CPU hog with local API in SvelteKit

[grunghi]

I am trying to use the local API via the getPayload function in SvelteKit and I have encountered a problem with a CPU hog.

Minimal reproduction here: https://github.com/grunghi/payloadkit

I am initializing payload inside hooks.server.ts and when i call await getPayload({ config }) it hogs the cpu thread to 100% indefinetly, however the queries in data loaders work fine.

It does the same thing when I getPayload directly in the server load function.
It happens both in dev and on the staging server.

I tried to do profiling with node --inspect, but that just shows that it is mostly idle.
I use the latest version of payload - 3.20.0 with postgres and node 23.
Tried it on node 22 and also 3.16.0 with the same results.

Does anybody have some experience with running payload outside of next, specifically with SvelteKit / Vite?

I suppose this issue might be due to the fact that Sveltekit bundles payload with vite.

This is my hooks.server.ts in sveltekit:

import { getPayload } from 'payload'
import { config } from 'payload-app'

import type { Handle } from '@sveltejs/kit'

export const handle: Handle = async ({ event, resolve }) => {
  event.locals.payload = await getPayload({ config })

  const response = await resolve(event)

  return response
}

[BohdanK-W32]

I had unlucky experience with Payload local API. After a lot of days of struggles, I just switched to REST. Too many problems with this feature. Next.js is the one to blame, for sure.

Everything was working ok on local setup, but any serverless experience with Payload x [any non-next-js] was a total mess

[grunghi]

Yeah, I use REST instead of Local API for now, but the benefits of Local API would be huge (performance, better type safety, simplicity etc).

[janus-reith]

Have you seen https://github.com/r1tsuu/payload-enchants/tree/master/packages/sdk ?