diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4400cbfdc..37499c178 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,137 +1,139 @@
 TMPL_DIR := templates-cfg
 OP_TMPL_DIR := templates-op
 BUILD_DIR := build
 DATA_DIR := data
 SHIM_DIR := src/shim
 XDP_DIR := src/xdp
 LIBS := -lzmq
 CFLAGS :=
 BUILD_ARCH := $(shell dpkg-architecture -q DEB_BUILD_ARCH)
 
 J2LINT := $(shell command -v j2lint 2> /dev/null)
 
 config_xml_src = $(wildcard interface-definitions/*.xml.in)
 config_xml_obj = $(config_xml_src:.xml.in=.xml)
 op_xml_src = $(wildcard op-mode-definitions/*.xml.in)
 op_xml_obj = $(op_xml_src:.xml.in=.xml)
 
 %.xml: %.xml.in
 	@echo Generating $(BUILD_DIR)/$@ from $<
 	mkdir -p $(BUILD_DIR)/$(dir $@)
 	$(CURDIR)/scripts/transclude-template $< > $(BUILD_DIR)/$@
 
 .PHONY: interface_definitions
 .ONESHELL:
 interface_definitions: $(config_xml_obj)
 	mkdir -p $(TMPL_DIR)
 
 	$(CURDIR)/scripts/override-default $(BUILD_DIR)/interface-definitions
 
+	$(CURDIR)/python/vyos/xml_ref/generate_cache.py --xml-dir $(BUILD_DIR)/interface-definitions
+
 	find $(BUILD_DIR)/interface-definitions -type f -name "*.xml" | xargs -I {} $(CURDIR)/scripts/build-command-templates {} $(CURDIR)/schema/interface_definition.rng $(TMPL_DIR) || exit 1
 
 	# XXX: delete top level node.def's that now live in other packages
 	# IPSec VPN EAP-RADIUS does not support source-address
 	rm -rf $(TMPL_DIR)/vpn/ipsec/remote-access/radius/source-address
 
 	# T2472 - EIGRP support
 	rm -rf $(TMPL_DIR)/protocols/eigrp
 	# T2773 - EIGRP support for VRF
 	rm -rf $(TMPL_DIR)/vrf/name/node.tag/protocols/eigrp
 
 	# XXX: test if there are empty node.def files - this is not allowed as these
 	# could mask help strings or mandatory priority statements
 	find $(TMPL_DIR) -name node.def -type f -empty -exec false {} + || sh -c 'echo "There are empty node.def files! Check your interface definitions." && exit 1'
 
 ifeq ($(BUILD_ARCH),arm64)
 	# There is currently no telegraf support in VyOS for ARM64, remove CLI definitions
 	rm -rf $(TMPL_DIR)/service/monitoring/telegraf
 endif
 
 .PHONY: op_mode_definitions
 .ONESHELL:
 op_mode_definitions: $(op_xml_obj)
 	mkdir -p $(OP_TMPL_DIR)
 
 	find $(BUILD_DIR)/op-mode-definitions/ -type f -name "*.xml" | xargs -I {} $(CURDIR)/scripts/build-command-op-templates {} $(CURDIR)/schema/op-mode-definition.rng $(OP_TMPL_DIR) || exit 1
 
 	# XXX: delete top level op mode node.def's that now live in other packages
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/add/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/clear/interfaces/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/clear/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/delete/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/generate/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/monitor/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/set/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/show/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/show/system/node.def
 	rm -f $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/show/tech-support/node.def
 
 	# XXX: ping and traceroute must be able to recursivly call itself as the
 	# options are provided from the script itself
 	ln -s ../node.tag $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/ping/node.tag/node.tag/
 	ln -s ../node.tag $(OP_TMPL_DIR)/traceroute/node.tag/node.tag/
 
 	# XXX: test if there are empty node.def files - this is not allowed as these
 	# could mask help strings or mandatory priority statements
 	find $(OP_TMPL_DIR) -name node.def -type f -empty -exec false {} + || sh -c 'echo "There are empty node.def files! Check your interface definitions." && exit 1'
 
 .PHONY: vyshim
 vyshim:
 	$(MAKE) -C $(SHIM_DIR)
 
 .PHONY: vyxdp
 vyxdp:
 	$(MAKE) -C $(XDP_DIR)
 
 .PHONY: all
 all: clean interface_definitions op_mode_definitions check test j2lint vyshim
 
