diff --git a/app/editor/components/MentionMenu.tsx b/app/editor/components/MentionMenu.tsx
index bcb4f31f76..f812c44e59 100644
--- a/app/editor/components/MentionMenu.tsx
+++ b/app/editor/components/MentionMenu.tsx
@@ -67,9 +67,27 @@ function MentionMenu({ search, isActive, ...rest }: Props) {
   const maxResultsInSection = search ? 25 : 5;
 
   // Surface a date suggestion when the search query parses as a natural
-  // language date (e.g. "tomorrow", "next friday", "jan 2").
-  const parsedDate = search ? parseNaturalLanguageDate(search) : null;
-  const parsedISODate = parsedDate ? toISODate(parsedDate) : undefined;
+  // language date (e.g. "tomorrow", "next friday", "jan 2"). Parsing is
+  // asynchronous as chrono-node is loaded lazily, so the result is held in
+  // state and applied once resolved.
+  const [parsedISODate, setParsedISODate] = useState<string | undefined>();
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!search) {
+      setParsedISODate(undefined);
+      return;
+    }
+    let cancelled = false;
+    void parseNaturalLanguageDate(search).then((date) => {
+      if (!cancelled) {
+        setParsedISODate(date ? toISODate(date) : undefined);
+      }
+    });
+    return () => {
+      cancelled = true;
+    };
+  }, [search]);
+
   const dateItems: MentionItem[] =
     actorId && parsedISODate
       ? [
diff --git a/shared/utils/parseNaturalLanguageDate.test.ts b/shared/utils/parseNaturalLanguageDate.test.ts
index 669a117779..bf1f3a2869 100644
--- a/shared/utils/parseNaturalLanguageDate.test.ts
+++ b/shared/utils/parseNaturalLanguageDate.test.ts
@@ -3,42 +3,42 @@ import { parseNaturalLanguageDate } from "./parseNaturalLanguageDate";
 describe("parseNaturalLanguageDate", () => {
   const reference = new Date(2024, 0, 1); // Mon Jan 1, 2024
 
-  it("returns null for empty input", () => {
-    expect(parseNaturalLanguageDate("", reference)).toBeNull();
-    expect(parseNaturalLanguageDate("   ", reference)).toBeNull();
+  it("returns null for empty input", async () => {
+    expect(await parseNaturalLanguageDate("", reference)).toBeNull();
+    expect(await parseNaturalLanguageDate("   ", reference)).toBeNull();
   });
 
-  it("returns null for non-date input", () => {
-    expect(parseNaturalLanguageDate("hello world", reference)).toBeNull();
+  it("returns null for non-date input", async () => {
+    expect(await parseNaturalLanguageDate("hello world", reference)).toBeNull();
   });
 
-  it("parses 'today'", () => {
-    const result = parseNaturalLanguageDate("today", reference);
+  it("parses 'today'", async () => {
+    const result = await parseNaturalLanguageDate("today", reference);
     expect(result).toEqual(new Date(2024, 0, 1));
   });
 
-  it("parses 'tomorrow'", () => {
-    const result = parseNaturalLanguageDate("tomorrow", reference);
+  it("parses 'tomorrow'", async () => {
+    const result = await parseNaturalLanguageDate("tomorrow", reference);
     expect(result).toEqual(new Date(2024, 0, 2));
   });
 
-  it("parses 'yesterday'", () => {
-    const result = parseNaturalLanguageDate("yesterday", reference);
+  it("parses 'yesterday'", async () => {
+    const result = await parseNaturalLanguageDate("yesterday", reference);
     expect(result).toEqual(new Date(2023, 11, 31));
   });
 
-  it("parses 'in 3 days'", () => {
-    const result = parseNaturalLanguageDate("in 3 days", reference);
+  it("parses 'in 3 days'", async () => {
+    const result = await parseNaturalLanguageDate("in 3 days", reference);
     expect(result).toEqual(new Date(2024, 0, 4));
   });
 
-  it("parses an explicit month and day", () => {
-    const result = parseNaturalLanguageDate("February 3", reference);
+  it("parses an explicit month and day", async () => {
+    const result = await parseNaturalLanguageDate("February 3", reference);
     expect(result).toEqual(new Date(2024, 1, 3));
   });
 
-  it("normalizes the time component to local midnight", () => {
-    const result = parseNaturalLanguageDate("tomorrow at 5pm", reference);
+  it("normalizes the time component to local midnight", async () => {
+    const result = await parseNaturalLanguageDate("tomorrow at 5pm", reference);
     expect(result?.getHours()).toBe(0);
     expect(result?.getMinutes()).toBe(0);
   });
diff --git a/shared/utils/parseNaturalLanguageDate.ts b/shared/utils/parseNaturalLanguageDate.ts
index 16eb58fc21..60e8db400b 100644
--- a/shared/utils/parseNaturalLanguageDate.ts
+++ b/shared/utils/parseNaturalLanguageDate.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,21 @@
-import * as chrono from "chrono-node";
+// Type-only import is fully erased at compile time, so it does not pull
+// chrono-node into the bundle.
+import type * as Chrono from "chrono-node";
+
+/**
+ * chrono-node is a sizeable dependency, so it is loaded lazily on first use
+ * via a dynamic import. The bundler splits it into its own chunk that is only
+ * fetched when a date actually needs to be parsed (i.e. when the user types in
+ * the mention menu), keeping it out of the main bundle.
+ */
+let chronoPromise: Promise<typeof Chrono> | undefined;
+
+function loadChrono(): Promise<typeof Chrono> {
+  if (!chronoPromise) {
+    chronoPromise = import("chrono-node");
+  }
+  return chronoPromise;
+}
 
 /**
  * Parse a natural language string such as "tomorrow", "next friday",
@@ -6,23 +23,25 @@ import * as chrono from "chrono-node";
  *
  * The time component is intentionally discarded as date mentions are
  * day-granular; only the year, month and day of the matched date are
- * returned.
+ * returned. chrono-node is loaded asynchronously the first time this is
+ * called.
  *
  * @param input the natural language string to parse.
  * @param referenceDate the date relative to which terms like "tomorrow"
  * are resolved, defaults to now.
- * @returns the matched date with the time set to local midnight, or null
- * when no date could be confidently parsed.
+ * @returns a promise resolving to the matched date with the time set to
+ * local midnight, or null when no date could be confidently parsed.
  */
-export function parseNaturalLanguageDate(
+export async function parseNaturalLanguageDate(
   input: string,
   referenceDate: Date = new Date()
-): Date | null {
+): Promise<Date | null> {
   const trimmed = input.trim();
   if (!trimmed) {
     return null;
   }
 
+  const chrono = await loadChrono();
   const results = chrono.parse(trimmed, referenceDate, { forwardDate: true });
   const result = results[0];
   if (!result) {