diff --git a/src/OpenCL.jl b/src/OpenCL.jl
index 38a83779..345eb9f0 100644
--- a/src/OpenCL.jl
+++ b/src/OpenCL.jl
@@ -66,4 +66,20 @@ export OpenCLBackend
     eval(Expr(:public, :synchronize, Symbol("@sync")))
 end
 
+# displaying an array (in USM, the preferred memory back-end where supported), which the
+# device-free workload can't do, compiles for 150 to 400 ms otherwise. the REPL displays on
+# a `TTYTerminal`, which is part of Base on 1.12+.
+let ios = @static isdefined(Base, :Terminals) ? (IOBuffer, Base.Terminals.TTYTerminal) :
+                                               (IOBuffer,)
+    for io in ios, N in (1, 2)
+        precompile(Tuple{typeof(show), IOContext{io}, MIME"text/plain",
+                         CLArray{Float32,N,cl.UnifiedDeviceMemory}})
+    end
+end
+
+# freeing an array, which otherwise compiles in the first garbage collection that frees one
+for M in (cl.UnifiedDeviceMemory, cl.SharedVirtualMemory, cl.Buffer)
+    precompile(Tuple{typeof(free), Managed{M}})
+end
+
 end
diff --git a/src/compiler/execution.jl b/src/compiler/execution.jl
index 4cc7a24d..deecde26 100644
--- a/src/compiler/execution.jl
+++ b/src/compiler/execution.jl
@@ -272,12 +272,21 @@ function clfunction(f::F, tt::TT=Tuple{}; source::S=f, kwargs...) where {F,TT,S}
     # copies of arrays, like `extensions`, which the caller may mutate.
     options = map(v -> v isa AbstractArray ? copy(v) : v, kw)
     key = (cl.context(), cl.device(), program_backend(), options)
-    kernel, device_rng = GPUCompiler.cached_lookup(Tuple{cl.Kernel,Bool}, F, tt, key) do
-        clfunction_link(methodinstance(F, tt); kw...)
-    end
+    kernel, device_rng = GPUCompiler.cached_lookup(KernelLinker(F, tt, kw),
+                                                   Tuple{cl.Kernel,Bool}, F, tt, key)
     HostKernel{F,S,tt}(f, source, kernel, device_rng)
 end
 
+# what `clfunction` calls when the kernel isn't cached: a callable struct rather than a
+# closure, whose type would depend on the kernel's, compiling it (and the inlined
+# `methodinstance`) again for every kernel.
+struct KernelLinker{K}
+    ft::Type
+    tt::Type
+    kw::K
+end
+(l::KernelLinker)() = clfunction_link(methodinstance(l.ft, l.tt); l.kw...)
+
 # the part of `clfunction` that doesn't depend on the kernel's function and argument types,
 # kept separate so that it's compiled once rather than for every kernel
 function clfunction_link(mi::Core.MethodInstance; kwargs...)