diff --git a/app/build/bridge/page.tsx b/app/build/bridge/page.tsx
index 3b6d90e..88716be 100644
--- a/app/build/bridge/page.tsx
+++ b/app/build/bridge/page.tsx
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { useCallback, useEffect, useState } from "react";
 import Image from "next/image";
 import { ChevronDown, ArrowLeftRight, CreditCard, Loader2, ExternalLink, CheckCircle2, AlertTriangle } from "lucide-react";
 import { useAccount, useWalletClient, useSwitchChain, useChainId } from "wagmi";
-import { useAppKit } from "@reown/appkit/react";
+import { openWallet } from "@/lib/appkit";
 import { createPublicClient, http, parseEther, type PublicClient } from "viem";
 import { BRIDGE_ROUTE, HYPERLANE_ROUTER_ABI, ERC20_ABI, addressToBytes32 } from "lightnode-sdk";
 import { CodeTabs } from "@/components/build/console/code-tabs";
@@ -134,7 +134,6 @@ async function resolveFeeParams(pub: PublicClient): Promise<GasFeeParams | undef
 
 export default function BridgePanel() {
   const { address, isConnected } = useAccount();
-  const { open } = useAppKit();
   const [dir, setDir] = useState<Dir>("eth-to-lc");
   const [amount, setAmount] = useState("");
   const [bal, setBal] = useState<Balances | null>(null);
@@ -245,7 +244,7 @@ export default function BridgePanel() {
 
   const executeBridge = async () => {
     if (!isConnected || !walletClient || !address) {
-      open();
+      openWallet();
       return;
     }
     const amt = validateAmount();
@@ -339,7 +338,7 @@ export default function BridgePanel() {
                     <span className="font-mono text-content-primary">{shortAddr(address)}</span>
                   </span>
                 ) : (
-                  <button type="button" onClick={() => open()} className="inline-flex items-center gap-1.5 text-sm text-content-soft transition-colors hover:text-content-primary">
+                  <button type="button" onClick={() => openWallet()} className="inline-flex items-center gap-1.5 text-sm text-content-soft transition-colors hover:text-content-primary">
                     Connect Wallet <ChevronDown className="size-3.5" />
                   </button>
                 )}
diff --git a/app/build/dao/voting-power-card.tsx b/app/build/dao/voting-power-card.tsx
index 32be3e1..0fd31f6 100644
--- a/app/build/dao/voting-power-card.tsx
+++ b/app/build/dao/voting-power-card.tsx
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 import { useCallback, useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";
 import { ShieldCheck, AlertTriangle, ExternalLink, Wallet } from "lucide-react";
 import { useAccount } from "wagmi";
-import { useAppKit } from "@reown/appkit/react";
+import { openWallet } from "@/lib/appkit";
 import { short } from "@/components/build/console/panel-kit";
 import { DAO_VOTE_UI, DELEGATION_UI, loadVotingPower, type DaoChain, type VotingPowerReads } from "./dao-chain";
 import { delegationStatus, formatLcaiWei } from "./dao-math";
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ const SYMBOL: Record<DaoChain, string> = { ethereum: "LCAIB", lightchain: "LCAI"
  */
 export function VotingPowerCard({ chain }: { chain: DaoChain }) {
   const { address, isConnected } = useAccount();
-  const { open } = useAppKit();
   const [reads, setReads] = useState<VotingPowerReads | null>(null);
   const [loading, setLoading] = useState(false);
   // Stale-read guard: a slow read for the previous chain/account must not
@@ -49,7 +48,7 @@ export function VotingPowerCard({ chain }: { chain: DaoChain }) {
     return (
       <button
         type="button"
-        onClick={() => open()}
+        onClick={() => openWallet()}
         className="flex w-full items-center justify-between gap-3 rounded-2xl border border-bdr-soft bg-card/60 px-4 py-3.5 text-left backdrop-blur-sm transition-colors hover:border-primary/40"
       >
         <span className="flex items-center gap-2.5 text-sm text-content-soft">
diff --git a/components/connect-button.tsx b/components/connect-button.tsx
index 691e462..9f226af 100644
--- a/components/connect-button.tsx
+++ b/components/connect-button.tsx
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 "use client";
 
