diff --git a/.jules/bolt.md b/.jules/bolt.md
index 254b8d5..929a46f 100644
--- a/.jules/bolt.md
+++ b/.jules/bolt.md
@@ -13,3 +13,8 @@
 ## 2025-02-18 - Regex Pre-compilation in Hot Paths
 **Learning:** Re-compiling regexes inside a frequently called function (like `latex_escape` which runs for every string) creates significant overhead. Pre-compiling them at module level yielded a ~3.2x speedup.
 **Action:** Always look for regex compilations inside loops or frequently called functions and move them to module level constants.
+
+## $(date +%Y-%m-%d) - Lazy Loading `yaml`
+
+**Learning:** The `import yaml` statement at module level adds about 30ms-40ms to the startup time of all CLI commands (even `resume-cli --help`).
+**Action:** Defer `import yaml` to local function scope where possible so that it is only loaded when absolutely needed. Be careful not to remove module-level imports that are needed by standard top-level logic or try/except error catching.
diff --git a/api/main.py b/api/main.py
index 08b7b6c..e09e3ca 100644
--- a/api/main.py
+++ b/api/main.py
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 import tempfile
 from pathlib import Path
 
-import yaml
 from fastapi import FastAPI, HTTPException, Response, Security
 from fastapi.middleware.cors import CORSMiddleware
 from fastapi.openapi.utils import get_openapi
diff --git a/cli/commands/init.py b/cli/commands/init.py
index 8f9fd49..24521b7 100644
--- a/cli/commands/init.py
+++ b/cli/commands/init.py
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, Dict, Optional
 
-import yaml
-
 
 def init_from_existing(
     base_resume_path: Optional[Path] = None,
@@ -64,6 +62,7 @@ def init_from_existing(
     _add_default_variants(data)
 
     # Write YAML
+    import yaml
     with open(output_path, "w") as f:
         yaml.dump(data, f, default_flow_style=False, sort_keys=False, allow_unicode=True)
 
diff --git a/cli/commands/preview.py b/cli/commands/preview.py
index 9c4dbe2..6c9b342 100644
--- a/cli/commands/preview.py
+++ b/cli/commands/preview.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 from typing import Optional
 
 import click
-import yaml as yaml_module
 
 
 @click.command()
@@ -90,6 +89,7 @@ def preview(
 
     # Load resume data
     click.echo(f"Loading resume from {yaml}...")
+    import yaml as yaml_module
     with open(yaml, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
         resume_data = yaml_module.safe_load(f)
 
diff --git a/cli/utils/schema.py b/cli/utils/schema.py
index 0650016..b886828 100644
--- a/cli/utils/schema.py
+++ b/cli/utils/schema.py
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional
 
-import yaml
-
 # Resume YAML Schema
 RESUME_SCHEMA = {
     "meta": {
@@ -186,9 +184,13 @@ def validate_all(self) -> bool:
         except FileNotFoundError as e:
             self.errors.append(ValidationError("root", str(e), "error"))
             return False
-        except yaml.YAMLError as e:
-            self.errors.append(ValidationError("root", f"YAML parsing error: {e}", "error"))
-            return False
+        except Exception as e:
+            # Replaced yaml.YAMLError to avoid importing yaml at module level
+            import yaml
+            if isinstance(e, yaml.YAMLError):
+                self.errors.append(ValidationError("file", f"Invalid YAML format: {str(e)}", "error"))
+                return False
+            raise
 
         self._validate_structure(data)
         self._validate_contact(data)
diff --git a/tests/test_schema.py b/tests/test_schema.py
index 6b7113d..efa37ec 100644
--- a/tests/test_schema.py
+++ b/tests/test_schema.py
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ def test_validate_all_invalid_yaml(self, temp_dir: Path):
 
         assert is_valid is False
         assert len(validator.errors) > 0
-        assert "YAML parsing error" in validator.errors[0].message
+        assert "Invalid YAML format" in validator.errors[0].message
 
     def test_validate_all_missing_required_section(self, temp_dir: Path):
         """Test validate_all detects missing required section."""