perf(tui): move context cache warmup from module top-level to embedded backend

RomneyDa · RomneyDa · commit f1115ceebdbf · 2026-05-20T13:17:33.000-07:00
agents/context.ts fired ensureContextWindowCacheLoaded() unconditionally
at module-eval time for non-skip-listed CLI commands. The TUI transitively
imports this module, so the warmup ran on every TUI startup including
remote-mode, cascading into ensureOpenClawModelsJson -&gt; resolveImplicitProviders
-&gt; runProviderCatalog and dominating the cold-start freeze (CPU profile
showed ~55s of resolveProviderSyntheticAuthWithPlugin, lstat, open, etc.).

It also pre-emptively called getRuntimeConfig() without skipPluginValidation,
pinning the full snapshot and nullifying the skip flag added on this branch.

Remove the top-level side effect and trigger the warmup explicitly from
EmbeddedTuiBackend.start(), which only runs when an in-process agent
runtime actually needs the cache.
diff --git a/src/agents/context.ts b/src/agents/context.ts
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ function primeConfiguredContextWindows(): OpenClawConfig | undefined {
   }
 }
 
-function ensureContextWindowCacheLoaded(): Promise<void> {
+export function ensureContextWindowCacheLoaded(): Promise<void> {
   if (CONTEXT_WINDOW_RUNTIME_STATE.loadPromise) {
     return CONTEXT_WINDOW_RUNTIME_STATE.loadPromise;
   }
@@ -287,12 +287,6 @@ export function lookupContextTokens(
   return lookupCachedContextTokens(modelId);
 }
 
-if (shouldEagerWarmContextWindowCache()) {
-  // Keep startup warmth for the real CLI, but avoid import-time side effects
-  // when this module is pulled in through library/plugin-sdk surfaces.
-  void ensureContextWindowCacheLoaded();
-}
-
 function resolveProviderModelRef(params: {
   provider?: string;
   model?: string;
diff --git a/src/tui/embedded-backend.ts b/src/tui/embedded-backend.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { randomUUID } from "node:crypto";
 import { agentCommandFromIngress } from "../agents/agent-command.js";
 import { resolveSessionAgentId } from "../agents/agent-scope.js";
+import { ensureContextWindowCacheLoaded } from "../agents/context.js";
 import { DEFAULT_PROVIDER } from "../agents/defaults.js";
 import { buildAllowedModelSet, resolveThinkingDefault } from "../agents/model-selection.js";
 import { createDefaultDeps } from "../cli/deps.js";
@@ -138,6 +139,7 @@ export class EmbeddedTuiBackend implements TuiBackend {
       return;
     }
     setEmbeddedMode(true);
+    void ensureContextWindowCacheLoaded();
     // Suppress console output from logError/logInfo that would pollute the TUI.
     // File logger (getLogger()) still captures everything via logger.ts:35.
     this.previousRuntimeLog = defaultRuntime.log;

Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
`@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ function primeConfiguredContextWindows(): OpenClawConfig \| undefined {`
`219`	`219`	`}`
`220`	`220`	`}`
`221`	`221`
`222`		`-function ensureContextWindowCacheLoaded(): Promise<void> {`
	`222`	`+export function ensureContextWindowCacheLoaded(): Promise<void> {`
`223`	`223`	`if (CONTEXT_WINDOW_RUNTIME_STATE.loadPromise) {`
`224`	`224`	`return CONTEXT_WINDOW_RUNTIME_STATE.loadPromise;`
`225`	`225`	`}`
`@@ -287,12 +287,6 @@ export function lookupContextTokens(`
`287`	`287`	`return lookupCachedContextTokens(modelId);`
`288`	`288`	`}`
`289`	`289`
`290`		`-if (shouldEagerWarmContextWindowCache()) {`
`291`		`- // Keep startup warmth for the real CLI, but avoid import-time side effects`
`292`		`- // when this module is pulled in through library/plugin-sdk surfaces.`
`293`		`- void ensureContextWindowCacheLoaded();`
`294`		`-}`
`295`		`-`
`296`	`290`	`function resolveProviderModelRef(params: {`
`297`	`291`	`provider?: string;`
`298`	`292`	`model?: string;`