diff --git a/swh/search/__init__.py b/swh/search/__init__.py
index 61a9c71..f1e42d8 100644
--- a/swh/search/__init__.py
+++ b/swh/search/__init__.py
@@ -1,53 +1,56 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2019-2020  The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
 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 = {
     "elasticsearch": ".elasticsearch.ElasticSearch",
     "remote": ".api.client.RemoteSearch",
     "memory": ".in_memory.InMemorySearch",
 }
 
 
-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:
         cls: search's class, either 'local' or 'remote'
         args: dictionary of arguments passed to the
             search class constructor
 
     Returns:
         an instance of swh.search's classes (either local or remote)
 
     Raises:
         ValueError if passed an unknown search class.
 
     """
     if "args" in kwargs:
         warnings.warn(
             'Explicit "args" key is deprecated, use keys directly instead.',
             DeprecationWarning,
         )
         kwargs = kwargs["args"]
 
     class_path = SEARCH_IMPLEMENTATIONS.get(cls)
     if class_path is None:
         raise ValueError(
             "Unknown search class `%s`. Supported: %s"
             % (cls, ", ".join(SEARCH_IMPLEMENTATIONS))
         )
 
     (module_path, class_name) = class_path.rsplit(".", 1)
     module = importlib.import_module(module_path, package=__package__)
     Search = getattr(module, class_name)
     return Search(**kwargs)
diff --git a/swh/search/cli.py b/swh/search/cli.py
index e2edfa5..c28294d 100644
--- a/swh/search/cli.py
+++ b/swh/search/cli.py
@@ -1,102 +1,106 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2019-2020  The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # 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)
 @click.option(
     "--config-file",
     "-C",
     default=None,
     type=click.Path(exists=True, dir_okay=False,),
     help="Configuration file.",
 )
 @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
 
 
 @cli.command("initialize")
 @click.pass_context
 def initialize(ctx):
     """Creates Elasticsearch indices."""
+    from . import get_search
+
     search = get_search(**ctx.obj["config"]["search"])
     search.initialize()
     print("Done.")
 
 
 @cli.group("journal-client")
 @click.pass_context
 def journal_client(ctx):
     """"""
     pass
 
 
 @journal_client.command("objects")
 @click.option(
     "--stop-after-objects",
     "-m",
     default=None,
     type=int,
     help="Maximum number of objects to replay. Default is to run forever.",
 )
 @click.pass_context
 def journal_client_objects(ctx, stop_after_objects):
     """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"]
 
     client = get_journal_client(
         cls="kafka",
         object_types=["origin", "origin_visit"],
         stop_after_objects=stop_after_objects,
         **journal_cfg,
     )
     search = get_search(**config["search"])
 
     worker_fn = functools.partial(process_journal_objects, search=search,)
     nb_messages = 0
     try:
         nb_messages = client.process(worker_fn)
         print("Processed %d messages." % nb_messages)
     except KeyboardInterrupt:
         ctx.exit(0)
     else:
         print("Done.")
     finally:
         client.close()
 
 
 @cli.command("rpc-serve")
 @click.argument("config-path", required=True)
 @click.option("--host", default="0.0.0.0", help="Host to run the server")
 @click.option("--port", default=5010, type=click.INT, help="Binding port of the server")
 @click.option(
     "--debug/--nodebug",
     default=True,
     help="Indicates if the server should run in debug mode",
 )
 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))