diff --git a/src/commands/auth-choice.test.ts b/src/commands/auth-choice.test.ts
index 5844f00df17..cb8bc23e837 100644
--- a/src/commands/auth-choice.test.ts
+++ b/src/commands/auth-choice.test.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
 import fs from "node:fs/promises";
 import type { OAuthCredentials } from "@mariozechner/pi-ai";
-import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { afterEach, beforeAll, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import { resolveAgentDir } from "../agents/agent-scope.js";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../config/config.js";
 import { resolveAgentModelPrimaryValue } from "../config/model-input.js";
 import type { ModelProviderConfig } from "../config/types.models.js";
-import { createProviderApiKeyAuthMethod } from "../plugins/provider-api-key-auth.js";
-import { providerApiKeyAuthRuntime } from "../plugins/provider-api-key-auth.runtime.js";
 import type { ProviderAuthMethod, ProviderAuthResult, ProviderPlugin } from "../plugins/types.js";
 import type { WizardPrompter } from "../wizard/prompts.js";
 import { applyAuthChoice, resolvePreferredProviderForAuthChoice } from "./auth-choice.js";
@@ -23,6 +21,23 @@ import {
 
 type DetectZaiEndpoint = typeof import("../plugins/provider-zai-endpoint.js").detectZaiEndpoint;
 
+let providerApiKeyAuthModulePromise:
+  | Promise<typeof import("../plugins/provider-api-key-auth.js")>
+  | undefined;
+let providerApiKeyAuthRuntimeModulePromise:
+  | Promise<typeof import("../plugins/provider-api-key-auth.runtime.js")>
+  | undefined;
+
+async function getProviderApiKeyAuthModule() {
+  providerApiKeyAuthModulePromise ??= import("../plugins/provider-api-key-auth.js");
+  return await providerApiKeyAuthModulePromise;
+}
+
+async function getProviderApiKeyAuthRuntimeModule() {
+  providerApiKeyAuthRuntimeModulePromise ??= import("../plugins/provider-api-key-auth.runtime.js");
+  return await providerApiKeyAuthRuntimeModulePromise;
+}
+
 const GOOGLE_GEMINI_DEFAULT_MODEL = "google/gemini-3.1-pro-preview";
 const MINIMAX_CN_API_BASE_URL = "https://api.minimax.chat/v1";
 const ZAI_CODING_GLOBAL_BASE_URL = "https://api.z.ai/api/coding/paas/v4";
@@ -110,7 +125,7 @@ function providerConfigPatch(
   };
 }
 
-function createApiKeyProvider(params: {
+async function createApiKeyProvider(params: {
   providerId: string;
   label: string;
   choiceId: string;
@@ -125,7 +140,8 @@ function createApiKeyProvider(params: {
   noteMessage?: string;
   noteTitle?: string;
   applyConfig?: Partial<OpenClawConfig>;
-}): ProviderPlugin {
+}): Promise<ProviderPlugin> {
+  const { createProviderApiKeyAuthMethod } = await getProviderApiKeyAuthModule();
   return {
     id: params.providerId,
     label: params.label,
@@ -179,7 +195,8 @@ function createFixedChoiceProvider(params: {
   };
 }
 
-function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
+async function createDefaultProviderPlugins(): Promise<ProviderPlugin[]> {
+  const { providerApiKeyAuthRuntime } = await getProviderApiKeyAuthRuntimeModule();
   const buildApiKeyCredential = providerApiKeyAuthRuntime.buildApiKeyCredential;
   const ensureApiKeyFromOptionEnvOrPrompt =
     providerApiKeyAuthRuntime.ensureApiKeyFromOptionEnvOrPrompt;
@@ -344,7 +361,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
   };
 
