diff --git a/lib/modem.js b/lib/modem.js
index b45a798d63647d55e0193fd7e82c2e36785d9b5f..d2dbf42969fc0ebf39b30c1a27373c33c2d20333 100644
--- a/lib/modem.js
+++ b/lib/modem.js
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ var querystring = require('querystring'),
   fs = require('fs'),
   path = require('path'),
   url = require('url'),
-  ssh = require('./ssh'),
   HttpDuplex = require('./http_duplex'),
   debug = require('debug')('modem'),
   utils = require('./utils'),
@@ -263,8 +262,13 @@ Modem.prototype.buildRequest = function (options, context, data, callback) {
   var connectionTimeoutTimer;
   var finished = false;
 
+  // Loaded here rather than at module scope: './ssh' pulls in ssh2, whose crypto module
+  // instantiates a ~16 MiB WebAssembly memory for ChaCha20-Poly1305 as soon as it is
+  // required. Measured at +14 MiB RSS for a require alone, paid by every Homarr install
+  // even though Docker is reached over a socket and this branch never runs. require() is
+  // cached, so SSH connections pay it once and behave exactly as before.
   var opts = self.protocol === 'ssh' ? Object.assign(options, {
-    agent: ssh(Object.assign({}, self.sshOptions, {
+    agent: require('./ssh')(Object.assign({}, self.sshOptions, {
       'host': self.host,
       'port': self.port,
       'username': self.username,