diff --git a/swh/search/__init__.py b/swh/search/__init__.py
--- a/swh/search/__init__.py
+++ b/swh/search/__init__.py
@@ -6,9 +6,12 @@
 import importlib
 import warnings
 
-from typing import Any, Dict
+from typing import Any, Dict, TYPE_CHECKING
 
-from swh.search.interface import SearchInterface
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    # importing swh.storage.interface triggers the load of 300+ modules, so...
+    from swh.search.interface import SearchInterface
 
 
 SEARCH_IMPLEMENTATIONS = {
@@ -18,7 +21,7 @@
 }
 
 
-def get_search(cls: str, **kwargs: Dict[str, Any]) -> SearchInterface:
+def get_search(cls: str, **kwargs: Dict[str, Any]) -> "SearchInterface":
     """Get an search object of class `cls` with arguments `args`.
 
     Args:
diff --git a/swh/search/cli.py b/swh/search/cli.py
--- a/swh/search/cli.py
+++ b/swh/search/cli.py
@@ -3,17 +3,11 @@
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
-import functools
-
+# WARNING: do not import unnecessary things here to keep cli startup time under
+# control
 import click
 
-from swh.core import config
 from swh.core.cli import CONTEXT_SETTINGS
-from swh.journal.client import get_journal_client
-
-from . import get_search
-from .journal_client import process_journal_objects
-from .api.server import load_and_check_config, app
 
 
 @click.group(name="search", context_settings=CONTEXT_SETTINGS)
@@ -27,8 +21,9 @@
 @click.pass_context
 def cli(ctx, config_file):
     """Software Heritage Search tools."""
-    ctx.ensure_object(dict)
+    from swh.core import config
 
+    ctx.ensure_object(dict)
     conf = config.read(config_file)
     ctx.obj["config"] = conf
 
@@ -37,6 +32,8 @@
 @click.pass_context
 def initialize(ctx):
     """Creates Elasticsearch indices."""
+    from . import get_search
+
     search = get_search(**ctx.obj["config"]["search"])
     search.initialize()
     print("Done.")
@@ -62,6 +59,11 @@
     """Listens for new objects from the SWH Journal, and schedules tasks
     to run relevant indexers (currently, only origin)
     on these new objects."""
+    import functools
+    from swh.journal.client import get_journal_client
+    from . import get_search
+    from .journal_client import process_journal_objects
+
     config = ctx.obj["config"]
     journal_cfg = config["journal"]
 
@@ -97,6 +99,8 @@
 )
 def rpc_server(config_path, host, port, debug):
     """Starts a Software Heritage Indexer RPC HTTP server."""
+    from .api.server import load_and_check_config, app
+
     api_cfg = load_and_check_config(config_path, type="any")
     app.config.update(api_cfg)
     app.run(host, port=int(port), debug=bool(debug))