   return [
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "anthropic",
       label: "Anthropic API key",
       choiceId: "apiKey",
@@ -353,7 +370,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       envVar: "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY",
       promptMessage: "Enter Anthropic API key",
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "google",
       label: "Gemini API key",
       choiceId: "gemini-api-key",
@@ -363,7 +380,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       promptMessage: "Enter Gemini API key",
       defaultModel: GOOGLE_GEMINI_DEFAULT_MODEL,
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "huggingface",
       label: "Hugging Face API key",
       choiceId: "huggingface-api-key",
@@ -373,7 +390,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       promptMessage: "Enter Hugging Face API key",
       defaultModel: "huggingface/Qwen/Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B-Instruct",
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "litellm",
       label: "LiteLLM API key",
       choiceId: "litellm-api-key",
@@ -383,7 +400,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       promptMessage: "Enter LiteLLM API key",
       defaultModel: "litellm/anthropic/claude-opus-4.6",
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "minimax",
       label: "MiniMax API key (Global)",
       choiceId: "minimax-global-api",
@@ -394,7 +411,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       profileId: "minimax:global",
       defaultModel: "minimax/MiniMax-M2.7",
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "minimax",
       label: "MiniMax API key (CN)",
       choiceId: "minimax-cn-api",
@@ -407,7 +424,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       applyConfig: providerConfigPatch("minimax", { baseUrl: MINIMAX_CN_API_BASE_URL }),
       expectedProviders: ["minimax", "minimax-cn"],
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "mistral",
       label: "Mistral API key",
       choiceId: "mistral-api-key",
@@ -417,7 +434,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       promptMessage: "Enter Mistral API key",
       defaultModel: "mistral/mistral-large-latest",
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "moonshot",
       label: "Moonshot API key",
       choiceId: "moonshot-api-key",
@@ -438,7 +455,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
         run: async () => ({ profiles: [] }),
       },
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "openai",
       label: "OpenAI API key",
       choiceId: "openai-api-key",
@@ -448,7 +465,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       promptMessage: "Enter OpenAI API key",
       defaultModel: "openai/gpt-5.4",
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "opencode",
       label: "OpenCode Zen",
       choiceId: "opencode-zen",
@@ -462,7 +479,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       noteMessage: "OpenCode uses one API key across the Zen and Go catalogs.",
       noteTitle: "OpenCode",
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "opencode-go",
       label: "OpenCode Go",
       choiceId: "opencode-go",
@@ -476,7 +493,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       noteMessage: "OpenCode uses one API key across the Zen and Go catalogs.",
       noteTitle: "OpenCode",
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "openrouter",
       label: "OpenRouter API key",
       choiceId: "openrouter-api-key",
@@ -486,7 +503,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       promptMessage: "Enter OpenRouter API key",
       defaultModel: "openrouter/auto",
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "qianfan",
       label: "Qianfan API key",
       choiceId: "qianfan-api-key",
@@ -496,7 +513,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       promptMessage: "Enter Qianfan API key",
       defaultModel: "qianfan/ernie-4.5-8k",
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "synthetic",
       label: "Synthetic API key",
       choiceId: "synthetic-api-key",
@@ -506,7 +523,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       promptMessage: "Enter Synthetic API key",
       defaultModel: "synthetic/Synthetic-1",
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "together",
       label: "Together API key",
       choiceId: "together-api-key",
@@ -516,7 +533,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       promptMessage: "Enter Together API key",
       defaultModel: "together/meta-llama/Llama-4-Maverick-17B-128E-Instruct-FP8",
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "venice",
       label: "Venice AI",
       choiceId: "venice-api-key",
@@ -528,7 +545,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       noteMessage: "Venice is a privacy-focused inference service.",
       noteTitle: "Venice AI",
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "vercel-ai-gateway",
       label: "AI Gateway API key",
       choiceId: "ai-gateway-api-key",
@@ -538,7 +555,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       promptMessage: "Enter AI Gateway API key",
       defaultModel: "vercel-ai-gateway/anthropic/claude-opus-4.6",
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "xai",
       label: "xAI API key",
       choiceId: "xai-api-key",
@@ -548,7 +565,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       promptMessage: "Enter xAI API key",
       defaultModel: "xai/grok-4",
     }),
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "xiaomi",
       label: "Xiaomi API key",
       choiceId: "xiaomi-api-key",
@@ -573,7 +590,7 @@ function createDefaultProviderPlugins() {
       label: "Chutes",
       auth: [chutesOAuthMethod],
     },
-    createApiKeyProvider({
+    await createApiKeyProvider({
       providerId: "kimi",
       label: "Kimi Code API key",
       choiceId: "kimi-code-api-key",
@@ -667,10 +684,17 @@ describe("applyAuthChoice", () => {
     return (await readAuthProfiles()).profiles?.[profileId];
   }
 
