diff --git a/config/stache.php b/config/stache.php
index 2d2ec830d36..fa739311ece 100644
--- a/config/stache.php
+++ b/config/stache.php
@@ -140,4 +140,27 @@
         'timeout' => 30,
     ],
 
+    /*
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    | Warming Optimization
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    |
+    | These options control performance optimizations during Stache warming.
+    |
+    */
+
+    'warming' => [
+        // Enable parallel store processing for faster warming on multi-core systems
+        'parallel_processing' => env('STATAMIC_STACHE_PARALLEL_WARMING', false),
+
+        // Maximum number of parallel processes (0 = auto-detect CPU cores)
+        'max_processes' => env('STATAMIC_STACHE_MAX_PROCESSES', 0),
+
+        // Minimum number of stores required to enable parallel processing
+        'min_stores_for_parallel' => env('STATAMIC_STACHE_MIN_STORES_PARALLEL', 3),
+
+        // Concurrency driver: 'process', 'fork', or 'sync'
+        'concurrency_driver' => env('STATAMIC_STACHE_CONCURRENCY_DRIVER', 'process'),
+    ],
+
 ];
diff --git a/src/Dictionaries/BasicDictionary.php b/src/Dictionaries/BasicDictionary.php
index 52e2f7363c3..77cb0d672a5 100644
--- a/src/Dictionaries/BasicDictionary.php
+++ b/src/Dictionaries/BasicDictionary.php
@@ -58,8 +58,11 @@ protected function matchesSearchQuery(string $query, Item $item): bool
     {
         $query = strtolower($query);
 
+        // Pre-compute searchable lookup for O(1) access instead of O(n) in_array()
+        $searchableLookup = empty($this->searchable) ? null : array_flip($this->searchable);
+
         foreach ($item->extra() as $key => $value) {
-            if (! empty($this->searchable) && ! in_array($key, $this->searchable)) {
+            if ($searchableLookup !== null && ! isset($searchableLookup[$key])) {
                 continue;
             }
 
diff --git a/src/Stache/Indexes/Terms/Value.php b/src/Stache/Indexes/Terms/Value.php
index a5e13a48575..817510f505e 100644
--- a/src/Stache/Indexes/Terms/Value.php
+++ b/src/Stache/Indexes/Terms/Value.php
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ class Value extends Index
     public function getItems()
     {
         $associatedItems = $this->store->index('associations')->items()
+            ->filter()
             ->mapWithKeys(function ($association) {
                 $term = Term::make($value = $association['slug'])
                     ->taxonomy($this->store->childKey())
diff --git a/src/Stache/Query/Builder.php b/src/Stache/Query/Builder.php
index e4e1eabe06e..f1e89825c36 100644
--- a/src/Stache/Query/Builder.php
+++ b/src/Stache/Query/Builder.php
@@ -157,16 +157,20 @@ protected function filterWhereBasic($values, $where)
 
     protected function filterWhereIn($values, $where)
     {
-        return $values->filter(function ($value) use ($where) {
-            return in_array($value, $where['values']);
-        });
+        $lookup = array_flip($where['values']);
+
+        return $values->filter(
+            fn ($value) => isset($lookup[$value])
+        );
     }
 
     protected function filterWhereNotIn($values, $where)
     {
-        return $values->filter(function ($value) use ($where) {
-            return ! in_array($value, $where['values']);
-        });
+        $lookup = array_flip($where['values']);
+
+        return $values->filter(
+            fn ($value) => ! isset($lookup[$value])
+        );
     }
 
     protected function filterWhereNull($values, $where)
diff --git a/src/Stache/Repositories/EntryRepository.php b/src/Stache/Repositories/EntryRepository.php
index fe82fde6c07..9c0fe65e812 100644
--- a/src/Stache/Repositories/EntryRepository.php
+++ b/src/Stache/Repositories/EntryRepository.php
@@ -98,7 +98,16 @@ public function findByUri(string $uri, ?string $site = null): ?Entry
 
     public function whereInId($ids): EntryCollection
     {
+        if (empty($ids)) {
+            return EntryCollection::make();
+        }
+
         $entries = $this->query()->whereIn('id', $ids)->get();
+
+        if ($entries->isEmpty()) {
+            return EntryCollection::make();
+        }
+
         $entriesById = $entries->keyBy->id();
 
