diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1b442d39..859ff94e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+### Changed
+- Faster test execution: each test file's data-provider annotations are scanned once and cached, replacing a per-test `grep`+`sed` probe with a pure-bash lookup (no behaviour change) (#763)
+
 ## [0.41.0](https://github.com/TypedDevs/bashunit/compare/0.40.0...0.41.0) - 2026-07-11
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/src/helpers.sh b/src/helpers.sh
index 89dad828..4ae08505 100755
--- a/src/helpers.sh
+++ b/src/helpers.sh
@@ -292,29 +292,123 @@ function bashunit::helper::normalize_variable_name() {
   builtin echo "$normalized_string"
 }
 
-function bashunit::helper::get_provider_data() {
-  local function_name="$1"
-  local script="$2"
+# Provider map for the most recently scanned script. Scanning a file once and
+# caching the test-function -> provider-function pairs replaces a per-test
+# grep+sed fork with a pure-bash lookup on the hot path (issue #763).
+_BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_MAP_SCRIPT=""
+_BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_MAP_FNS=()
+_BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_MAP_PROVIDERS=()
+_BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_FN_OUT=""
 
+#
+# Resolves a script path, applying the issue #529 working-dir fallback.
+# Writes the resolved path into _BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_RESOLVED_OUT (empty if unreadable).
+#
+_BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_RESOLVED_OUT=""
+function bashunit::helper::_resolve_provider_script() {
+  local script=$1
   # Handle directory changes in set_up_before_script (issue #529)
-  # If relative path doesn't exist, try with BASHUNIT_WORKING_DIR
   if [ ! -f "$script" ] && [ -n "${BASHUNIT_WORKING_DIR:-}" ]; then
     script="$BASHUNIT_WORKING_DIR/$script"
   fi
-
   if [ ! -f "$script" ]; then
+    _BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_RESOLVED_OUT=""
+    return
+  fi
+  _BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_RESOLVED_OUT=$script
+}
+
+#
+# Scans a script once and caches its test-function -> provider-function pairs.
+# Memoized by resolved path, so repeated calls for the same file do not rescan.
+#
+# @param $1 string Path to the test script
+#
+function bashunit::helper::build_provider_map() {
+  bashunit::helper::_resolve_provider_script "$1"
+  local script=$_BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_RESOLVED_OUT
+
+  if [ -z "$script" ]; then
+    # Unreadable path: reset to an empty map keyed to this argument so a
+    # follow-up lookup returns empty without rescanning.
+    _BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_MAP_SCRIPT="$1"
+    _BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_MAP_FNS=()
+    _BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_MAP_PROVIDERS=()
     return
   fi
 
-  local data_provider_function
-  data_provider_function=$(
-    # shellcheck disable=SC1087
-    grep -B 2 -E "(function[[:space:]]+)?$function_name[[:space:]]*\(\)" "$script" 2>/dev/null |
-      sed -nE 's/^[[:space:]]*# *@?data_provider[[:space:]]+//p'
-  )
+  if [ "$script" = "$_BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_MAP_SCRIPT" ]; then
+    return
+  fi
+
+  _BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_MAP_SCRIPT="$script"
+  _BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_MAP_FNS=()
+  _BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_MAP_PROVIDERS=()
+
+  local count=0
+  local fn provider
+  # Single awk pass emits "<fn>\t<provider>" for every function whose
+  # definition is at most two lines below a `# @data_provider` (or
+  # `# data_provider`) annotation, mirroring the previous grep -B2 + sed.
+  while IFS=$'\t' read -r fn provider; do
+    [ -z "$fn" ] && continue
+    _BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_MAP_FNS[count]="$fn"
+    _BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_MAP_PROVIDERS[count]="$provider"
+    count=$((count + 1))
+  done < <(awk '
+    /^[[:space:]]*#[[:space:]]*@?data_provider[[:space:]]+/ {
+      p = $0
+      sub(/^[[:space:]]*#[[:space:]]*@?data_provider[[:space:]]+/, "", p)
+      sub(/[[:space:]]+$/, "", p)
+      pending = p
+      pending_line = NR
+      next
+    }
+    {
+      if (pending != "" && NR - pending_line <= 2) {
+        if (match($0, /^[[:space:]]*(function[[:space:]]+)?[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_:]*[[:space:]]*\(\)/)) {
+          fn = $0
+          sub(/^[[:space:]]*(function[[:space:]]+)?/, "", fn)
+          sub(/[[:space:]]*\(\).*/, "", fn)
+          printf "%s\t%s\n", fn, pending
+          pending = ""
+        }
+      } else if (pending != "" && NR - pending_line > 2) {
+        pending = ""
+      }
+    }
+  ' "$script" 2>/dev/null)
+}
+
+#
+# Pure-bash lookup against the cached provider map.
+# Writes the provider-function name (or empty) into _BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_FN_OUT.
+#
+# @param $1 string Test-function name
+#
+function bashunit::helper::provider_for_function() {
+  local function_name=$1
+  local i=0
+  local total=${#_BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_MAP_FNS[@]}
+  while [ "$i" -lt "$total" ]; do
+    if [ "${_BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_MAP_FNS[i]}" = "$function_name" ]; then
+      _BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_FN_OUT="${_BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_MAP_PROVIDERS[i]}"
+      return
+    fi
+    i=$((i + 1))
+  done
+  _BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_FN_OUT=""
+}
+
+function bashunit::helper::get_provider_data() {
+  local function_name="$1"
+  local script="$2"
+
+  bashunit::helper::build_provider_map "$script"
+  bashunit::helper::provider_for_function "$function_name"
 