+  let defaultProviderPlugins: ProviderPlugin[] = [];
+
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    defaultProviderPlugins = await createDefaultProviderPlugins();
+    resolvePluginProviders.mockReturnValue(defaultProviderPlugins);
+  });
+
   afterEach(async () => {
     vi.unstubAllGlobals();
     resolvePluginProviders.mockReset();
-    resolvePluginProviders.mockReturnValue(createDefaultProviderPlugins());
+    resolvePluginProviders.mockReturnValue(defaultProviderPlugins);
     runProviderModelSelectedHook.mockClear();
     detectZaiEndpoint.mockReset();
     detectZaiEndpoint.mockResolvedValue(null);
@@ -680,8 +704,6 @@ describe("applyAuthChoice", () => {
     activeStateDir = null;
   });
 
-  resolvePluginProviders.mockReturnValue(createDefaultProviderPlugins());
-
   it("applies Anthropic setup-token auth when the provider exposes the setup flow", async () => {
     await setupTempState();
 
diff --git a/src/gateway/gateway-models.profiles.live.test.ts b/src/gateway/gateway-models.profiles.live.test.ts
index aa8bd5dcdfd..52b0e12fcc0 100644
--- a/src/gateway/gateway-models.profiles.live.test.ts
+++ b/src/gateway/gateway-models.profiles.live.test.ts
@@ -7,11 +7,7 @@ import type { Api, Model } from "@mariozechner/pi-ai";
 import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 import { resolveOpenClawAgentDir } from "../agents/agent-paths.js";
 import { resolveAgentWorkspaceDir } from "../agents/agent-scope.js";
-import {
-  type AuthProfileStore,
-  ensureAuthProfileStore,
-  saveAuthProfileStore,
-} from "../agents/auth-profiles.js";
+import type { AuthProfileStore } from "../agents/auth-profiles.js";
 import {
   collectAnthropicApiKeys,
   isAnthropicBillingError,
@@ -33,7 +29,6 @@ import { shouldSuppressBuiltInModel } from "../agents/model-suppression.js";
 import { ensureOpenClawModelsJson } from "../agents/models-config.js";
 import { isRateLimitErrorMessage } from "../agents/pi-embedded-helpers/errors.js";
 import { discoverAuthStorage, discoverModels } from "../agents/pi-model-discovery.js";
-import { clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot, loadConfig } from "../config/config.js";
 import type { ModelsConfig, OpenClawConfig, ModelProviderConfig } from "../config/types.js";
 import { isTruthyEnvValue } from "../infra/env.js";
 import { normalizeGoogleModelId } from "../plugin-sdk/google-model-id.js";
@@ -238,6 +233,19 @@ async function withGatewayLiveModelTimeout<T>(operation: Promise<T>, context: st
   });
 }
 
+let gatewayConfigModulePromise: Promise<typeof import("../config/config.js")> | undefined;
+let authProfilesModulePromise: Promise<typeof import("../agents/auth-profiles.js")> | undefined;
+
+async function getGatewayConfigModule() {
+  gatewayConfigModulePromise ??= import("../config/config.js");
+  return await gatewayConfigModulePromise;
+}
+
+async function getAuthProfilesModule() {
+  authProfilesModulePromise ??= import("../agents/auth-profiles.js");
+  return await authProfilesModulePromise;
+}
+
 function logProgress(message: string): void {
   process.stderr.write(`[live] ${message}\n`);
 }
@@ -1230,14 +1238,15 @@ function buildLiveGatewayConfig(params: {
   };
 }
 