         $ordered = collect($ids)
@@ -175,6 +184,10 @@ public function substitute($item)
 
     public function applySubstitutions($items)
     {
+        if (empty($this->substitutionsById)) {
+            return $items;
+        }
+
         return $items->map(function ($item) {
             return $this->substitutionsById[$item->id()] ?? $item;
         });
diff --git a/src/Stache/Repositories/SubmissionRepository.php b/src/Stache/Repositories/SubmissionRepository.php
index f10396aaef6..15e9f430af7 100644
--- a/src/Stache/Repositories/SubmissionRepository.php
+++ b/src/Stache/Repositories/SubmissionRepository.php
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ public function whereForm(string $handle): Collection
 
     public function whereInForm(array $handles): Collection
     {
+        if (empty($handles)) {
+            return collect();
+        }
+
         return $this->query()->whereIn('form', $handles)->get();
     }
 
diff --git a/src/Stache/Repositories/TermRepository.php b/src/Stache/Repositories/TermRepository.php
index 2e4fb08ed36..ff0cc578e4a 100644
--- a/src/Stache/Repositories/TermRepository.php
+++ b/src/Stache/Repositories/TermRepository.php
@@ -47,6 +47,10 @@ public function whereTaxonomy(string $handle): TermCollection
 
     public function whereInTaxonomy(array $handles): TermCollection
     {
+        if (empty($handles)) {
+            return TermCollection::make();
+        }
+
         collect($handles)
             ->reject(fn ($taxonomy) => Taxonomy::find($taxonomy))
             ->each(fn ($taxonomy) => throw new TaxonomyNotFoundException($taxonomy));
@@ -199,6 +203,10 @@ public function substitute($item)
 
     public function applySubstitutions($items)
     {
+        if (empty($this->substitutionsById)) {
+            return $items;
+        }
+
         return $items->map(function ($item) {
             return $this->substitutionsById[$item->id()] ?? $item;
         });
diff --git a/src/Stache/Stache.php b/src/Stache/Stache.php
index e130ae8d7a6..3a5c2fc03e3 100644
--- a/src/Stache/Stache.php
+++ b/src/Stache/Stache.php
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 use Carbon\Carbon;
 use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Cache;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Concurrency;
 use Statamic\Events\StacheCleared;
 use Statamic\Events\StacheWarmed;
 use Statamic\Extensions\FileStore;
@@ -118,7 +119,13 @@ public function warm()
 
         $this->startTimer();
 
-        $this->stores()->except($this->exclude)->each->warm();
+        $stores = $this->stores()->except($this->exclude);
+
+        if ($this->shouldUseParallelWarming($stores)) {
+            $this->warmInParallel($stores);
+        } else {
+            $stores->each->warm();
+        }
 
         $this->stopTimer();
 
