diff --git a/docs/userguides/developing_plugins.md b/docs/userguides/developing_plugins.md
index 199e970cbb..f1a407cbea 100644
--- a/docs/userguides/developing_plugins.md
+++ b/docs/userguides/developing_plugins.md
@@ -61,6 +61,9 @@ from ape import plugins
 # Here, we register our provider plugin so we can use it in 'ape'.
 @plugins.register(plugins.ProviderPlugin)
 def providers():
+    # NOTE: By keeping this import local, we avoid slower plugin load times.
+    from ape_my_plugin.provider import MyProvider
+    
     # NOTE: 'MyProvider' defined in a prior code-block.
     yield "ethereum", "local", MyProvider
 ```
@@ -69,6 +72,11 @@ This decorator hooks into ape core and ties everything together by looking for a
 Then, it will loop through these potential `ape` plugins and see which ones have created a plugin type registration.
 If the plugin type registration is found, then `ape` knows this package is a plugin and attempts to process it according to its registration interface.
 
+```{warning}
+Ensure your plugin's `__init__.py` file imports quickly by keeping all expensive imports in the hook functions locally.
+This helps Ape register plugins faster, which is required when checking for API implementations.
+```
+
 ### CLI Plugins
 
 The `ape` CLI is built using the python package [click](https://palletsprojects.com/p/click/).
diff --git a/src/ape_node/__init__.py b/src/ape_node/__init__.py
index f76e94a7c0..26c45369cb 100644
--- a/src/ape_node/__init__.py
+++ b/src/ape_node/__init__.py
@@ -1,16 +1,17 @@
 from ape import plugins
 
-from .provider import EthereumNetworkConfig, EthereumNodeConfig, GethDev, Node
-from .query import OtterscanQueryEngine
-
 
 @plugins.register(plugins.Config)
 def config_class():
+    from ape_node.provider import EthereumNodeConfig
+
     return EthereumNodeConfig
 
 
 @plugins.register(plugins.ProviderPlugin)
 def providers():
+    from ape_node.provider import EthereumNetworkConfig, GethDev, Node
+
     networks_dict = EthereumNetworkConfig().model_dump()
     networks_dict.pop("local")
     for network_name in networks_dict:
@@ -21,9 +22,22 @@ def providers():
 
 @plugins.register(plugins.QueryPlugin)
 def query_engines():
+    from ape_node.query import OtterscanQueryEngine
+
     yield OtterscanQueryEngine
 
 
+def __getattr__(name: str):
+    if name == "OtterscanQueryEngine":
+        from ape_node.query import OtterscanQueryEngine
+
+        return OtterscanQueryEngine
+
+    import ape_node.provider as module
+
+    return getattr(module, name)
+
+
 __all__ = [
     "EthereumNetworkConfig",
     "EthereumNodeConfig",