-function sanitizeAuthConfig(params: {
+async function sanitizeAuthConfig(params: {
   cfg: OpenClawConfig;
   agentDir: string;
-}): OpenClawConfig["auth"] | undefined {
+}): Promise<OpenClawConfig["auth"] | undefined> {
   const auth = params.cfg.auth;
   if (!auth) {
     return auth;
   }
+  const { ensureAuthProfileStore } = await getAuthProfilesModule();
   const store = ensureAuthProfileStore(params.agentDir, {
     allowKeychainPrompt: false,
   });
@@ -1298,7 +1307,7 @@ function buildMinimaxProviderOverride(params: {
 }
 
 async function runGatewayModelSuite(params: GatewayModelSuiteParams) {
-  clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot();
+  (await getGatewayConfigModule()).clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot();
   const runtimeEnv = enterProductionEnvForLiveRun();
   const previous = {
     configPath: process.env.OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH,
@@ -1330,6 +1339,7 @@ async function runGatewayModelSuite(params: GatewayModelSuiteParams) {
   const agentId = "dev";
 
   const hostAgentDir = resolveOpenClawAgentDir();
+  const { ensureAuthProfileStore, saveAuthProfileStore } = await getAuthProfilesModule();
   const hostStore = ensureAuthProfileStore(hostAgentDir, {
     allowKeychainPrompt: false,
   });
@@ -1363,7 +1373,7 @@ async function runGatewayModelSuite(params: GatewayModelSuiteParams) {
   const agentDir = resolveOpenClawAgentDir();
   const sanitizedCfg: OpenClawConfig = {
     ...params.cfg,
-    auth: sanitizeAuthConfig({ cfg: params.cfg, agentDir }),
+    auth: await sanitizeAuthConfig({ cfg: params.cfg, agentDir }),
   };
   const nextCfg = buildLiveGatewayConfig({
     cfg: sanitizedCfg,
@@ -1987,7 +1997,7 @@ async function runGatewayModelSuite(params: GatewayModelSuiteParams) {
       logProgress(`[${params.label}] skipped all models (missing profiles)`);
     }
   } finally {
-    clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot();
+    (await getGatewayConfigModule()).clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot();
     restoreProductionEnvForLiveRun(runtimeEnv);
     client.stop();
     await server.close({ reason: "live test complete" });
@@ -2021,7 +2031,8 @@ describeLive("gateway live (dev agent, profile keys)", () => {
     "runs meaningful prompts across models with available keys",
     async () =>
       await withSuppressedGatewayLiveWarnings(async () => {
-        clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot();
+        const { loadConfig } = await getGatewayConfigModule();
+        (await getGatewayConfigModule()).clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot();
         const cfg = loadConfig();
         await ensureOpenClawModelsJson(cfg);
 
@@ -2144,7 +2155,8 @@ describeLive("gateway live (dev agent, profile keys)", () => {
     if (!ZAI_FALLBACK) {
       return;
     }
-    clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot();
+    const { loadConfig } = await getGatewayConfigModule();
+    (await getGatewayConfigModule()).clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot();
     const runtimeEnv = enterProductionEnvForLiveRun();
     const previous = {
       configPath: process.env.OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH,
@@ -2302,7 +2314,10 @@ describeLive("gateway live (dev agent, profile keys)", () => {
         throw new Error(`zai followup missing nonce: ${followupText}`);
       }
     } finally {
-      clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot();
+      {
+        const { clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot } = await getGatewayConfigModule();
+        clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot();
+      }
       restoreProductionEnvForLiveRun(runtimeEnv);
       client.stop();
       await server.close({ reason: "live test complete" });
diff --git a/src/gateway/server.sessions.gateway-server-sessions-a.test.ts b/src/gateway/server.sessions.gateway-server-sessions-a.test.ts
index 98687cbe9fd..69b56d85003 100644
--- a/src/gateway/server.sessions.gateway-server-sessions-a.test.ts
+++ b/src/gateway/server.sessions.gateway-server-sessions-a.test.ts
@@ -3,18 +3,13 @@ import fs from "node:fs/promises";
 import os from "node:os";
 import path from "node:path";
 import type { AssistantMessage, UserMessage } from "@mariozechner/pi-ai";
-import { SessionManager } from "@mariozechner/pi-coding-agent";
 import { afterAll, beforeAll, beforeEach, describe, expect, test, vi } from "vitest";
 import { WebSocket } from "ws";
-import { clearConfigCache, clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot } from "../config/config.js";
-import { loadConfig } from "../config/config.js";
-import { withSessionStoreLockForTest } from "../config/sessions/store.js";
 import { isSessionPatchEvent, type InternalHookEvent } from "../hooks/internal-hooks.js";
 import { withEnvAsync } from "../test-utils/env.js";
 import { GATEWAY_CLIENT_IDS, GATEWAY_CLIENT_MODES } from "./protocol/client-info.js";
 import { startGatewayServerHarness, type GatewayServerHarness } from "./server.e2e-ws-harness.js";
 import { createToolSummaryPreviewTranscriptLines } from "./session-preview.test-helpers.js";
-import { resolveGatewaySessionStoreTarget } from "./session-utils.js";
 import {
   connectOk,
   embeddedRunMock,
@@ -27,6 +22,21 @@ import {
   writeSessionStore,
 } from "./test-helpers.js";
 