-import { useAppKit, useAppKitAccount, useAppKitNetwork } from "@reown/appkit/react";
-import { useSwitchChain } from "wagmi";
+import { useAccount, useChainId, useSwitchChain } from "wagmi";
+import { openWallet, prefetchWallet } from "@/lib/appkit";
 import { Wallet, AlertTriangle, ChevronDown, Loader2 } from "lucide-react";
 import { Button, type ButtonProps } from "@/components/ui/button";
 import { NETWORKS } from "@/lib/network";
@@ -22,15 +22,20 @@ function avatarGradient(addr: string): string {
 
 /** Reown AppKit connect flow rendered with LightNode's own styling. */
 export function ConnectButton({ size = "default" }: { size?: ButtonProps["size"] }) {
-  const { open } = useAppKit();
-  const { isConnected, address } = useAppKitAccount();
-  const { chainId } = useAppKitNetwork();
+  // Read state from wagmi, not AppKit. These hooks come from the eager bundle
+  // (WagmiProvider already wraps the tree), so this button renders - and shows
+  // a reconnected address after a reload - without pulling in the wallet modal.
+  // Using AppKit's equivalents here would force every page to load it again.
+  const { isConnected, address } = useAccount();
+  const chainId = useChainId();
   const { switchChain, isPending } = useSwitchChain();
   const { network } = useNetwork();
 
   if (!isConnected) {
     return (
-      <Button variant="gradient" size={size} onClick={() => open()}>
+      // Hover starts the chunk download, so the modal is usually ready by the
+      // time the click lands.
+      <Button variant="gradient" size={size} onMouseEnter={prefetchWallet} onClick={() => openWallet()}>
         <Wallet /> Connect wallet
       </Button>
     );
@@ -53,7 +58,7 @@ export function ConnectButton({ size = "default" }: { size?: ButtonProps["size"]
 
   return (
     <button
-      onClick={() => open({ view: "Account" })}
+      onClick={() => openWallet({ view: "Account" })}
       className="group inline-flex items-center gap-2 rounded-full border border-bdr-soft bg-surface-base-subtle py-1 pl-1 pr-2.5 transition-colors hover:border-primary/40 hover:bg-surface-base-faint"
     >
       <span
diff --git a/components/providers.tsx b/components/providers.tsx
index 3cc6f37..2ecc621 100644
--- a/components/providers.tsx
+++ b/components/providers.tsx
@@ -1,39 +1,21 @@
 "use client";
 
-import { createAppKit } from "@reown/appkit/react";
 import { QueryClient, QueryClientProvider } from "@tanstack/react-query";
 import { WagmiProvider } from "wagmi";
 import { useState } from "react";
-import { wagmiAdapter, projectId, networks } from "@/lib/wagmi";
+import { wagmiAdapter } from "@/lib/wagmi";
 import { NetworkProvider } from "@/lib/network-context";
 import { AutoUpdate } from "@/components/auto-update";
 
-// AppKit is created once at module scope (matches LightChain's own chat setup).
-createAppKit({
-  adapters: [wagmiAdapter],
-  projectId,
-  networks,
-  defaultNetwork: networks[0],
-  metadata: {
-    name: "LightNode",
-    description: "The open toolkit for LightChain AI: SDK, wallet, worker onboarding, and live dashboards.",
-    url: "https://lightnode.app",
-    icons: ["https://lightnode.app/lightnode-mark.png"],
-  },
-  themeMode: "dark",
-  // Coinbase/Base connectors bundle their own IndexedDB telemetry, which throws
-  // in the desktop WebView and isn't usable there anyway. Keep injected
-  // (MetaMask) + WalletConnect, which cover the real flows.
-  enableCoinbase: false,
-  themeVariables: {
-    "--w3m-accent": "#7064e9",
-    "--w3m-color-mix": "#7064e9",
-    "--w3m-color-mix-strength": 12,
-    "--w3m-font-family": "var(--font-inter), ui-sans-serif, system-ui, sans-serif",
-    "--w3m-border-radius-master": "2.5px",
-  },
-  features: { analytics: false, email: true, socials: ["google", "x", "github", "discord"] },
-});
+// AppKit is NOT created here. This provider wraps every route, so building the
+// modal at module scope made each page download and execute the whole wallet
+// stack before it could render - 1,395 KB of chunk, 53% of /onboard, on pages
+// where nobody had touched a wallet. It is created on the first openWallet()
+// call instead; see lib/appkit.ts.
+//
+// WagmiProvider stays eager: connection state has to survive a reload and be
+// readable by any page (useAccount / useChainId), and its config is what the
+// lazily-created modal later attaches to.
 
