openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Performance]: Windows CLI startup takes 120+ seconds - plugin discovery cache ineffective across processes [1 participants]

Problem:

CLI commands (openclaw status, etc.) take 118-124 seconds to start on Windows.

Root Cause:

The plugin discovery cache is in-memory only (const discoveryCache = new Map()). Each CLI invocation is a new Node.js process, so the cache is always empty on startup. The DEFAULT_DISCOVERY_CACHE_MS = 1000 (1 second) is also ineffective because:

1. Each CLI process starts fresh with an empty cache
2. Plugin discovery takes 15-20 seconds (scanning 6+ directories, 62,000+ filesystem calls on Windows)
3. The cache expires after 1 second within the same process

Additionally, PR #69925 (jiti native loading optimization) explicitly excludes Windows via shouldPreferNativeJiti():

return !isWin32 && !isBun && isJsExtension(modulePath);

This means Windows users get none of the startup performance improvements from recent PRs.

Evidence:

• Issue #67040 proposes persisting plugin discovery cache to disk
• Issue #67869 reports 85-second event loop blocks on Windows with 102+ bundled extensions
• Issue #48380 reports O(NxM) reloads during gateway startup

Impact:

• Every CLI command takes 118-124 seconds on Windows
• Gateway startup takes even longer with multiple agents
• Linux/macOS users got 50-80% speedup from recent PRs, Windows users got 0%

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Install OpenClaw on Windows
2. Run openclaw status
3. Observe 118-124 second startup time

Expected Behavior:

CLI startup should be under 15-20 seconds on Windows, similar to Linux/macOS after the recent optimizations.

Environment:

• OS: Windows 10
• OpenClaw Version: 2026.4.15
• Node.js: v24.14.0
• Number of plugins: 19