+let sessionManagerModulePromise:
+  | Promise<typeof import("@mariozechner/pi-coding-agent")>
+  | undefined;
+let gatewayConfigModulePromise: Promise<typeof import("../config/config.js")> | undefined;
+
+async function getSessionManagerModule() {
+  sessionManagerModulePromise ??= import("@mariozechner/pi-coding-agent");
+  return await sessionManagerModulePromise;
+}
+
+async function getGatewayConfigModule() {
+  gatewayConfigModulePromise ??= import("../config/config.js");
+  return await gatewayConfigModulePromise;
+}
+
 async function getSessionsHandlers() {
   return (await import("./server-methods/sessions.js")).sessionsHandlers;
 }
@@ -226,7 +236,8 @@ async function writeSingleLineSession(dir: string, sessionId: string, content: s
   );
 }
 
-function createCheckpointFixture(dir: string) {
+async function createCheckpointFixture(dir: string) {
+  const { SessionManager } = await getSessionManagerModule();
   const session = SessionManager.create(dir, dir);
   const userMessage: UserMessage = {
     role: "user",
@@ -348,7 +359,8 @@ function isInternalHookEvent(value: unknown): value is InternalHookEvent {
 }
 
 describe("gateway server sessions", () => {
-  beforeEach(() => {
+  beforeEach(async () => {
+    const { clearConfigCache, clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot } = await getGatewayConfigModule();
     clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot();
     clearConfigCache();
     sessionCleanupMocks.clearSessionQueues.mockClear();
@@ -1296,7 +1308,8 @@ describe("gateway server sessions", () => {
 
   test("sessions.compaction.* lists checkpoints and branches or restores from pre-compaction snapshots", async () => {
     const { dir, storePath } = await createSessionStoreDir();
-    const fixture = createCheckpointFixture(dir);
+    const fixture = await createCheckpointFixture(dir);
+    const { SessionManager } = await getSessionManagerModule();
     await writeSessionStore({
       entries: {
         main: {
@@ -1514,6 +1527,7 @@ describe("gateway server sessions", () => {
     );
 
     await withEnvAsync({ OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH: undefined }, async () => {
+      const { clearConfigCache, clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot } = await getGatewayConfigModule();
       clearConfigCache();
       clearRuntimeConfigSnapshot();
       const cfg = {
@@ -3129,6 +3143,12 @@ describe("gateway server sessions", () => {
     });
 
     beforeResetHookState.hasBeforeResetHook = true;
+    const [{ loadConfig }, { resolveGatewaySessionStoreTarget }, { withSessionStoreLockForTest }] =
+      await Promise.all([
+        import("../config/config.js"),
+        import("./session-utils.js"),
+        import("../config/sessions/store.js"),
+      ]);
     const gatewayStorePath = resolveGatewaySessionStoreTarget({
       cfg: loadConfig(),
       key: "main",