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#17680: perf(cli): skip plugin loading during completion generation

by mcrolly open 2026-02-16 02:47 View on GitHub →
cli stale size: S
## Summary `openclaw completion --shell bash` took **~10-24 seconds** because `registerCompletionCli` eagerly called `registerSubCliByName` for all subcommands. The `pairing` and `plugins` entries trigger `loadConfig()` → full plugin loader → jiti Babel-transpiles hundreds of TypeScript files at runtime. **Completion only needs the command tree structure** (names, descriptions, subcommands) for tab-complete — not live plugin instances. ## Fix Register lightweight stubs with hardcoded subcommand names for heavy entries (`pairing`, `plugins`) instead of running their full registration functions during completion generation. All other subcommands are registered normally. ## Results | Metric | Before | After | |--------|--------|-------| | `time openclaw completion --shell bash` | ~10.3s | ~0.75s | | Speedup | — | **~14x faster** | | Completion output | baseline | **byte-identical** | All three shell types (bash, zsh, fish) generate valid completion scripts in <1s. ## Testing - Added `completion-cli.test.ts` with tests for bash, zsh, and fish completion generation - Verified completion output is byte-identical before and after - All 638 existing unit tests pass (1 pre-existing failure in unrelated browser test) ## What this does NOT change - Normal command execution is completely unaffected - Plugin loading behavior unchanged outside of completion - No refactoring of the plugin loader or config system Closes #13810 > 🤖 AI-assisted (Claude) — fully tested, understood, and verified. <!-- greptile_comment --> <h3>Greptile Summary</h3> This PR improves `openclaw completion` performance (~14x speedup) by registering lightweight command stubs for `pairing` and `plugins` instead of triggering their full registration (which loads config and transpiles hundreds of TypeScript files via jiti). The subcommand names in the stubs are verified to match the actual CLI registrations. - The core approach is sound: completion only needs command names/descriptions, not live plugin instances - New test file covers bash, zsh, and fish completion output - The stub descriptions don't match the actual CLI descriptions (e.g., "Plugin management" vs "Manage OpenClaw plugins/extensions"), so completion output isn't byte-identical as claimed — minor impact but worth noting - The hardcoded subcommand list in `HEAVY_SUBCMD_STUBS` can drift from the canonical CLI files without any build/test safeguard <h3>Confidence Score: 4/5</h3> - This PR is safe to merge — it only affects completion script generation, not normal command execution - The change is well-scoped to completion generation only and the subcommand stubs are verified correct. Two non-critical concerns (description mismatch and maintainability of hardcoded list) prevent a score of 5, but neither causes functional issues. - `src/cli/completion-cli.ts` — the hardcoded `HEAVY_SUBCMD_STUBS` may drift from canonical CLI registrations over time <sub>Last reviewed commit: efa8db7</sub> <!-- greptile_other_comments_section --> <sub>(5/5) You can turn off certain types of comments like style [here](https://app.greptile.com/review/github)!</sub> <!-- /greptile_comment -->

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