diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index ae163610ea..b151730c3e 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -319,6 +319,8 @@
     "electron": "^9.4.4",
     "electron-builder": "^22.10.5",
     "electron-notarize": "^0.3.0",
+    "esbuild": "^0.12.12",
+    "esbuild-loader": "^2.13.1",
     "eslint": "^7.7.0",
     "eslint-plugin-header": "^3.1.1",
     "eslint-plugin-react": "^7.24.0",
diff --git a/src/common/getTSLoader.ts b/src/common/getTSLoader.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6c76770d5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/common/getTSLoader.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) 2021 OpenLens Authors
+ *
+ * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of
+ * this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in
+ * the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to
+ * use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of
+ * the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so,
+ * subject to the following conditions:
+ *
+ * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+ * copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+ *
+ * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+ * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS
+ * FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR
+ * COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER
+ * IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
+ * CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+ */
+
+import esbuild from "esbuild";
+
+/**
+ * A function returning webpack ts/tsx loader
+ * 
+ * depends on env LENS_DEV_USE_ESBUILD_LOADER to use esbuild-loader (faster) or good-old ts-loader
+ * 
+ * @param testRegExp - the regex for webpack to conditional find the files 
+ * @returns ts/tsx webpack loader configuration object
+ */
+const getTSLoader = (
+  testRegExp: RegExp, transpileOnly = true
+) => {
+  const useEsbuildLoader = process.env.LENS_DEV_USE_ESBUILD_LOADER === "true";
+
+  useEsbuildLoader && console.info(`\n🚀 using esbuild-loader for ts(x)`);
+
+  if (useEsbuildLoader) {
+    return {
+      test: testRegExp,
+      loader: "esbuild-loader",
+      options: {
+        loader: "tsx",
+        target: "es2015",
+        implementation: esbuild
+      },
+    };
+  }
+
+  return {
+    test: testRegExp,
+    exclude: /node_modules/,
+    use: {
+      loader: "ts-loader",
+      options: {
+        transpileOnly,
+      }
+    }
+  };
+};
+
+export default getTSLoader;
diff --git a/webpack.main.ts b/webpack.main.ts
index 26550de14f..ae78d06d09 100755
--- a/webpack.main.ts
+++ b/webpack.main.ts
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import { isProduction, mainDir, buildDir, isDevelopment } from "./src/common/var
 import nodeExternals from "webpack-node-externals";
 import ProgressBarPlugin from "progress-bar-webpack-plugin";
 import * as vars from "./src/common/vars";
+import getTSLoader from "./src/common/getTSLoader";
 
 export default function (): webpack.Configuration {
   console.info("WEBPACK:main", vars);
@@ -55,16 +56,7 @@ export default function (): webpack.Configuration {
           test: /\.node$/,
           use: "node-loader"
         },
-        {
-          test: /\.ts$/,
-          exclude: /node_modules/,
-          use: {
-            loader: "ts-loader",
-            options: {
-              transpileOnly: true,
-            }
-          }
-        },
+        getTSLoader(/\.ts$/)
       ]
     },
     plugins: [
diff --git a/webpack.renderer.ts b/webpack.renderer.ts
index eafc636a5c..027d18ac08 100755
--- a/webpack.renderer.ts
+++ b/webpack.renderer.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import ForkTsCheckerPlugin from "fork-ts-checker-webpack-plugin";
 import ProgressBarPlugin from "progress-bar-webpack-plugin";
 import ReactRefreshWebpackPlugin from "@pmmmwh/react-refresh-webpack-plugin";
 import * as vars from "./src/common/vars";
+import getTSLoader from "./src/common/getTSLoader";
 
 export default [
   webpackLensRenderer
@@ -88,16 +89,7 @@ export function webpackLensRenderer({ showVars = true } = {}): webpack.Configura
           test: /\.node$/,
           use: "node-loader"
         },
-        {
-          test: /\.tsx?$/,
-          exclude: /node_modules/,
-          use: {
-            loader: "ts-loader",
-            options: {
-              transpileOnly: true, // ForkTsCheckerPlugin does type-checking
-            }
-          }
-        },
+        getTSLoader(/\.tsx?$/),
         {
           test: /\.(jpg|png|svg|map|ico)$/,
           use: {
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index afe4766f18..57defe33a1 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -5456,6 +5456,29 @@ es6-promisify@^5.0.0:
   dependencies:
     es6-promise "^4.0.3"
 
+esbuild-loader@^2.13.1:
+  version "2.13.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/esbuild-loader/-/esbuild-loader-2.13.1.tgz#9c89e654390a9a25d99b2f6d803ade30f4335418"
+  integrity sha512-Tzc5nB5tVUmigXz6m4j1OYozJCjdix7E9vtd5RaE54fqz2Rz34Is9S8FbAf8uqR4xvQUBAXIi6Jkn1OeMxw2aQ==
+  dependencies:
+    esbuild "^0.11.19"
+    joycon "^3.0.1"
+    json5 "^2.2.0"
+    loader-utils "^2.0.0"
+    tapable "^2.2.0"
+    type-fest "^1.0.1"
+    webpack-sources "^2.2.0"
+
+esbuild@^0.11.19:
+  version "0.11.23"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/esbuild/-/esbuild-0.11.23.tgz#c42534f632e165120671d64db67883634333b4b8"
+  integrity sha512-iaiZZ9vUF5wJV8ob1tl+5aJTrwDczlvGP0JoMmnpC2B0ppiMCu8n8gmy5ZTGl5bcG081XBVn+U+jP+mPFm5T5Q==
+
+esbuild@^0.12.12:
+  version "0.12.12"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/esbuild/-/esbuild-0.12.12.tgz#2c3815c508e20f771cf6b2ffb03aa7349e651657"
+  integrity sha512-fdB/8HRg9u95Zi4/qV+osrfzpvLzubFKUr8SkZf/kUKImLiX61Y7qBzV14FCKphFk7YoXWY85nbPGkI6pq+Zeg==
+
 escalade@^3.1.1:
   version "3.1.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/escalade/-/escalade-3.1.1.tgz#d8cfdc7000965c5a0174b4a82eaa5c0552742e40"
@@ -8588,6 +8611,11 @@ jose@^2.0.5:
   dependencies:
     "@panva/asn1.js" "^1.0.0"
 
