diff --git a/plugins/axiomcode/skills/axiomcode/scripts/dl/impact.dl b/plugins/axiomcode/skills/axiomcode/scripts/dl/impact.dl
index be1409553..151f4997f 100644
--- a/plugins/axiomcode/skills/axiomcode/scripts/dl/impact.dl
+++ b/plugins/axiomcode/skills/axiomcode/scripts/dl/impact.dl
@@ -919,11 +919,18 @@ parent_up(q, a, b, "protocol") :- reach(q, a, d), d > 0, reach(q, b, d1), d1 = d
 // (`imports()` in axiomcode-impact, per language). Only a target that resolves to a file IN THIS REPOSITORY is
 // kept: a stdlib or third-party import names no file here and is dropped rather than guessed.
 .decl imports_fact(f:symbol, g:symbol)                            .input imports_fact
+// ASKED FOR, NOT PRECOMPUTED (#1033). `import_hop` only ever reads the files that import a module the change
+// reaches, so the closure is walked backwards from those files and nowhere else. The whole-project closure this
+// replaces was the same for every question and quadratic to build (imports_file joined to itself): on a
+// 3.6k-file TypeScript graph it was 1.2M rows and 27 s of a 38 s solve, the flat floor under every `impact`.
+.decl import_goal(g:symbol)
+import_goal(g) :- up_running(_, mod, _), kind(mod, "module"), decl_file(mod, g).
 .decl imports_file(f:symbol, g:symbol)
-imports_file(f, g) :- imports_fact(f, g).
+imports_file(f, g) :- import_goal(g), imports_fact(f, g).
 // and transitively: a test file imports the module that imports the settings object. The chain is what makes
-// the rule worth anything — the file that breaks is almost never the file the test names.
-imports_file(f, h) :- imports_file(f, g), imports_file(g, h), f != h.
+// the rule worth anything — the file that breaks is almost never the file the test names. Linear in the chain:
+// any path of imports from f to g with f != g yields the pair, the same set the self-join derived.
+imports_file(f, g) :- imports_fact(f, h), imports_file(h, g), f != g.
 .output fw_edge
 
 // ── tests: a test's own body reaches the change, or a fixture its framework runs before it does ───────────────
diff --git a/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/case.json b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/case.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..92dde0cd5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/case.json
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{"lang": "typescript", "src": "src",
+ "checks": [
+  {"why": "a module-level call breaks every file that imports its module, however many imports away: page.spec reaches the table only through page -> escape -> render -> tags, and escape and render import each other",
+   "run": ["impact", "makeMap", "--tests"],
+   "want": ["page.spec.ts", "at import"],
+   "avoid": ["sum.spec.ts"]},
+  {"why": "control: a chain of imports that never reaches a module doing work at import propagates nothing",
+   "run": ["impact", "double", "--tests"],
+   "want": ["sum.spec.ts"],
+   "avoid": ["page.spec.ts"]}]}
diff --git a/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/__tests__/page.spec.ts b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/__tests__/page.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2dc97fd31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/__tests__/page.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest'
+import { page } from '../page'
+
+describe('page', () => {
+  it('wraps', () => {
+    expect(page('x')).toBe('<b>x')
+  })
+})
diff --git a/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/__tests__/sum.spec.ts b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/__tests__/sum.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0c05ab21f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/__tests__/sum.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest'
+import { sum } from '../sum'
+
+describe('sum', () => {
+  it('adds', () => {
+    expect(sum(1, 2)).toBe(4)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/escape.ts b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/escape.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0a61ce59d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/escape.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+import { open } from './render'
+
+export function escape(s: string): string {
+  return s.replace(/</g, '&lt;')
+}
+
+export function wrap(s: string): string {
+  return open('b') + s
+}
diff --git a/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/maps.ts b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/maps.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ad20dbb48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/maps.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+// A helper CALLED AT MODULE LEVEL to build a lookup table.
+export function makeMap(list: string): Record<string, boolean> {
+  const out: Record<string, boolean> = {}
+  for (const k of list.split(',')) out[k] = true
+  return out
+}
diff --git a/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/page.ts b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/page.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6bea8b6a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/page.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+import { wrap } from './escape'
+
+// two imports away from the table module, and calls nothing in it
+export function page(s: string): string {
+  return wrap(s)
+}
diff --git a/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/plain.ts b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/plain.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a1ba9813d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/plain.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+// imports nothing that reaches the table module
+export function double(n: number): number {
+  return n * 2
+}
diff --git a/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/render.ts b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/render.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..17781fc3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/render.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+import { isVoidTag } from './tags'
+import { escape } from './escape'
+
+// imports the table module, and is imported by `escape`, which it imports: a cycle
+export function open(tag: string): string {
+  return '<' + escape(tag) + '>'
+}
+
+export const voids = Object.keys(isVoidTag)
diff --git a/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/sum.ts b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/sum.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eeec51971
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/sum.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+import { double } from './plain'
+
+export function sum(a: number, b: number): number {
+  return double(a) + b
+}
diff --git a/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/tags.ts b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/tags.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3d466c18f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cases/typescript/runs-at-import-through-a-chain/src/tags.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+import { makeMap } from './maps'
+
+// the module body runs this while being imported
+export const isVoidTag = makeMap('br,hr,img')