@@ -232,4 +239,80 @@ public function isWatcherEnabled(): bool
             ? app()->isLocal()
             : (bool) $config;
     }
+
+    protected function shouldUseParallelWarming($stores): bool
+    {
+        $config = config('statamic.stache.warming', []);
+
+        if (! ($config['parallel_processing'] ?? false)) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if ($stores->count() < ($config['min_stores_for_parallel'] ?? 3)) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if ($this->getCpuCoreCount() < 2) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        // Disable parallel processing if using Redis cache (serialization issues)
+        $cacheDriver = config('statamic.stache.cache_store', config('cache.default'));
+        if ($cacheDriver === 'redis') {
+            \Log::info('Parallel warming disabled due to Redis cache driver');
+
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    protected function warmInParallel($stores)
+    {
+        try {
+            $config = config('statamic.stache.warming', []);
+            $maxProcesses = $config['max_processes'] ?? 0;
+
+            if ($maxProcesses <= 0) {
+                $maxProcesses = $this->getCpuCoreCount();
+            }
+
+            $maxProcesses = min($maxProcesses, $stores->count());
+
+            $chunkSize = (int) ceil($stores->count() / $maxProcesses);
+            $chunks = $stores->chunk($chunkSize);
+
+            $closures = $chunks->map(function ($chunk) {
+                return function () use ($chunk) {
+                    return $chunk->each->warm()->keys()->all();
+                };
+            })->all();
+
+            $driver = $config['concurrency_driver'] ?? 'process';
+
+            if (empty($closures)) {
+                \Log::info('Closures are empty, skipping parallel warming');
+            }
+
+            Concurrency::driver($driver)->run($closures);
+        } catch (\Exception $e) {
+            \Log::warning('Parallel warming failed, falling back to sequential: '.$e->getMessage());
+            $stores->each->warm();
+        }
+    }
+
+    protected function getCpuCoreCount(): int
+    {
+        if (! function_exists('shell_exec')) {
+            return 1;
+        }
+
+        $command = match (PHP_OS_FAMILY) {
+            'Windows' => 'echo %NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS%',
+            'Darwin' => 'sysctl -n hw.ncpu 2>/dev/null || echo 1',
+            default => 'nproc 2>/dev/null || echo 1',
+        };
+
+        return max(1, (int) shell_exec($command));
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/Stache/Stores/Store.php b/src/Stache/Stores/Store.php
index 6b14619e7aa..a6a144fcaa5 100644
--- a/src/Stache/Stores/Store.php
+++ b/src/Stache/Stores/Store.php
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 namespace Statamic\Stache\Stores;
 
 use Facades\Statamic\Stache\Traverser;
-use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Cache;
 use Statamic\Facades\File;
 use Statamic\Facades\Path;
 use Statamic\Facades\Stache;
diff --git a/src/Stache/Traverser.php b/src/Stache/Traverser.php
index 84723f0534f..3e3e5bbeebe 100644
--- a/src/Stache/Traverser.php
+++ b/src/Stache/Traverser.php
@@ -2,19 +2,13 @@
 
 namespace Statamic\Stache;
 
-use Illuminate\Filesystem\Filesystem;
 use Statamic\Facades\Path;
+use Symfony\Component\Finder\Finder;
 
 class Traverser
 {
-    protected $filesystem;
     protected $filter;
 
-    public function __construct(Filesystem $filesystem)
-    {
-        $this->filesystem = $filesystem;
-    }
-
     public function traverse($store)
     {
         if (! $dir = $store->directory()) {
@@ -23,20 +17,22 @@ public function traverse($store)
 
         $dir = rtrim($dir, '/');
 
-        if (! $this->filesystem->exists($dir)) {
+        if (! file_exists($dir)) {
             return collect();
         }
 
-        $files = collect($this->filesystem->allFiles($dir));
+        $files = Finder::create()->files()->ignoreDotFiles(true)->in($dir)->sortByName();
+
+        $paths = [];
+        foreach ($files as $file) {
+            if ($this->filter && ! call_user_func($this->filter, $file)) {
+                continue;
+            }
 
-        if ($this->filter) {
-            $files = $files->filter($this->filter);
+            $paths[Path::tidy($file->getPathname())] = $file->getMTime();
         }
 
-        return $files
-            ->mapWithKeys(function ($file) {
-                return [Path::tidy($file->getPathname()) => $file->getMTime()];
-            })->sort();
+        return collect($paths)->sort();
     }
 
     public function filter($filter)
diff --git a/tests/Stache/TraverserTest.php b/tests/Stache/TraverserTest.php
index db57da10fb0..26d241fb766 100644
--- a/tests/Stache/TraverserTest.php
+++ b/tests/Stache/TraverserTest.php
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ public function setUp(): void
         $this->tempDir = __DIR__.'/tmp';
         mkdir($this->tempDir);
 
-        $this->traverser = new Traverser(new Filesystem);
+        $this->traverser = new Traverser();
     }
 
     public function tearDown(): void