diff --git a/invokeai/app/api_app.py b/invokeai/app/api_app.py
index dbd861b2d3..9cfebbdca1 100644
--- a/invokeai/app/api_app.py
+++ b/invokeai/app/api_app.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ from invokeai.app.api.routers import (
     workflows,
 )
 from invokeai.app.api.sockets import SocketIO
+from invokeai.app.invocations.load_custom_nodes import load_custom_nodes
 from invokeai.app.services.config.config_default import get_config
 from invokeai.app.util.custom_openapi import get_openapi_func
 from invokeai.backend.util.devices import TorchDevice
@@ -63,6 +64,11 @@ loop = asyncio.new_event_loop()
 # the correct port when the server starts in the lifespan handler.
 port = app_config.port
 
+# Load custom nodes. This must be done after importing the Graph class, which itself imports all modules from the
+# invocations module. The ordering here is implicit, but important - we want to load custom nodes after all the
+# core nodes have been imported so that we can catch when a custom node clobbers a core node.
+load_custom_nodes(custom_nodes_path=app_config.custom_nodes_path)
+
 
 @asynccontextmanager
 async def lifespan(app: FastAPI):
diff --git a/invokeai/app/invocations/__init__.py b/invokeai/app/invocations/__init__.py
index 9a49c2204f..c8d6443752 100644
--- a/invokeai/app/invocations/__init__.py
+++ b/invokeai/app/invocations/__init__.py
@@ -1,33 +1,5 @@
-import shutil
-import sys
-from importlib.util import module_from_spec, spec_from_file_location
 from pathlib import Path
 
-from invokeai.app.services.config.config_default import get_config
-
-custom_nodes_path = Path(get_config().custom_nodes_path)
-custom_nodes_path.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-
-custom_nodes_init_path = str(custom_nodes_path / "__init__.py")
-custom_nodes_readme_path = str(custom_nodes_path / "README.md")
-
-# copy our custom nodes __init__.py to the custom nodes directory
-shutil.copy(Path(__file__).parent / "custom_nodes/init.py", custom_nodes_init_path)
-shutil.copy(Path(__file__).parent / "custom_nodes/README.md", custom_nodes_readme_path)
-
-# set the same permissions as the destination directory, in case our source is read-only,
-# so that the files are user-writable
-for p in custom_nodes_path.glob("**/*"):
-    p.chmod(custom_nodes_path.stat().st_mode)
-
-# Import custom nodes, see https://docs.python.org/3/library/importlib.html#importing-programmatically
-spec = spec_from_file_location("custom_nodes", custom_nodes_init_path)
-if spec is None or spec.loader is None:
-    raise RuntimeError(f"Could not load custom nodes from {custom_nodes_init_path}")
-module = module_from_spec(spec)
-sys.modules[spec.name] = module
-spec.loader.exec_module(module)
-
 # add core nodes to __all__
 python_files = filter(lambda f: not f.name.startswith("_"), Path(__file__).parent.glob("*.py"))
 __all__ = [f.stem for f in python_files]  # type: ignore
diff --git a/invokeai/app/invocations/load_custom_nodes.py b/invokeai/app/invocations/load_custom_nodes.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..993237478e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/invokeai/app/invocations/load_custom_nodes.py
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+import shutil
+import sys
+from importlib.util import module_from_spec, spec_from_file_location
+from pathlib import Path
+
+
+def load_custom_nodes(custom_nodes_path: Path):
+    """
+    Loads all custom nodes from the custom_nodes_path directory.
+
+    This function copies a custom __init__.py file to the custom_nodes_path directory, effectively turning it into a
+    python module.
+
+    The custom __init__.py file itself imports all the custom node packs as python modules from the custom_nodes_path
+    directory.
+
+    Then,the custom __init__.py file is programmatically imported using importlib. As it executes, it imports all the
+    custom node packs as python modules.
+    """
+    custom_nodes_path.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+
+    custom_nodes_init_path = str(custom_nodes_path / "__init__.py")
+    custom_nodes_readme_path = str(custom_nodes_path / "README.md")
+
+    # copy our custom nodes __init__.py to the custom nodes directory
+    shutil.copy(Path(__file__).parent / "custom_nodes/init.py", custom_nodes_init_path)
+    shutil.copy(Path(__file__).parent / "custom_nodes/README.md", custom_nodes_readme_path)
+
+    # set the same permissions as the destination directory, in case our source is read-only,
+    # so that the files are user-writable
+    for p in custom_nodes_path.glob("**/*"):
+        p.chmod(custom_nodes_path.stat().st_mode)
+
+    # Import custom nodes, see https://docs.python.org/3/library/importlib.html#importing-programmatically
+    spec = spec_from_file_location("custom_nodes", custom_nodes_init_path)
+    if spec is None or spec.loader is None:
+        raise RuntimeError(f"Could not load custom nodes from {custom_nodes_init_path}")
+    module = module_from_spec(spec)
+    sys.modules[spec.name] = module
+    spec.loader.exec_module(module)