diff --git a/.jules/bolt.md b/.jules/bolt.md
index f1a8c1466..6a72ee4d8 100644
--- a/.jules/bolt.md
+++ b/.jules/bolt.md
@@ -77,3 +77,6 @@ Optimized metric route processing to O(N) by creating a mapping of routes direct
 ## 2024-07-13 - [Optimize Export Dictionary FK lookups]
 **Learning:** Found O(N * C * E) performance bottleneck in ERD export dictionaries due to repeated array searching with `edges.some()` inside a nested loop over nodes and columns.
 **Action:** Replace repeated linear array scans for edges by precomputing O(1) Set lookups of foreign key column handles per node before looping.
+## 2024-07-20 - [Optimize DDL Export FK lookups]
+**Learning:** Found O(N * C * E) performance bottleneck in DDL export generation due to repeated array searching with `.find()` and redundant `sourceColumnHandleId` calculations inside the edge loops.
+**Action:** Precompute an O(1) Map of handle IDs to column names, but do so lazily (only for nodes actually involved in handle-based FK resolution) to prevent wasted work/allocations on diagrams with explicit FK columns or zero edges.
diff --git a/frontend/src/erd/export.ts b/frontend/src/erd/export.ts
index 62ce7219e..3d1ab3ce1 100644
--- a/frontend/src/erd/export.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/erd/export.ts
@@ -55,10 +55,26 @@ function sqlDataType(value: unknown): string {
   return SQL_DATA_TYPE_RE.test(text) ? text : 'text';
 }
 
+type NodeHandleCache = {
+  sourceHandles: Map<string, string>;
+  targetHandles: Map<string, string>;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Resolves foreign key columns for an edge.
+ *
+ * Precedence:
+ * 1. Explicit composite columns (`edge.data.sourceColumns` / `targetColumns`)
+ * 2. Handle ID lookup (`edge.sourceHandle` / `targetHandle`) against node columns
+ * 3. Fallback (all non-PK source columns -> all PK target columns)
+ *
+ * @param getHandleCache A lazy cache factory for column handles to avoid O(N*C) upfront allocation when not needed.
+ */
 function fkColumnsForEdge(
   edge: Edge,
   sourceNode: Node<TableNodeData>,
   targetNode: Node<TableNodeData>,
+  getHandleCache: (node: Node<TableNodeData>) => NodeHandleCache
 ): { sourceColumns: string[]; targetColumns: string[] } | null {
   const data = edge.data as ForeignKeyEdgeData | undefined;
   const sourceColumns = data?.sourceColumns?.filter(Boolean) || [];
@@ -67,12 +83,11 @@ function fkColumnsForEdge(
     return { sourceColumns, targetColumns };
   }
 
-  const sourceHandleColumn = (sourceNode.data.columns || [])
-    .find((column) => sourceColumnHandleId(column.column_name) === edge.sourceHandle)
-    ?.column_name;
-  const targetHandleColumn = (targetNode.data.columns || [])
-    .find((column) => targetColumnHandleId(column.column_name) === edge.targetHandle)
-    ?.column_name;
+  const sourceCache = getHandleCache(sourceNode);
+  const targetCache = getHandleCache(targetNode);
+  const sourceHandleColumn = sourceCache?.sourceHandles.get(edge.sourceHandle || '');
+  const targetHandleColumn = targetCache?.targetHandles.get(edge.targetHandle || '');
+
   if (sourceHandleColumn && targetHandleColumn) {
     return { sourceColumns: [sourceHandleColumn], targetColumns: [targetHandleColumn] };
   }
@@ -90,6 +105,13 @@ function fkColumnsForEdge(
   return null;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Generates SQL DDL from the provided nodes and edges.
+ *
+ * Note: The precomputed handle maps (via getHandleCache) act as an internal
+ * performance acceleration (O(1) lookups) for foreign key resolution and
+ * must not alter the resulting emitted DDL bytes compared to the naive O(N) scan.
+ */
 export function exportDDL(nodes: Node<TableNodeData>[], edges: Edge[]): string {
   let ddl = '-- Generated DDL\n\n';
 
@@ -100,6 +122,22 @@ export function exportDDL(nodes: Node<TableNodeData>[], edges: Edge[]): string {
     nodesById.set(n.id, n);
   }
 
+  const nodeHandleCache = new Map<string, NodeHandleCache>();
+  const getHandleCache = (node: Node<TableNodeData>): NodeHandleCache => {
+    let cache = nodeHandleCache.get(node.id);
+    if (!cache) {
+      const sourceHandles = new Map<string, string>();
+      const targetHandles = new Map<string, string>();
+      for (const col of node.data.columns || []) {
+        sourceHandles.set(sourceColumnHandleId(col.column_name), col.column_name);
+        targetHandles.set(targetColumnHandleId(col.column_name), col.column_name);
+      }
+      cache = { sourceHandles, targetHandles };
+      nodeHandleCache.set(node.id, cache);
+    }
+    return cache;
+  };
+
   // Export tables
   for (const node of nodes) {
     const tableTitle = node.data.title || node.id;
@@ -133,7 +171,7 @@ export function exportDDL(nodes: Node<TableNodeData>[], edges: Edge[]): string {
     const targetNode = nodesById.get(edge.target);
 
     if (sourceNode && targetNode) {
-      const fkColumns = fkColumnsForEdge(edge, sourceNode, targetNode);
+      const fkColumns = fkColumnsForEdge(edge, sourceNode, targetNode, getHandleCache);
       const constraintName = edge.label ? edge.label : `fk_${edge.source}_${edge.target}`;
       const sourceTable = quoteSqlIdentifier(sourceNode.data.title || sourceNode.id);
       const targetTable = quoteSqlIdentifier(targetNode.data.title || targetNode.id);
diff --git a/frontend/src/erd/handleUtils.ts b/frontend/src/erd/handleUtils.ts
index 054d5ab2a..d86a4ec66 100644
--- a/frontend/src/erd/handleUtils.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/erd/handleUtils.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 export function sanitizeHandleId(columnName: string): string {
-  const encoded = Array.from(columnName, (char) => {
+  const encoded = Array.from(columnName || '', (char) => {
     // Array.from only yields non-empty Unicode scalars, so codePointAt(0) is defined.
     return char.codePointAt(0)!.toString(16).padStart(4, '0')
   }).join('-')