 export function Providers({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
   const [queryClient] = useState(() => new QueryClient());
diff --git a/lib/appkit.ts b/lib/appkit.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..98361ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/appkit.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+/**
+ * Lazily-created AppKit modal.
+ *
+ * `createAppKit()` used to run at module scope in components/providers.tsx,
+ * which app/layout.tsx renders for EVERY route. So a visitor reading the
+ * landing page - or an operator on /onboard who has not touched a wallet -
+ * still downloaded, parsed and executed the whole wallet stack: AppKit's UI,
+ * WalletConnect, and the Coinbase SDK that `enableCoinbase: false` disables at
+ * runtime but does not remove from the bundle. Measured against production:
+ * 1,395 KB in a single chunk, 53% of everything /onboard shipped.
+ *
+ * Nothing about that stack is needed until someone actually opens the wallet
+ * modal, so it now loads on the first `openWallet()` call. The import is cached
+ * in a module-level promise: concurrent clicks share one download, and
+ * `createAppKit` runs exactly once (calling it twice registers a second modal
+ * and the account state desynchronises).
+ *
+ * Reading connection state does NOT go through here. Components use wagmi's
+ * own `useAccount` / `useChainId`, which are already in the eager bundle
+ * because WagmiProvider wraps the tree - so the connect button renders, and
+ * shows a connected address across reloads, without pulling AppKit at all.
+ */
+import type { AppKit } from "@reown/appkit";
+
+let modalPromise: Promise<AppKit> | null = null;
+
+/** Options accepted by AppKit's `open()`, kept structural to avoid the import. */
+export type OpenWalletOptions = { view?: "Account" | "Connect" | "Networks" };
+
+async function createModal(): Promise<AppKit> {
+  // Both imports are dynamic on purpose: lib/wagmi.ts constructs the
+  // WagmiAdapter, which drags in @wagmi/connectors, so importing it eagerly
+  // here would defeat the split.
+  const [{ createAppKit }, { wagmiAdapter, projectId, networks }] = await Promise.all([
+    import("@reown/appkit/react"),
+    import("./wagmi"),
+  ]);
+
+  return createAppKit({
+    adapters: [wagmiAdapter],
+    projectId,
+    networks,
+    defaultNetwork: networks[0],
+    metadata: {
+      name: "LightNode",
+      description: "The open toolkit for LightChain AI: SDK, wallet, worker onboarding, and live dashboards.",
+      url: "https://lightnode.app",
+      icons: ["https://lightnode.app/lightnode-mark.png"],
+    },
+    themeMode: "dark",
+    // Coinbase/Base connectors bundle their own IndexedDB telemetry, which
+    // throws in the desktop WebView and isn't usable there anyway. Keep
+    // injected (MetaMask) + WalletConnect, which cover the real flows.
+    enableCoinbase: false,
+    themeVariables: {
+      "--w3m-accent": "#7064e9",
+      "--w3m-color-mix": "#7064e9",
+      "--w3m-color-mix-strength": 12,
+      "--w3m-font-family": "var(--font-inter), ui-sans-serif, system-ui, sans-serif",
+      "--w3m-border-radius-master": "2.5px",
+    },
+    features: { analytics: false, email: true, socials: ["google", "x", "github", "discord"] },
+  });
+}
+
+/**
+ * Open the wallet modal, creating it on first use.
+ *
+ * Rejections are swallowed deliberately: a failed chunk fetch (offline, CDN
+ * blip) must not surface as an unhandled rejection from a click handler. The
+ * cache is cleared so the next click retries rather than reusing a promise that
+ * can never resolve.
+ */
+export async function openWallet(options?: OpenWalletOptions): Promise<void> {
+  try {
+    modalPromise ??= createModal();
+    const modal = await modalPromise;
+    await modal.open(options);
+  } catch {
+    modalPromise = null;
+  }
+}
+
+/** Warm the chunk without opening anything - e.g. on hover of a connect CTA. */
+export function prefetchWallet(): void {
+  modalPromise ??= createModal();
+  void modalPromise.catch(() => {
+    modalPromise = null;
+  });
+}