diff --git a/app.py b/app.py
index bd859467..3db878c5 100644
--- a/app.py
+++ b/app.py
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@
 from trellis.representations import Gaussian, MeshExtractResult
 from trellis.utils import render_utils, postprocessing_utils
 
+# initialize pipeline at module level
+pipeline = TrellisImageTo3DPipeline.from_pretrained("microsoft/TRELLIS-image-large")
+pipeline.cuda()
 
 MAX_SEED = np.iinfo(np.int32).max
 TMP_DIR = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)), 'tmp')
@@ -398,6 +401,4 @@ def split_image(image: Image.Image) -> List[Image.Image]:
 
 # Launch the Gradio app
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    pipeline = TrellisImageTo3DPipeline.from_pretrained("microsoft/TRELLIS-image-large")
-    pipeline.cuda()
     demo.launch()