perf(webpack-cli): allocate Levenshtein buffer lazily

.changeset/cli-performance.md

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"webpack-cli": patch
+---
+
+Improved CLI startup performance and reduced memory usage.

packages/webpack-cli/bin/cli.js

@@ -2,7 +2,15 @@
 
 "use strict";
 
-const importLocal = require("import-local");
+// Prefer the local installation of `webpack-cli` when one exists. Run this
+// before requiring the (heavier) CLI implementation: a delegated run then never
+// loads it, and `WEBPACK_CLI_SKIP_IMPORT_LOCAL` skips loading `import-local` too.
+if (!process.env.WEBPACK_CLI_SKIP_IMPORT_LOCAL && require("import-local")(__filename)) {
+  return;
+}
+
+process.title = "webpack";
+
 const WebpackCLI = require("../lib/webpack-cli").default;
 
 const runCLI = async (args) => {
@@ -16,14 +24,5 @@ const runCLI = async (args) => {
   }
 };
 
-if (
-  !process.env.WEBPACK_CLI_SKIP_IMPORT_LOCAL && // Prefer the local installation of `webpack-cli`
-  importLocal(__filename)
-) {
-  return;
-}
-
-process.title = "webpack";
-
 // eslint-disable-next-line unicorn/prefer-top-level-await
 runCLI(process.argv);