-  if [ -n "$data_provider_function" ]; then
-    bashunit::helper::execute_function_if_exists "$data_provider_function"
+  if [ -n "$_BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_FN_OUT" ]; then
+    bashunit::helper::execute_function_if_exists "$_BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_FN_OUT"
   fi
 }
 
@@ -379,15 +473,19 @@ function bashunit::helper::find_total_tests() {
         local -a provider_data=()
         local provider_data_count=0
         local fn_name line
+        # Scan once; functions without a provider count as 1 with no fork (#763).
+        bashunit::helper::build_provider_map "$file"
         for fn_name in "${functions_to_run[@]+"${functions_to_run[@]}"}"; do
-          provider_data=()
+          bashunit::helper::provider_for_function "$fn_name"
+          if [ -z "$_BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_FN_OUT" ]; then
+            count=$((count + 1))
+            continue
+          fi
           provider_data_count=0
           while IFS=" " read -r line; do
             [ -z "$line" ] && continue
-            # shellcheck disable=SC2034
-            provider_data[provider_data_count]="$line"
             provider_data_count=$((provider_data_count + 1))
-          done <<<"$(bashunit::helper::get_provider_data "$fn_name" "$file")"
+          done <<<"$(bashunit::helper::execute_function_if_exists "$_BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_FN_OUT")"
 
           if [ "$provider_data_count" -eq 0 ]; then
             count=$((count + 1))
diff --git a/src/runner.sh b/src/runner.sh
index fecd388e..c26c26d1 100755
--- a/src/runner.sh
+++ b/src/runner.sh
@@ -767,22 +767,17 @@ function bashunit::runner::call_test_functions() {
   local -a parsed_data=()
   local parsed_data_count=0
 
+  # Scan the file once; per-test provider lookups below are pure-bash (#763).
+  bashunit::helper::build_provider_map "$script"
+
   for fn_name in "${functions_to_run[@]+"${functions_to_run[@]}"}"; do
     if bashunit::parallel::is_enabled && bashunit::parallel::must_stop_on_failure; then
       break
     fi
 
-    provider_data=()
-    provider_data_count=0
-    local line
-    while IFS=" " read -r line; do
-      [ -z "$line" ] && continue
-      provider_data[provider_data_count]="$line"
-      provider_data_count=$((provider_data_count + 1))
-    done <<<"$(bashunit::helper::get_provider_data "$fn_name" "$script")"
-
-    # No data provider found
-    if [ "$provider_data_count" -eq 0 ]; then
+    # No data provider found: run once without forking to capture provider output.
+    bashunit::helper::provider_for_function "$fn_name"
+    if [ -z "$_BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_FN_OUT" ]; then
       if bashunit::parallel::is_enabled && [ "$allow_test_parallel" = true ]; then
         bashunit::runner::wait_for_job_slot
         bashunit::runner::run_test "$script" "$fn_name" &
@@ -793,6 +788,15 @@ function bashunit::runner::call_test_functions() {
       continue
     fi
 
