diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 32dd2bfbc05..99e4cb59ca1 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -148,3 +148,7 @@ examples/app-crm/storage/
 # committed (#22449 B′, #22485); `files[]` ships whatever the lane wrote.
 packages/spec/spec-changes.json
 packages/spec/protocol-upgrade-guide.md
+
+# #23181 slice 14: written by packages/cli/test/helpers/oclif-manifest.global-setup.ts for a test run and removed at its teardown; never committed, never published
+packages/cli/oclif.manifest.json
+packages/cli/oclif.manifest.json.*.tmp
diff --git a/packages/cli/test/helpers/oclif-manifest.global-setup.ts b/packages/cli/test/helpers/oclif-manifest.global-setup.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d6e73366d7e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/test/helpers/oclif-manifest.global-setup.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,156 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+
+/**
+ * The vitest `globalSetup` that writes `packages/cli/oclif.manifest.json` once
+ * per run, from source, and removes it at teardown. Test infrastructure only:
+ * the file is gitignored and `files[]` (`dist`, `README.md`, `CHANGELOG.md`)
+ * never names it, so nothing published changes.
+ *
+ * ## Why (#23181, seat ruling A on report 6418998910)
+ *
+ * This package ships no oclif manifest, so every CLI process builds its command
+ * table by importing all 72 command modules. Through `tsx bin/run-dev.js` that
+ * is a floor of 8.2-8.5 s per spawn, `--version` included, and the files that
+ * spawn the CLI held 89.4% of this package's file wall. With a manifest beside
+ * `package.json` oclif reads the table from it and imports only the command it
+ * runs: the same spawn takes 2.0-2.3 s.
+ *
+ * ## What is written, and why it is transparent
+ *
+ * The manifest is the object oclif's own root plugin builds in memory when no
+ * manifest exists — `new Plugin({ isRoot: true, root })`, loaded in a `tsx`
+ * child under `NODE_ENV=development`, which is what `bin/run-dev.js` runs — with
+ * two keys removed from every command: `isESM` and `relativePath`.
+ *
+ * ⛔ Those two keys are not optional to remove. When a cached command carries
+ * both, `Plugin.findCommand` imports `root + relativePath` VERBATIM
+ * (`cachedCommandCanBeUsed` in @oclif/core 5.1.2), and a manifest generated from
+ * source records `src/commands/<id>.ts`. The built entry (`bin/run.js`, which
+ * the published-entry suites spawn with `NODE_ENV` unset) would then run the
+ * SOURCE, and those suites would test something other than the build. Without
+ * the two keys oclif falls back to the path it takes with no manifest at all —
+ * the commands directory `tsPath` resolves, `src/` under `run-dev.js` and
+ * `dist/` under `run.js` — so the manifest supplies the command TABLE and
+ * nothing about where a command's code comes from.
+ *
+ * What still differs from a run without the file: `Config.load()` no longer
+ * imports every command module, so a module that fails to load is reported when
+ * it is run rather than as a load-time warning on every spawn. The suites that
+ * pin that load-time behaviour are `*.e2e.test.ts` files, and the e2e tier runs
+ * only in the nightly population, which `vitest.config.ts` leaves without this
+ * setup. A command module that fails to load here fails the GENERATION instead
+ * (`errorOnManifestCreate`), naming the module, before any test runs.
+ *
+ * ## Ownership, nesting and cleanup
+ *
+ * - Written to a temporary sibling and renamed over the target, so a spawn
+ *   reads either a whole manifest or none (oclif then builds its table as
+ *   before). Every run regenerates, so a manifest left by a killed run is never
+ *   what a later integration run uses.
+ * - `writtenBy.pid` records the vitest process that owns the file. Teardown, and
+ *   an `exit` listener for a run that ends without teardown, remove it only
+ *   while that pid is still this process's: two runs on one checkout each
+ *   remove their own file, and the run that is left continues without a
+ *   manifest, at the old floor and with the same output.
