From 139cc7b97cb3d9b59d3533b53c1305b6720ce2d4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sehoon Shon <sshon@google.com>
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2026 11:58:41 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] perf(cli): optimize --version startup time (#23671)

---
 packages/cli/index.ts | 26 +++++++++++++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/packages/cli/index.ts b/packages/cli/index.ts
index 5444fe1b74..fa6537d7bf 100644
--- a/packages/cli/index.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/index.ts
@@ -6,12 +6,19 @@
  * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
  */
 
-import { main } from './src/gemini.js';
-import { FatalError, writeToStderr } from '@google/gemini-cli-core';
-import { runExitCleanup } from './src/utils/cleanup.js';
+// --- Fast Path for Version ---
+// We check for version flags at the very top to avoid loading any heavy dependencies.
+// process.env.CLI_VERSION is defined during the build process by esbuild.
+if (process.argv.includes('--version') || process.argv.includes('-v')) {
+  console.log(process.env['CLI_VERSION'] || 'unknown');
+  process.exit(0);
+}
 
 // --- Global Entry Point ---
 
+let writeToStderrFn: (message: string) => void = (msg) =>
+  process.stderr.write(msg);
+
 // Suppress known race condition error in node-pty on Windows
 // Tracking bug: https://github.com/microsoft/node-pty/issues/827
 process.on('uncaughtException', (error) => {
@@ -28,13 +35,22 @@ process.on('uncaughtException', (error) => {
   // For other errors, we rely on the default behavior, but since we attached a listener,
   // we must manually replicate it.
   if (error instanceof Error) {
-    writeToStderr(error.stack + '\n');
+    writeToStderrFn(error.stack + '\n');
   } else {
-    writeToStderr(String(error) + '\n');
+    writeToStderrFn(String(error) + '\n');
   }
   process.exit(1);
 });
 
+const [{ main }, { FatalError, writeToStderr }, { runExitCleanup }] =
+  await Promise.all([
+    import('./src/gemini.js'),
+    import('@google/gemini-cli-core'),
+    import('./src/utils/cleanup.js'),
+  ]);
+
+writeToStderrFn = writeToStderr;
+
 main().catch(async (error) => {
   // Set a timeout to force exit if cleanup hangs
   const cleanupTimeout = setTimeout(() => {