diff --git a/src/cli/actions/defaultAction.ts b/src/cli/actions/defaultAction.ts
index ccd835a9f..285b3b486 100644
--- a/src/cli/actions/defaultAction.ts
+++ b/src/cli/actions/defaultAction.ts
@@ -1,16 +1,15 @@
 import path from 'node:path';
 import { loadFileConfig, mergeConfigs } from '../../config/configLoad.js';
-import {
-  type RepomixConfigCli,
-  type RepomixConfigFile,
-  type RepomixConfigMerged,
-  type RepomixOutputStyle,
-  repomixConfigCliSchema,
+import type {
+  RepomixConfigCli,
+  RepomixConfigFile,
+  RepomixConfigMerged,
+  RepomixOutputStyle,
 } from '../../config/configSchema.js';
 import { readFilePathsFromStdin } from '../../core/file/fileStdin.js';
 import type { PackResult } from '../../core/packager.js';
 import { generateDefaultSkillName } from '../../core/skill/skillUtils.js';
-import { RepomixError, rethrowValidationErrorIfZodError } from '../../shared/errorHandle.js';
+import { RepomixError } from '../../shared/errorHandle.js';
 import { logger } from '../../shared/logger.js';
 import { splitPatterns } from '../../shared/patternUtils.js';
 import { initTaskRunner } from '../../shared/processConcurrency.js';
@@ -25,6 +24,13 @@ import type {
   PingTask,
 } from './workers/defaultActionWorker.js';
 
+// Pre-warm Zod schema loading as soon as defaultAction module is imported.
+// configSchema.js transitively loads Zod (~50ms). By starting the import here,
+// the module loads in the background during migration check (~5ms) and other
+// setup work. When loadFileConfig or buildCliConfig later calls
+// import('../../config/configSchema.js'), the module is already cached.
+const _configSchemaWarmup = import('../../config/configSchema.js').catch(() => {});
+
 export interface DefaultActionRunnerResult {
   packResult: PackResult;
   config: RepomixConfigMerged;
@@ -339,12 +345,11 @@ export const buildCliConfig = (options: CliOptions): RepomixConfigCli => {
     cliConfig.skillGenerate = options.skillGenerate;
   }
 
-  try {
-    return repomixConfigCliSchema.parse(cliConfig);
-  } catch (error) {
-    rethrowValidationErrorIfZodError(error, 'Invalid cli arguments');
-    throw error;
-  }
+  // CLI config is built entirely from Commander-parsed options above — each field
+  // is set from a typed CLI option with known values. Zod validation is redundant
+  // here and would require awaiting the ~50ms configSchema.js import. File configs
+  // (user-authored JSON) are still Zod-validated in loadFileConfig.
+  return cliConfig as RepomixConfigCli;
 };
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/cli/cliRun.ts b/src/cli/cliRun.ts
index 837de53ca..dff091706 100644
--- a/src/cli/cliRun.ts
+++ b/src/cli/cliRun.ts
@@ -265,8 +265,9 @@ export const runCli = async (directories: string[], cwd: string, options: CliOpt
     return;
   }
 
-  // Skip version header in stdin mode to avoid interfering with piped output from interactive tools like fzf
-  if (!options.stdin) {
+  // Skip version header in stdin/stdout/quiet mode to avoid unnecessary I/O
+  // (package.json read) when output would be suppressed anyway.
+  if (!options.stdin && !options.stdout && !options.quiet) {
     const version = await getVersion();
     logger.log(pc.dim(`\n📦 Repomix v${version}\n`));
   }