type { AlertCustomSection } from './ui.js';
 import { OutputMessage } from './output.js';
 import { InlineToken, TokenItem } from '../../private/node/ui/components/TokenizedText.js';
 export { ExtendableError } from 'ts-error';

packages/cli-kit/dist/public/node/is-global.d.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { PackageManager } from './node-package-manager.js';
+import type { PackageManager } from './node-package-manager.js';
 /**
  * Returns true if the current process is running in a global context.
  *

packages/cli-kit/dist/public/node/hooks/postrun.d.ts

@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+/**
+ * Postrun hook — uses dynamic imports to avoid loading heavy modules (base-command, analytics)
+ * at module evaluation time. These are only needed after the command has already finished.
+ */
 import { Hook } from '@oclif/core';
 /**
  * Check if post run hook has completed.