diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/src/core/extensions/loader.ts b/packages/coding-agent/src/core/extensions/loader.ts
index 419cd6370..8bb457e2b 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/src/core/extensions/loader.ts
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/src/core/extensions/loader.ts
@@ -32,7 +32,14 @@ import * as _bundledYaml from "yaml";
 import { getAgentDir, isBunBinary } from "../../config.js";
 // NOTE: This import works because loader.ts exports are NOT re-exported from index.ts,
 // avoiding a circular dependency. Extensions can import from "@singularity-forge/coding-agent.
-import * as _bundledCodingAgent from "../../index.js";
+// `@singularity-forge/coding-agent` self-reference removed.
+// It was the cycle-closer for the coding-agent core mega-cycle
+// (loader → index → main → modes → ... → loader). The static
+// `import * as _bundledCodingAgent from "../../index.js"` only
+// populated STATIC_BUNDLED_MODULES below for the Bun virtualModules
+// path. SF is Node-26-only per operator policy (memory:
+// feedback_node_only) — no bun, no better-sqlite3 — so the Bun
+// branch is dead at runtime and dropping the static import is safe.
 import { createEventBus, type EventBus } from "../event-bus.js";
 import type { ExecOptions } from "../exec.js";
 import { execCommand } from "../exec.js";
@@ -68,7 +75,7 @@ const STATIC_BUNDLED_MODULES: Record<string, unknown> = {
 	"@singularity-forge/tui": _bundledTui,
 	"@singularity-forge/ai": _bundledAi,
 	"@singularity-forge/ai/oauth": _bundledAiOauth,
-	"@singularity-forge/coding-agent": _bundledCodingAgent,
+	// Self-reference handled lazily — see buildVirtualModules() below.
 	yaml: _bundledYaml,
 	"@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/client": _bundledMcpClient,
 	"@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/client/stdio": _bundledMcpStdio,
@@ -94,7 +101,8 @@ const STATIC_BUNDLED_MODULES: Record<string, unknown> = {
 	"@mariozechner/tui": _bundledTui,
 	"@mariozechner/pi-ai": _bundledAi,
 	"@mariozechner/pi-ai/oauth": _bundledAiOauth,
-	"@mariozechner/coding-agent": _bundledCodingAgent,
+	// "@mariozechner/coding-agent" / "@singularity-forge/coding-agent"
+	// self-references intentionally omitted — see top-of-file note.
 };
 
 /** Modules available to extensions via virtualModules (for compiled Bun binary) */
diff --git a/scripts/check-circular-deps.mjs b/scripts/check-circular-deps.mjs
index 3503f0b46..2e04a3529 100644
--- a/scripts/check-circular-deps.mjs
+++ b/scripts/check-circular-deps.mjs
@@ -159,7 +159,32 @@ function extractImports(filePath) {
 	);
 	const specs = [];
 
+	// Track function-body depth so we can skip imports/requires that run only
+	// when their enclosing function is called (i.e. not at module evaluation
+	// time). These cannot cause module-graph cycles for the same reason
+	// dynamic `await import()` cannot. Counts cover FunctionDeclaration,
+	// FunctionExpression, ArrowFunction, MethodDeclaration, accessors, and
+	// class member functions.
+	let functionDepth = 0;
+	const FN_KINDS = new Set([
+		ts.SyntaxKind.FunctionDeclaration,
+		ts.SyntaxKind.FunctionExpression,
+		ts.SyntaxKind.ArrowFunction,
+		ts.SyntaxKind.MethodDeclaration,
+		ts.SyntaxKind.GetAccessor,
+		ts.SyntaxKind.SetAccessor,
+		ts.SyntaxKind.Constructor,
+	]);
 	const visit = (node) => {
+		const isFn = FN_KINDS.has(node.kind);
+		if (isFn) functionDepth += 1;
+		try {
+			visitNode(node);
+		} finally {
+			if (isFn) functionDepth -= 1;
+		}
+	};
+	const visitNode = (node) => {
 		// import X from "..."  |  import "..."  |  import { X } from "..."
 		//
 		// Skip top-level type-only imports (`import type { X } from "..."`) —
@@ -199,8 +224,11 @@ function extractImports(filePath) {
 		// cause initialization-order cycles. Madge's prior config used
 		// `skipAsyncImports: true` for the same reason — matching that
 		// here so we don't false-positive on intentional lazy seams.
-		// CommonJS require("...")
+		// CommonJS require("...") — only count top-level requires; require()
+		// inside a function body runs lazily on call, same semantics as
+		// dynamic `await import()` and cannot cause module-graph cycles.
 		if (
+			functionDepth === 0 &&
 			ts.isCallExpression(node) &&
 			ts.isIdentifier(node.expression) &&
 			node.expression.text === "require" &&