+    provider_data=()
+    provider_data_count=0
+    local line
+    while IFS=" " read -r line; do
+      [ -z "$line" ] && continue
+      provider_data[provider_data_count]="$line"
+      provider_data_count=$((provider_data_count + 1))
+    done <<<"$(bashunit::helper::execute_function_if_exists "$_BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_FN_OUT")"
+
     # Execute the test function for each line of data
     local data
     for data in "${provider_data[@]+"${provider_data[@]}"}"; do
diff --git a/tests/unit/fixtures/provider_map/sample_providers.sh b/tests/unit/fixtures/provider_map/sample_providers.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..296fc79f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/fixtures/provider_map/sample_providers.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Fixture for provider-map scanner tests. Not run as a suite; scanned as text.
+
+# @data_provider provide_at_form
+function test_with_at_annotation() {
+  return 0
+}
+
+# data_provider provide_plain_form
+function test_without_at() {
+  return 0
+}
+
+# @data_provider provide_two_lines_up
+# shellcheck disable=SC2317
+function test_annotation_two_lines_up() {
+  return 0
+}
+
+# @data_provider provide_shared
+function test_shares_provider_one() {
+  return 0
+}
+
+# @data_provider provide_shared
+test_shares_provider_two() {
+  return 0
+}
+
+function test_without_provider() {
+  return 0
+}
diff --git a/tests/unit/helpers_test.sh b/tests/unit/helpers_test.sh
index 7f55c10d..8201b65d 100644
--- a/tests/unit/helpers_test.sh
+++ b/tests/unit/helpers_test.sh
@@ -225,6 +225,51 @@ function test_get_provider_data_should_returns_empty_when_not_exists_provider_fu
     "$(bashunit::helper::get_provider_data "fake_function_get_not_existing_provider_data" "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")"
 }
 
+FIXTURE_PROVIDER_MAP="$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/fixtures/provider_map/sample_providers.sh"
+
+function provider_for() {
+  bashunit::helper::build_provider_map "$1"
+  bashunit::helper::provider_for_function "$2"
+  echo "$_BASHUNIT_PROVIDER_FN_OUT"
+}
+
+function test_provider_map_resolves_at_annotation() {
+  assert_same "provide_at_form" \
+    "$(provider_for "$FIXTURE_PROVIDER_MAP" "test_with_at_annotation")"
+}
+
+function test_provider_map_resolves_plain_annotation_without_at() {
+  assert_same "provide_plain_form" \
+    "$(provider_for "$FIXTURE_PROVIDER_MAP" "test_without_at")"
+}
+
+function test_provider_map_resolves_annotation_two_lines_above_function() {
+  assert_same "provide_two_lines_up" \
+    "$(provider_for "$FIXTURE_PROVIDER_MAP" "test_annotation_two_lines_up")"
+}
+
+function test_provider_map_resolves_shared_provider_for_both_functions() {
+  assert_same "provide_shared" \
+    "$(provider_for "$FIXTURE_PROVIDER_MAP" "test_shares_provider_one")"
+  assert_same "provide_shared" \
+    "$(provider_for "$FIXTURE_PROVIDER_MAP" "test_shares_provider_two")"
+}
+
+function test_provider_map_returns_empty_when_function_has_no_provider() {
+  assert_same "" \
+    "$(provider_for "$FIXTURE_PROVIDER_MAP" "test_without_provider")"
+}
+
+function test_provider_map_returns_empty_for_unknown_function() {
+  assert_same "" \
+    "$(provider_for "$FIXTURE_PROVIDER_MAP" "test_does_not_exist")"
+}
+
+function test_provider_map_returns_empty_for_unreadable_script() {
+  assert_same "" \
+    "$(provider_for "/no/such/path/nope_test.sh" "test_with_at_annotation")"
+}
+
 function test_left_trim() {
   assert_same "foo" "$(bashunit::helper::trim "       foo")"
 }