+ * - A vitest started INSIDE a run (`test/vitest-tiers-partition.test.ts` spawns
+ *   `vitest list`) inherits {@link OWNER_ENV} through `childEnv()` and does
+ *   nothing, so it neither pays a second generation nor removes the file under
+ *   the run that wrote it.
+ * - A `unit`-only run generates nothing (no unit file spawns the CLI) and only
+ *   removes a manifest whose writer is no longer alive, so an in-process
+ *   `Config.load()` there never trusts a file a killed run left behind.
+ */
+
+import { execFile } from 'node:child_process';
+import { readFileSync, renameSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { resolve } from 'node:path';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+import { promisify } from 'node:util';
+import type { TestProject } from 'vitest/node';
+import { childEnv, TSX } from './serve-process.js';
+
+const HERE = resolve(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url), '..');
+
+/** `packages/cli` — the root oclif reads `oclif.manifest.json` from. */
+const CLI_ROOT = resolve(HERE, '../..');
+
+export const MANIFEST = resolve(CLI_ROOT, 'oclif.manifest.json');
+
+/** Set in the owning run's process, and so in every worker and child below it. */
+export const OWNER_ENV = 'OS_TEST_OCLIF_MANIFEST_OWNER';
+
+/** The argv flag that makes this module the generator, inside the `tsx` child. */
+const WRITE_FLAG = '--write-oclif-manifest';
+
+const THIS_FILE = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);
+
+/** The pid recorded in the manifest at `path`, or `undefined` for none or not ours. */
+function writerOf(path: string): number | undefined {
+  try {
+    const pid = JSON.parse(readFileSync(path, 'utf8'))?.writtenBy?.pid;
+    return Number.isInteger(pid) ? pid : undefined;
+  } catch {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+}
+
+function isAlive(pid: number): boolean {
+  try {
+    process.kill(pid, 0);
+    return true;
+  } catch (error) {
+    return (error as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code === 'EPERM';
+  }
+}
+
+function removeIfOurs(): void {
+  if (writerOf(MANIFEST) === process.pid) rmSync(MANIFEST, { force: true });
+}
+
+/** Runs in the `tsx` child: build the table the way an unmanifested run does. */
+async function writeManifest(out: string, ownerPid: number): Promise<void> {
+  const { Plugin } = await import('@oclif/core');
+  const plugin = new Plugin({ isRoot: true, root: CLI_ROOT, ignoreManifest: true, errorOnManifestCreate: true });
+  await plugin.load();
+  const commands = Object.fromEntries(
+    Object.entries(plugin.manifest.commands).map(([id, { isESM: _isESM, relativePath: _relativePath, ...cached }]) => [
+      id,
+      cached,
+    ]),
+  );
+  writeFileSync(out, JSON.stringify({ ...plugin.manifest, commands, writtenBy: { pid: ownerPid, by: 'packages/cli/test/helpers/oclif-manifest.global-setup.ts' } }));
+}
+
+export default async function setup(project: TestProject): Promise<(() => void) | void> {
+  if (process.env[OWNER_ENV]) return;
+
+  if (project.name !== 'integration') {
+    const writer = writerOf(MANIFEST);
+    if (writer !== undefined && !isAlive(writer)) rmSync(MANIFEST, { force: true });
+    return;
+  }
+
+  const tmp = `${MANIFEST}.${process.pid}.tmp`;
+  try {
+    await promisify(execFile)(TSX, [THIS_FILE, WRITE_FLAG, tmp, String(process.pid)], {
+      cwd: CLI_ROOT,
+      env: childEnv({ NODE_ENV: 'development' }),
+      maxBuffer: 64 * 1024 * 1024,
+    });
+  } catch (error) {
+    rmSync(tmp, { force: true });
+    const { stderr } = error as { stderr?: string };
+    throw new Error(`could not write ${MANIFEST} from source:\n${stderr || String(error)}`);
+  }
+  renameSync(tmp, MANIFEST);
+  process.env[OWNER_ENV] = String(process.pid);
+  process.once('exit', removeIfOurs);
+  return () => {
+    process.off('exit', removeIfOurs);
+    removeIfOurs();
+  };
+}
+
+if (process.argv[1] === THIS_FILE && process.argv[2] === WRITE_FLAG) {
+  await writeManifest(process.argv[3], Number(process.argv[4]));
+}
diff --git a/packages/cli/test/published-entry-node-env-source-reroute.test.ts b/packages/cli/test/published-entry-node-env-source-reroute.test.ts
index 72a9dcc663c..f6b5b1447b9 100644
--- a/packages/cli/test/published-entry-node-env-source-reroute.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/test/published-entry-node-env-source-reroute.test.ts
@@ -139,8 +139,8 @@ const CHILD_BUDGET_MS = 120_000;
 const CARD_SIGNATURE = "Cannot find module './registry'";
 
 /**
- * The reroute itself, visible in oclif's own warning block: it names the module
- * it failed to load, and under the reroute that path is under `src/commands`.
