WebContainer Slow Startup - App Takes Time to Boot
Your Bolt WebContainer takes a long time to start - 30+ seconds before seeing the dev server running. Development workflow is slow due to startup delays.
This happens consistently, making every new session wait.
Error Messages You Might See
Common Causes
- Large node_modules size slowing file system
- Many dependencies causing npm install to take forever
- Post-install scripts (build, setup) in package.json taking time
- WebContainer downloading dependencies on first run
- Heavy TypeScript compilation on startup
How to Fix It
Minimize dependencies: remove unused packages, audit with npm ls
Use npm ci instead of npm install for faster, deterministic installs
Remove unnecessary postinstall scripts or make them optional
Pre-compile TypeScript if possible, or disable strict mode in dev
Clear npm cache in Bolt: might be cached from previous run
Consider using pnpm instead of npm (faster for monorepos)
Real developers can help you.
Sage Fulcher
Hey I'm Sage! Im a Boston area software engineer who grew up in South Florida. Ive worked at a ton of cool places like a telehealth kidney care startup that took part in a billion dollar merger (Cricket health/Interwell health), a boutique design agency where I got to work on a ton of exciting startups including a photography education app, a collegiate Esports league and more (Philosophie), a data analytics as a service startup in Cambridge (MA) as well as at Phillips and MIT Lincoln Lab where I designed and developed novel network security visualizations and analytics. I've been writing code and furiously devoted to using computers to make people’s lives easier for about 17 years. My degree is in making computers make pretty lights and sounds. Outside of work I love hip hop, the Celtics, professional wrestling, magic the gathering, photography, drumming, and guitars (both making and playing them)
Costea Adrian
Embedded Engineer specilizing in perception systems. Latest project was a adas camera calibration system.
Victor Denisov
Developer
Anthony Akpan
Developer with 8 years of experience building softwares fro startups
Kingsley Omage
Fullstack software engineer passionate about AI Agents, blockchain, LLMs.
Tejas Chokhawala
Full-stack engineer with 5 years experience building production web apps using React, Next.js and TypeScript.
Focused on performance, clean architecture and shipping fast.
Experienced with Supabase/Postgres backends, Stripe billing, and building AI-assisted developer tools.
Jaime Orts-Caroff
I'm a Senior Android developer, open to work in various fields
Prakash Prajapati
I’m a Senior Python Developer specializing in building secure, scalable, and highly available systems. I work primarily with Python, Django, FastAPI, Docker, PostgreSQL, and modern AI tooling such as PydanticAI, focusing on clean architecture, strong design principles, and reliable DevOps practices. I enjoy solving complex engineering problems and designing systems that are maintainable, resilient, and built to scale.
Richard McSorley
Full-Stack Software Engineer with 8+ years building high-performance applications for enterprise clients. Shipped production systems at Walmart (4,000+ stores), Cigna (20M+ users), and Arkansas Blue Cross. 5 patents in retail/supply chain tech. Currently focused on AI integrations, automation tools, and TypeScript-first architectures.
Krishna Sai Kuncha
Experienced Professional Full stack Developer with 8+ years of experience across react, python, js, ts, golang and react-native. Developed inhouse websearch tooling for AI before websearch was solved : )
You don't need to be technical. Just describe what's wrong and a verified developer will handle the rest.
Get HelpFrequently Asked Questions
Why is WebContainer slow on first run?
Downloading node_modules, dependencies, and setting up environment. Subsequent runs are cached
Should I commit node_modules?
No, Bolt installs fresh. Keep package-lock.json committed for reproducible builds
How do I speed up dependencies?
Use pnpm (faster), audit and remove unused packages, use npm ci instead of install