diff --git a/api/internal/plugins/loader/load_go_plugin.go b/api/internal/plugins/loader/load_go_plugin.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3757cfc64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/internal/plugins/loader/load_go_plugin.go
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+// Copyright 2024 The Kubernetes Authors.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+//go:build !kustomize_disable_go_plugin_support
+
+package loader
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"log"
+	"plugin"
+	"reflect"
+
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/internal/plugins/utils"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/konfig"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/resmap"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/kyaml/errors"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/kyaml/resid"
+)
+
+// registry is a means to avoid trying to load the same .so file
+// into memory more than once, which results in an error.
+// Each test makes its own loader, and tries to load its own plugins,
+// but the loaded .so files are in shared memory, so one will get
+// "this plugin already loaded" errors if the registry is maintained
+// as a Loader instance variable.  So make it a package variable.
+var registry = make(map[string]resmap.Configurable) //nolint:gochecknoglobals
+
+func copyPlugin(c resmap.Configurable) resmap.Configurable {
+	indirect := reflect.Indirect(reflect.ValueOf(c))
+	newIndirect := reflect.New(indirect.Type())
+	newIndirect.Elem().Set(reflect.ValueOf(indirect.Interface()))
+	newNamed := newIndirect.Interface()
+	return newNamed.(resmap.Configurable) //nolint:forcetypeassert
+}
+
+func (l *Loader) loadGoPlugin(id resid.ResId, absPath string) (resmap.Configurable, error) {
+	regId := relativePluginPath(id)
+	if c, ok := registry[regId]; ok {
+		return copyPlugin(c), nil
+	}
+	if !utils.FileExists(absPath) {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf(
+			"expected file with Go object code at: %s", absPath)
+	}
+	log.Printf("Attempting plugin load from %q", absPath)
+	p, err := plugin.Open(absPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, errors.WrapPrefixf(err, "plugin %s fails to load", absPath)
+	}
+	symbol, err := p.Lookup(konfig.PluginSymbol)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, errors.WrapPrefixf(
+			err, "plugin %s doesn't have symbol %s",
+			regId, konfig.PluginSymbol)
+	}
+	c, ok := symbol.(resmap.Configurable)
+	if !ok {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("plugin %q not configurable", regId)
+	}
+	registry[regId] = c
+	return copyPlugin(c), nil
+}
diff --git a/api/internal/plugins/loader/load_go_plugin_disabled.go b/api/internal/plugins/loader/load_go_plugin_disabled.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..654e22da3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/internal/plugins/loader/load_go_plugin_disabled.go
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+// Copyright 2024 The Kubernetes Authors.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+// The build tag "kustomize_disable_go_plugin_support" is used to deactivate the
+// kustomize API's dependency on the "plugins" package. This is beneficial for
+// applications that need to embed it but do not have requirements for dynamic
+// Go plugins.
+// Including plugins as a dependency can lead to an increase in binary size due
+// to the population of ELF's sections such as .dynsym and .dynstr.
+// By utilizing this flag, applications have the flexibility to exclude the
+// import if they do not require support for dynamic Go plugins.
+//go:build kustomize_disable_go_plugin_support
+
+package loader
+
+import (
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/resmap"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/kyaml/errors"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/kyaml/resid"
+)
+
+func (l *Loader) loadGoPlugin(_ resid.ResId, _ string) (resmap.Configurable, error) {
+	return nil, errors.New("plugin load is disabled")
+}
diff --git a/api/internal/plugins/loader/loader.go b/api/internal/plugins/loader/loader.go
index 1758e5cf6..e494df767 100644
--- a/api/internal/plugins/loader/loader.go
+++ b/api/internal/plugins/loader/loader.go
@@ -5,18 +5,14 @@ package loader
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"log"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
-	"plugin"
-	"reflect"
 	"strings"
 
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/ifc"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/internal/plugins/builtinhelpers"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/internal/plugins/execplugin"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/internal/plugins/fnplugin"
-	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/internal/plugins/utils"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/konfig"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/resmap"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/resource"
@@ -287,46 +283,3 @@ func (l *Loader) loadExecOrGoPlugin(resId resid.ResId) (resmap.Configurable, err
 	return c, nil
 }
 
-// registry is a means to avoid trying to load the same .so file
-// into memory more than once, which results in an error.
-// Each test makes its own loader, and tries to load its own plugins,
-// but the loaded .so files are in shared memory, so one will get
-// "this plugin already loaded" errors if the registry is maintained
-// as a Loader instance variable.  So make it a package variable.
-var registry = make(map[string]resmap.Configurable)
-
-func (l *Loader) loadGoPlugin(id resid.ResId, absPath string) (resmap.Configurable, error) {
-	regId := relativePluginPath(id)
-	if c, ok := registry[regId]; ok {
-		return copyPlugin(c), nil
-	}
-	if !utils.FileExists(absPath) {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf(
-			"expected file with Go object code at: %s", absPath)
-	}
-	log.Printf("Attempting plugin load from '%s'", absPath)
-	p, err := plugin.Open(absPath)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, errors.WrapPrefixf(err, "plugin %s fails to load", absPath)
-	}
-	symbol, err := p.Lookup(konfig.PluginSymbol)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, errors.WrapPrefixf(
-			err, "plugin %s doesn't have symbol %s",
-			regId, konfig.PluginSymbol)
-	}
-	c, ok := symbol.(resmap.Configurable)
-	if !ok {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("plugin '%s' not configurable", regId)
-	}
-	registry[regId] = c
-	return copyPlugin(c), nil
-}
-
-func copyPlugin(c resmap.Configurable) resmap.Configurable {
-	indirect := reflect.Indirect(reflect.ValueOf(c))
-	newIndirect := reflect.New(indirect.Type())
-	newIndirect.Elem().Set(reflect.ValueOf(indirect.Interface()))
-	newNamed := newIndirect.Interface()
-	return newNamed.(resmap.Configurable)
-}