+joycon@^3.0.1:
+  version "3.0.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/joycon/-/joycon-3.0.1.tgz#9074c9b08ccf37a6726ff74a18485f85efcaddaf"
+  integrity sha512-SJcJNBg32dGgxhPtM0wQqxqV0ax9k/9TaUskGDSJkSFSQOEWWvQ3zzWdGQRIUry2j1zA5+ReH13t0Mf3StuVZA==
+
 js-base64@^2.1.8:
   version "2.5.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/js-base64/-/js-base64-2.5.2.tgz#313b6274dda718f714d00b3330bbae6e38e90209"
@@ -8761,6 +8789,13 @@ json5@^1.0.1:
   dependencies:
     minimist "^1.2.0"
 
+json5@^2.2.0:
+  version "2.2.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/json5/-/json5-2.2.0.tgz#2dfefe720c6ba525d9ebd909950f0515316c89a3"
+  integrity sha512-f+8cldu7X/y7RAJurMEJmdoKXGB/X550w2Nr3tTbezL6RwEE/iMcm+tZnXeoZtKuOq6ft8+CqzEkrIgx1fPoQA==
+  dependencies:
+    minimist "^1.2.5"
+
 jsonfile@^4.0.0:
   version "4.0.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/jsonfile/-/jsonfile-4.0.0.tgz#8771aae0799b64076b76640fca058f9c10e33ecb"
@@ -13240,7 +13275,7 @@ sorted-union-stream@~2.1.3:
     from2 "^1.3.0"
     stream-iterate "^1.1.0"
 
-source-list-map@^2.0.0:
+source-list-map@^2.0.0, source-list-map@^2.0.1:
   version "2.0.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/source-list-map/-/source-list-map-2.0.1.tgz#3993bd873bfc48479cca9ea3a547835c7c154b34"
   integrity sha512-qnQ7gVMxGNxsiL4lEuJwe/To8UnK7fAnmbGEEH8RpLouuKbeEm0lhbQVFIrNSuB+G7tVrAlVsZgETT5nljf+Iw==
@@ -13891,6 +13926,11 @@ tapable@^1.0.0, tapable@^1.1.3:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/tapable/-/tapable-1.1.3.tgz#a1fccc06b58db61fd7a45da2da44f5f3a3e67ba2"
   integrity sha512-4WK/bYZmj8xLr+HUCODHGF1ZFzsYffasLUgEiMBY4fgtltdO6B4WJtlSbPaDTLpYTcGVwM2qLnFTICEcNxs3kA==
 
+tapable@^2.2.0:
+  version "2.2.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/tapable/-/tapable-2.2.0.tgz#5c373d281d9c672848213d0e037d1c4165ab426b"
+  integrity sha512-FBk4IesMV1rBxX2tfiK8RAmogtWn53puLOQlvO8XuwlgxcYbP4mVPS9Ph4aeamSyyVjOl24aYWAuc8U5kCVwMw==
+
 tar-fs@^2.0.0, tar-fs@^2.1.0:
   version "2.1.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/tar-fs/-/tar-fs-2.1.0.tgz#d1cdd121ab465ee0eb9ccde2d35049d3f3daf0d5"
@@ -14400,6 +14440,11 @@ type-fest@^0.8.1:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/type-fest/-/type-fest-0.8.1.tgz#09e249ebde851d3b1e48d27c105444667f17b83d"
   integrity sha512-4dbzIzqvjtgiM5rw1k5rEHtBANKmdudhGyBEajN01fEyhaAIhsoKNy6y7+IN93IfpFtwY9iqi7kD+xwKhQsNJA==
 
+type-fest@^1.0.1:
+  version "1.2.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/type-fest/-/type-fest-1.2.1.tgz#232990aa513f3f5223abf54363975dfe3a121a2e"
+  integrity sha512-SbmIRuXhJs8KTneu77Ecylt9zuqL683tuiLYpTRil4H++eIhqCmx6ko6KAFem9dty8sOdnEiX7j4K1nRE628fQ==
+
 type-fest@^1.0.2:
   version "1.0.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/type-fest/-/type-fest-1.0.2.tgz#3f9c39982859f385c77c38b7e5f1432b8a3661c6"
@@ -15071,6 +15116,14 @@ webpack-sources@^1.1.0, webpack-sources@^1.4.0, webpack-sources@^1.4.1:
     source-list-map "^2.0.0"
     source-map "~0.6.1"
 
+webpack-sources@^2.2.0:
+  version "2.3.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/webpack-sources/-/webpack-sources-2.3.0.tgz#9ed2de69b25143a4c18847586ad9eccb19278cfa"
+  integrity sha512-WyOdtwSvOML1kbgtXbTDnEW0jkJ7hZr/bDByIwszhWd/4XX1A3XMkrbFMsuH4+/MfLlZCUzlAdg4r7jaGKEIgQ==
+  dependencies:
+    source-list-map "^2.0.1"
+    source-map "^0.6.1"
+
 webpack@^4.44.2:
   version "4.44.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/webpack/-/webpack-4.44.2.tgz#6bfe2b0af055c8b2d1e90ed2cd9363f841266b72"