---
highlights: >
    Thanks to lazy imports, Haystack's import performance has significantly improved.
    Importing individual components now uses 50% less CPU time on average.
    The overall import performance has also improved: for example,
    `import haystack` now uses between 2-5% of its previous CPU time.

enhancements:
  - |
    Optimize import times through extensive use of lazy imports across packages.
    Importing one component of a certain package, no longer leads to importing all components of
    the same package.
    For example, importing OpenAIChatGenerator no longer imports AzureOpenAIChatGenerator.
