diff --git a/gns3server/db/tasks.py b/gns3server/db/tasks.py
index 981106bcd..06816d584 100644
--- a/gns3server/db/tasks.py
+++ b/gns3server/db/tasks.py
@@ -99,6 +99,14 @@ async def connect_to_db(app: FastAPI) -> None:
             return row[0] if row else "unknown"
         wal_mode = await _verify_conn.run_sync(_check_wal)
         log.info(f"SQLite journal mode: {wal_mode} {'✅' if wal_mode and wal_mode.upper() == 'WAL' else '❌ will cause database contention'}")
+    # Warm up the connection pool and ORM cache so the first API request
+    # doesn't pay the cold-start penalty (observed: 6-8s first DB query)
+    async with engine.connect() as _warmup:
+        def _warmup_query(conn):
+            from sqlalchemy import text
+            conn.execute(text("SELECT 1"))
+        await _warmup.run_sync(_warmup_query)
+        log.info("Database connection pool warmed up")
     alembic_cfg = config.Config()
     alembic_cfg.set_main_option("script_location", "gns3server:db_migrations")
     #alembic_cfg.set_main_option('sqlalchemy.url', db_url)