diff --git a/caddy/caddy.go b/caddy/caddy.go
index 0ab9bce29..b8784a9c1 100644
--- a/caddy/caddy.go
+++ b/caddy/caddy.go
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ func (f *FrankenPHPModule) Provision(ctx caddy.Context) error {
 	}
 
 	if !needReplacement(f.Root) {
-		root, err := filepath.Abs(f.Root)
+		root, err := frankenphp.FastAbs(f.Root)
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("unable to make the root path absolute: %w", err)
 		}
diff --git a/filepath_unix.go b/filepath_unix.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1940ed3cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/filepath_unix.go
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+package frankenphp
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+)
+
+// FastAbs is an optimized version of filepath.Abs for Unix systems,
+// since we don't expect the working directory to ever change once
+// Caddy is running. Avoid the os.Getwd() syscall overhead.
+//
+// This function is INTERNAL and must not be used outside of this package.
+func FastAbs(path string) (string, error) {
+	if filepath.IsAbs(path) {
+		return filepath.Clean(path), nil
+	}
+
+	if wderr != nil {
+		return "", wderr
+	}
+
+	return filepath.Join(wd, path), nil
+}
+
+var wd, wderr = os.Getwd()
diff --git a/filepath_windows.go b/filepath_windows.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..81720d044
--- /dev/null
+++ b/filepath_windows.go
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+package frankenphp
+
+import (
+	"path/filepath"
+)
+
+// FastAbs can't be optimized on Windows because the
+// syscall.FullPath function takes an input.
+//
+// This function is INTERNAL and must not be used outside of this package.
+func FastAbs(path string) (string, error) {
+	return filepath.Abs(path)
+}
diff --git a/frankenphp_test.go b/frankenphp_test.go
index 370c1b6ca..7d23eaf06 100644
--- a/frankenphp_test.go
+++ b/frankenphp_test.go
@@ -921,12 +921,13 @@ func testRejectInvalidHeaders(t *testing.T, opts *testOptions) {
 // To run this fuzzing test use: go test -fuzz FuzzRequest
 // TODO: Cover more potential cases
 func FuzzRequest(f *testing.F) {
+	absPath, _ := filepath.Abs("./testdata/")
+
 	f.Add("hello world")
 	f.Add("😀😅🙃🤩🥲🤪😘😇😉🐘🧟")
 	f.Add("%00%11%%22%%33%%44%%55%%66%%77%%88%%99%%aa%%bb%%cc%%dd%%ee%%ff")
 	f.Add("\x00\x01\x02\x03\x04\x05\x06\x07\x08\x09\x0a\x0b\x0c\x0d\x0e\x0f")
 	f.Fuzz(func(t *testing.T, fuzzedString string) {
-		absPath, _ := filepath.Abs("./testdata/")
 		runTest(t, func(handler func(http.ResponseWriter, *http.Request), _ *httptest.Server, _ int) {
 			req := httptest.NewRequest("GET", "http://example.com/server-variable", nil)
 			req.URL = &url.URL{RawQuery: "test=" + fuzzedString, Path: "/server-variable.php/" + fuzzedString}
diff --git a/internal/watcher/watch_pattern.go b/internal/watcher/watch_pattern.go
index 3c75a432e..2d5ab82ca 100644
--- a/internal/watcher/watch_pattern.go
+++ b/internal/watcher/watch_pattern.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 package watcher
 
 import (
+	"github.com/dunglas/frankenphp"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -34,7 +35,7 @@ func parseFilePattern(filePattern string) (*watchPattern, error) {
 	w := &watchPattern{}
 
 	// first we clean the pattern
-	absPattern, err := filepath.Abs(filePattern)
+	absPattern, err := frankenphp.FastAbs(filePattern)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/metrics.go b/metrics.go
index 29e4514d6..8738c994f 100644
--- a/metrics.go
+++ b/metrics.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package frankenphp
 
 import (
-	"path/filepath"
 	"regexp"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
@@ -126,7 +125,7 @@ func (m *PrometheusMetrics) StopWorker(name string, reason StopReason) {
 }
 
 func (m *PrometheusMetrics) getIdentity(name string) (string, error) {
-	actualName, err := filepath.Abs(name)
+	actualName, err := FastAbs(name)
 	if err != nil {
 		return name, err
 	}
diff --git a/request_options.go b/request_options.go
index 8620d9819..e1c30f34b 100644
--- a/request_options.go
+++ b/request_options.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package frankenphp
 
 import (
 	"path/filepath"
-	"sync"
 
 	"go.uber.org/zap"
 )
@@ -10,8 +9,6 @@ import (
 // RequestOption instances allow to configure a FrankenPHP Request.
 type RequestOption func(h *FrankenPHPContext) error
 
-var documentRootCache sync.Map
-
 // WithRequestDocumentRoot sets the root directory of the PHP application.
 // if resolveSymlink is true, oath declared as root directory will be resolved
 // to its absolute value after the evaluation of any symbolic links.
@@ -21,25 +18,19 @@ var documentRootCache sync.Map
 // directive will set $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] to the real directory path.
 func WithRequestDocumentRoot(documentRoot string, resolveSymlink bool) RequestOption {
 	return func(o *FrankenPHPContext) error {
-		v, ok := documentRootCache.Load(documentRoot)
-		if !ok {
-			var err error
-			// make sure file root is absolute
-			v, err = filepath.Abs(documentRoot)
-			if err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
+		// make sure file root is absolute
+		root, err := FastAbs(documentRoot)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 
-			if resolveSymlink {
-				if v, err = filepath.EvalSymlinks(v.(string)); err != nil {
-					return err
-				}
+		if resolveSymlink {
+			if root, err = filepath.EvalSymlinks(root); err != nil {
+				return err
 			}
-
-			documentRootCache.LoadOrStore(documentRoot, v)
 		}
 
-		o.documentRoot = v.(string)
+		o.documentRoot = root
 
 		return nil
 	}
diff --git a/worker.go b/worker.go
index da1dacc16..055a96a8a 100644
--- a/worker.go
+++ b/worker.go
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ func initWorkers(opt []workerOpt) error {
 }
 
 func newWorker(o workerOpt) (*worker, error) {
-	absFileName, err := filepath.Abs(o.fileName)
+	absFileName, err := FastAbs(o.fileName)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("worker filename is invalid %q: %w", o.fileName, err)
 	}