+ * The reroute itself, visible in oclif's own report: it names the module it
+ * failed to load, and under the reroute that path is under `src/commands`.
  */
 const SOURCE_COMMANDS = join('packages', 'cli', 'src', 'commands');
 
@@ -170,10 +170,26 @@ afterAll(() => {
 /**
  * Run the published entry from the armed fixture directory.
  *
- * `--version` is the probe on purpose: it is the cheapest invocation that still
- * makes oclif build its command table, which is where the reroute happens.
- * Measured — every command tried (`--version`, `doctor --help`, `compile
- * --help`) reproduces identically, so the cheapest one is the honest one.
+ * `explain object` is the probe because it RUNS a command: oclif has to resolve
+ * that command's module and import it, which is where the reroute happens, and
+ * `explain.ts` imports the trapped `chalk` at its top. It prints a static
+ * reference page and exits 0 with nothing to read from the fixture directory.
+ *
+ * ⛔ Not `--version`, which this file used until #23181. `--version` loads no
+ * command; it reached the reroute only because, with no `oclif.manifest.json`
+ * beside `package.json`, `Config.load()` builds the command table by importing
+ * every command module. The `integration` project now writes that manifest for
+ * the run (`helpers/oclif-manifest.global-setup.ts`), and with it present
+ * `--version` imports nothing: this leg's CONTROL stopped reproducing the card
+ * and the three legs above it passed over a fixture that armed nothing. A real
+ * command reaches the reroute with the manifest and without it, measured both
+ * ways at the slice that made this change.
+ *
+ * `OCLIF_COLUMNS` is set wide so oclif renders the load failure on one line.
+ * With a manifest the failure arrives as the error `handle()` prints, which is
+ * word-wrapped at 80 columns on a pipe, and a wrap can fall inside the card's
+ * signature or a path. A split signature fails the CONTROL; worse, it would
+ * let every `not.toContain` above pass over text it can no longer match.
  *
  * ⚠️ `TSX_TSCONFIG_PATH` is cleared explicitly. It is what `bin/run-dev.js`
  * sets to pin tsx away from the CWD's tsconfig, and a developer running the
@@ -202,12 +218,12 @@ function runPublishedEntry(
   const startedAt = Date.now();
   const result = spawnSync(
     process.execPath,
-    [...(options.neutralise ? [`--import=${NEUTRALISER}`] : []), PUBLISHED_ENTRY, '--version'],
+    [...(options.neutralise ? [`--import=${NEUTRALISER}`] : []), PUBLISHED_ENTRY, 'explain', 'object'],
     {
       cwd: fixtureCwd,
       encoding: 'utf8',
       timeout: CHILD_BUDGET_MS,
-      env: childEnv({ TSX_TSCONFIG_PATH: undefined, ...env }),
+      env: childEnv({ TSX_TSCONFIG_PATH: undefined, OCLIF_COLUMNS: '100000', ...env }),
     },
   );
   const elapsedMs = Date.now() - startedAt;
@@ -257,7 +273,7 @@ describe('#12271 - the published entry does not reroute to src/ on an ambient NO
    * ⚠️ It arms only if oclif can REGISTER tsx (`registerTsx` in `ts-path`).