 .PHONY: check
 .ONESHELL:
 check:
 	@echo "Checking which CLI scripts are not enabled to work with vyos-configd..."
 	@for file in `ls src/conf_mode -I__pycache__`
 	do
 		if ! grep -q $$file data/configd-include.json; then
 			echo "* $$file"
 		fi
 	done
 
 .PHONY: clean
 clean:
 	rm -rf $(BUILD_DIR)
 	rm -rf $(TMPL_DIR)
 	rm -rf $(OP_TMPL_DIR)
 	$(MAKE) -C $(SHIM_DIR) clean
 	$(MAKE) -C $(XDP_DIR) clean
 
 .PHONY: test
 test:
 	set -e; python3 -m compileall -q -x '/vmware-tools/scripts/, /ppp/' .
 	PYTHONPATH=python/ python3 -m "nose" --with-xunit src --with-coverage --cover-erase --cover-xml --cover-package src/conf_mode,src/op_mode,src/completion,src/helpers,src/validators,src/tests --verbose
 
 .PHONY: j2lint
 j2lint:
 ifndef J2LINT
 	$(error "j2lint binary not found, consider installing: pip install git+https://github.com/aristanetworks/j2lint.git@341b5d5db86")
 endif
 	$(J2LINT) data/
 
 .PHONY: sonar
 sonar:
 	sonar-scanner -X -Dsonar.login=${SONAR_TOKEN}
 
 .PHONY: docs
 .ONESHELL:
 docs:
 	sphinx-apidoc -o sphinx/source/  python/
 	cd sphinx/
 	PYTHONPATH=../python make html
 
 deb:
 	dpkg-buildpackage -uc -us -tc -b
 
 .PHONY: schema
 schema:
 	trang -I rnc -O rng schema/interface_definition.rnc schema/interface_definition.rng
 	trang -I rnc -O rng schema/op-mode-definition.rnc schema/op-mode-definition.rng
diff --git a/python/vyos/xml_ref/generate_cache.py b/python/vyos/xml_ref/generate_cache.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..792c6eea7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/vyos/xml_ref/generate_cache.py
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2023 VyOS maintainers and contributors
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 or later as
+# published by the Free Software Foundation.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+#
+
+import sys
+import json
+import argparse
+from os.path import join
+from os.path import abspath
+from os.path import dirname
+from xmltodict import parse
+
+_here = dirname(__file__)
+
+sys.path.append(join(_here, '..'))
+from configtree import reference_tree_to_json, ConfigTreeError
+
+xml_cache = abspath(join(_here, 'cache.py'))
+xml_cache_json = 'xml_cache.json'
+xml_tmp = join('/tmp', xml_cache_json)
+
+node_data_fields = ("node_type", "multi", "valueless", "default_value")
+
+def trim_node_data(cache: dict):
+    for k in list(cache):
+        if k == "node_data":
+            for l in list(cache[k]):
+                if l not in node_data_fields:
+                    del cache[k][l]
+        else:
+            if isinstance(cache[k], dict):
+                trim_node_data(cache[k])
+
+def main():
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='generate and save dict from xml defintions')
+    parser.add_argument('--xml-dir', type=str, required=True,
+                        help='transcluded xml interface-definition directory')
+    parser.add_argument('--save-json-dir', type=str,
+                        help='directory to save json cache if needed')
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    xml_dir = abspath(args.xml_dir)
+    save_dir = abspath(args.save_json_dir) if args.save_json_dir else None
+
+    try:
+        reference_tree_to_json(xml_dir, xml_tmp)
+    except ConfigTreeError as e:
+        print(e)
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    with open(xml_tmp) as f:
+        d = json.loads(f.read())
+
+    trim_node_data(d)
+
+    if save_dir is not None:
+        save_file = join(save_dir, xml_cache_json)
+        with open(save_file, 'w') as f:
+            f.write(json.dumps(d))
+
+    syntax_version = join(xml_dir, 'xml-component-version.xml')
+    with open(syntax_version) as f:
+        content = f.read()
+
+    parsed = parse(content)
+    converted = parsed['interfaceDefinition']['syntaxVersion']
+    version = {}
+    for i in converted:
+        tmp = {i['@component']: i['@version']}
+        version |= tmp
+
+    version = {"component_version": version}
+
+    d |= version
+
+    with open(xml_cache, 'w') as f:
+        f.write(f'reference = {str(d)}')
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()