Defer docutils imports until help is rendered - #10551
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``awscli.help`` imported ``docutils.core`` and the html4css1/manpage
writers at module scope, and ``awscli.topictags`` imported
``docutils.core``. Because ``awscli.customizations.commands`` subclasses
``HelpCommand``, that chain was pulled in during customization
registration on every CLI invocation -- including ``pygments`` and
``PIL`` via the docutils rst directives -- even for commands that never
render help. All of the uses are inside methods, so the imports move
into them.
Measured with 25 subprocess runs of ``aws --version`` per arm,
alternating between arms three times to control for drift:
before min 246-255ms
after min 232-240ms
so roughly 14ms (~6%) off every invocation. ``aws help``,
``aws s3 help``, ``aws ec2 describe-instances help`` and
``aws help topics`` were checked by hand, and ``TopicTagDB.scan`` still
parses topic files.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This was referenced Aug 13, 2026
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Split out of #10545 at @aemous's request — this is half 1 of 2. The other half is #10552 (s3 filter precompilation); the two are independent and touch disjoint files.
awscli/help.pyimporteddocutils.coreand thehtml4css1/manpagewriters at module scope, andawscli/topictags.pyimporteddocutils.core. Becauseawscli/customizations/commands.pysubclassesHelpCommand, that whole chain was pulled in during customization registration on every CLI invocation — includingpygmentsandPILvia the docutils rst directives — even for commands that never render help.Every use is inside a method, so the imports move into them.
Measured with 25 subprocess runs of
aws --versionper arm, alternating between arms three times to control for machine drift:About 14ms (~6%) off every invocation. I'm quoting min-of-25 rather than the mean because run-to-run noise on this machine is ±20ms, which is larger than the effect — sequential (non-interleaved) runs initially suggested a bigger win than the interleaved A/B supports.
Checked by hand that help still renders:
aws help,aws s3 help,aws ec2 describe-instances help,aws help topics, andTopicTagDB.scanstill parses topic source files.Testing
tests/unit/test_help.py,tests/unit/test_topictags.py,tests/unit/test_clidriver.py,tests/functional/docs: 11967 passed, 3 skipped.ruffoutput on the touched files is unchanged from baseline.I did not run the full
tests/functionalsuite locally.By submitting this pull request, I confirm that you can use, modify, copy, and redistribute this contribution, under the terms of your choice.