    * When that fails, oclif logs `Could not find tsx` under
    * `DEBUG=oclif:config:ts-path` and stays on `dist/`. This leg then prints
-   * the version line and nothing else, and the legs above pass with the
+   * the reference page and nothing else, and the legs above pass with the
    * declaration deleted. tsx 4.23.15's CommonJS ESM API fails that way on any
    * Node without tsx's `registerHooks` path (below 22.22.3 on the 22 line).
    * That is why the workspace patches it: see `tsx@4.23.15` under
diff --git a/packages/cli/vitest.config.ts b/packages/cli/vitest.config.ts
index 373b69f73e3..272e1b83941 100644
--- a/packages/cli/vitest.config.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/vitest.config.ts
@@ -649,6 +649,7 @@ import {
   runProjectCliOverridePreflight,
 } from '../qa/vitest-filter-preflight/src/index.js';
 import { integrationTestFiles, unitTestFiles } from './vitest-tiers.js';
+import { readTierMode } from '../../scripts/nightly-tiers.mjs';
 
 // The two tiers, DERIVED from what the files DO — never written down — over
 // the population `OS_TEST_TIERS` selects. `vitest-tiers.ts` holds the
@@ -739,6 +740,25 @@ runProjectCliOverridePreflight({
 // lives at its use site in the `test` block below, not in a helper binding
 // that could outlive the spread.
 
+// #23181 slice 14 — THE OCLIF MANIFEST SETUP. One `globalSetup` module writes
+// `oclif.manifest.json` from source when the `integration` project runs (the
+// tier every CLI-spawning file is derived into) and removes it at teardown, so
+// a `tsx bin/run-dev.js` spawn reads its command table instead of importing all
+// 72 command modules: 8.2-8.5 s -> 2.0-2.3 s per spawn, same bytes out, same
+// exit code. The `unit` project carries the same module and generates nothing;
+// it only clears a manifest a killed run left behind. The module's header is
+// the authority on what is written, why it is transparent, and who removes it.
+//
+// ⛔ The QUEUE population only. Under `OS_TEST_TIERS=nightly` both projects run
+// without it, because the e2e tier holds the suites that pin what a manifest
+// would change: oclif importing every command module inside `Config.load()`
+// (`run-dev-unbuilt-workspace.e2e`, the `*-stderr-nonblocking.e2e` pair). The
+// product ships no manifest, so that is the shape those pins must keep seeing.
+// Set per project rather than at the root, where `extends: true` would hand it
+// to both projects AND to the root project, running it three times.
+const OCLIF_MANIFEST_SETUP =
+  readTierMode() === 'queue' ? [path.resolve(__dirname, 'test/helpers/oclif-manifest.global-setup.ts')] : [];
+
 export default defineConfig({
   resolve: {
     // Array form with an ANCHORED pattern, per the trap the gate documents:
@@ -873,6 +893,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
         test: {
           name: 'unit',
           disableConsoleIntercept: true,
+          globalSetup: OCLIF_MANIFEST_SETUP,
           // #13517: quiet the registry's per-item registration chatter — the
           // engine's own `OS_REGISTRY_LOG` seam, not a change to its shipped
           // default. Enforced by scripts/check-registry-log-declared.mjs.
@@ -885,6 +906,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
         test: {
           name: 'integration',
           disableConsoleIntercept: true,
+          globalSetup: OCLIF_MANIFEST_SETUP,
           // #13517: quiet the registry's per-item registration chatter — the
           // engine's own `OS_REGISTRY_LOG` seam, not a change to its shipped
           // default. Enforced by scripts/check-registry-log-declared.mjs.