diff --git a/packages/color-diff-napi/src/index.ts b/packages/color-diff-napi/src/index.ts
index 9b662b6d1..692728e2a 100644
--- a/packages/color-diff-napi/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/color-diff-napi/src/index.ts
@@ -17,32 +17,21 @@
  *   getSyntaxTheme always returns the default for the given Claude theme.
  */
 
-import { createRequire } from 'node:module'
 import { diffArrays } from 'diff'
-import type * as hljsNamespace from 'highlight.js'
+import hljs from 'highlight.js'
 import { basename, extname } from 'path'
 
-// createRequire works in both Bun and Node.js ESM contexts.
-// Needed because this package is "type": "module" but uses require() for
-// lazy loading — bare require is not available in Node.js ESM.
-const nodeRequire = createRequire(import.meta.url)
-
-// Lazy: defers loading highlight.js until first render. The full bundle
-// registers 190+ language grammars at require time (~50MB, 100-200ms on
-// macOS, several× that on Windows). With a top-level import, any caller
-// chunk that reaches this module — including test/preload.ts via
-// StructuredDiff.tsx → colorDiff.ts — pays that cost at module-eval time
-// and carries the heap for the rest of the process. On Windows CI this
-// pushed later tests in the same shard into GC-pause territory and a
-// beforeEach/afterEach hook timeout (officialRegistry.test.ts, PR #24150).
-// Same lazy pattern the NAPI wrapper used for dlopen.
-type HLJSApi = typeof hljsNamespace.default
+// Static import — createRequire(import.meta.url) fails in Bun --compile mode
+// because the resolved path points to the internal bunfs binary path where
+// node_modules cannot be found. A top-level import ensures the module is
+// bundled and accessible at runtime.
+type HLJSApi = typeof hljs
 let cachedHljs: HLJSApi | null = null
-function hljs(): HLJSApi {
+function hljsApi(): HLJSApi {
   if (cachedHljs) return cachedHljs
-  const mod = nodeRequire('highlight.js')
   // highlight.js uses `export =` (CJS). Under bun/ESM the interop wraps it
   // in .default; under node CJS the module IS the API. Check at runtime.
+  const mod = hljs as HLJSApi & { default?: HLJSApi }
   cachedHljs = 'default' in mod && mod.default ? mod.default : mod
   return cachedHljs!
 }
@@ -441,9 +430,9 @@ function detectLanguage(
   // Filename-based lookup (handles Dockerfile, Makefile, CMakeLists.txt, etc.)
   const stem = base.split('.')[0] ?? ''
   const byName = FILENAME_LANGS[base] ?? FILENAME_LANGS[stem]
-  if (byName && hljs().getLanguage(byName)) return byName
+  if (byName && hljsApi().getLanguage(byName)) return byName
   if (ext) {
-    const lang = hljs().getLanguage(ext)
+    const lang = hljsApi().getLanguage(ext)
     if (lang) return ext
   }
   // Shebang / first-line detection (strip UTF-8 BOM)
@@ -525,7 +514,7 @@ function highlightLine(
   }
   let result
   try {
-    result = hljs().highlight(code, {
+    result = hljsApi().highlight(code, {
       language: state.lang,
       ignoreIllegals: true,
     })
diff --git a/src/utils/cliHighlight.ts b/src/utils/cliHighlight.ts
index e87663c1f..3b248a045 100644
--- a/src/utils/cliHighlight.ts
+++ b/src/utils/cliHighlight.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 // highlight.js's type defs carry `/// <reference lib="dom" />`. SSETransport,
 // mcp/client, ssh, dumpPrompts use DOM types (TextDecodeOptions, RequestInfo)
-// that only typecheck because this file's `typeof import('highlight.js')` pulls
-// lib.dom in. tsconfig has lib: ["ESNext"] only — fixing the actual DOM-type
-// deps is a separate sweep; this ref preserves the status quo.
+// that only typecheck because the hljs import below pulls lib.dom in.
+// tsconfig has lib: ["ESNext"] only — this ref preserves the status quo.
 /// <reference lib="dom" />
 
 import { extname } from 'path'
+// Static import — dynamic import('highlight.js') fails in Bun --compile mode
+// because module resolution points to the internal bunfs binary path.
+import hljs from 'highlight.js'
 
 export type CliHighlight = {
   highlight: typeof import('cli-highlight').highlight
@@ -13,9 +15,6 @@ export type CliHighlight = {
 }
 
 // One promise shared by Fallback.tsx, markdown.ts, events.ts, getLanguageName.
-// The highlight.js import piggybacks: cli-highlight has already pulled it into
-// the module cache, so the second import() is a cache hit — no extra bytes
-// faulted in.
 let cliHighlightPromise: Promise<CliHighlight | null> | undefined
 
 let loadedGetLanguage: ((name: string) => { name: string } | undefined) | undefined
@@ -23,9 +22,9 @@ let loadedGetLanguage: ((name: string) => { name: string } | undefined) | undefi
 async function loadCliHighlight(): Promise<CliHighlight | null> {
   try {
     const cliHighlight = await import('cli-highlight')
-    // cache hit — cli-highlight already loaded highlight.js
-    const highlightJs = await import('highlight.js')
-    loadedGetLanguage = (highlightJs as { getLanguage?: typeof loadedGetLanguage }).getLanguage
+    // highlight.js CJS interop: `export =` wraps in .default under ESM
+    const hljsMod = hljs as { getLanguage?: typeof loadedGetLanguage; default?: typeof hljs }
+    loadedGetLanguage = hljsMod.getLanguage ?? hljsMod.default?.getLanguage
     return {
       highlight: cliHighlight.highlight,
       supportsLanguage: cliHighlight.supportsLanguage,