Audit performance

Performance Audit Skill

Systematic approach to finding and fixing performance issues. Research-driven, data-backed.

Step 0: Gather Performance Data

Before optimizing, measure. Collect data from multiple sources.

Production Data (Sentry)

If Sentry performance monitoring is enabled, fetch real production metrics:

sentry:search_events
{
 "organizationSlug": "<ORG_SLUG>",
 "projectSlug": "<PROJECT_SLUG>",
 "regionUrl": "<REGION_URL>",
 "query": "slowest transactions by p95 duration in last 7 days",
 "limit": 20
}

sentry:search_events
{
 "organizationSlug": "<ORG_SLUG>",
 "projectSlug": "<PROJECT_SLUG>",
 "regionUrl": "<REGION_URL>",
 "query": "web vitals LCP INP CLS performance scores in last 7 days",
 "limit": 20
}

Check for performance-related issues:

sentry:search_issues
{
 "organizationSlug": "<ORG_SLUG>",
 "projectSlugOrId": "<PROJECT_SLUG>",
 "regionUrl": "<REGION_URL>",
 "query": "performance issues slow queries N+1 in last 30 days",
 "limit": 20
}

Research Current Benchmarks

Fetch current performance targets:

firecrawl:firecrawl_search
{
 "query": "web vitals thresholds good score <current year>",
 "limit": 3,
 "sources": [{ "type": "web" }]
}

---

Performance Targets

Core Web Vitals

Metric	Good	Needs Work	Poor
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)	<2.5s	2.5-4s	>4s
INP (Interaction to Next Paint)	<200ms	200-500ms	>500ms
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)	<0.1	0.1-0.25	>0.25

Other Key Metrics

• TTFB (Time to First Byte): <200ms
• FCP (First Contentful Paint): <1.8s
• TTI (Time to Interactive): <3.8s

---

Frontend Performance Audit

Bundle Size Analysis

npm run build -- --analyze # framework-specific
npx source-map-explorer 'dist/**/*.js'

Checklist:

• Total bundle <200KB gzipped
• No single chunk >100KB gzipped
• Tree shaking working (no unused exports in bundle)
• Heavy libraries lazy-loaded (charts, editors, maps)
• No moment.js (use date-fns or dayjs)
• No lodash full import (use lodash-es or specific imports)

Code Splitting

• Route-based splitting (each page loads its own chunk)
• Component-level splitting for heavy components (lazy() / dynamic())
• Below-fold content deferred

Image Optimization

• WebP/AVIF format used (not PNG/JPEG for photos)
• Images sized appropriately (not serving 4K to mobile)
• loading="lazy" on below-fold images
• Responsive srcSet for different screen sizes
• Image CDN used (Cloudinary, imgix, Vercel Image Optimization)

React Performance (if applicable)

• No unnecessary re-renders (React DevTools Profiler)
• memo() on expensive components that receive stable props
• useMemo() for expensive computations
• useCallback() for callbacks passed to memoized children
• Long lists virtualized (react-window, @tanstack/react-virtual)
• No inline object/array creation in JSX props
• Context providers scoped narrowly (not wrapping entire app for local state)

CSS Performance

• No layout thrashing (reads before writes)
• Animations use transform/opacity (GPU-accelerated)
• No @import chains (bundled instead)
• Critical CSS inlined for above-fold content
• Fonts subset and preloaded (<link rel="preload">)

---

Backend Performance Audit

Database Queries

N+1 Detection:

// BAD: N+1
const users = await User.findAll();
for (const user of users) {
 const orders = await Order.findByUserId(user.id);
}

// GOOD: eager loading
const users = await User.findAll({ include: [Order] });

Checklist:

• N+1 queries eliminated (eager loading, joins, batch loading)
• Indexes on frequently queried columns (WHERE, JOIN, ORDER BY)
• SELECT only needed columns (no SELECT *)
• Pagination on all list endpoints
• Connection pooling configured
• Slow query logging enabled

Index verification:

EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM orders WHERE user_id = '123';

API Response Optimization

• Response compression enabled (gzip/brotli)
• Appropriate cache headers (Cache-Control, ETag)
• No over-fetching (return only what the client needs)
• Pagination for list endpoints
• Response time <200ms for p95

Caching Strategy

Layer	Tool	TTL	Use For
Browser	Cache-Control headers	Varies	Static assets, API responses
CDN	Vercel/CloudFront/Cloudflare	1h-1d	Static pages, images
API	Redis/Memcached	5m-1h	Expensive queries, computed data
ORM	Query cache	1m-5m	Repeated identical queries

Network Optimization

• CDN for static assets
• HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 enabled
• Preconnect to critical origins (<link rel="preconnect">)
• DNS prefetch for third-party domains
• API calls batched where possible (GraphQL, DataLoader)

---

Research-Driven Optimization

For specific performance bottlenecks, research current solutions:

firecrawl:firecrawl_search
{
 "query": "<framework> <specific bottleneck> performance optimization <current year>",
 "limit": 5,
 "sources": [{ "type": "web" }]
}

Then deep-read the best result:

firecrawl:firecrawl_scrape
{
 "url": "<best-result-url>",
 "formats": ["markdown"],
 "onlyMainContent": true
}

Check official framework docs via Context7:

context7:resolve-library-id
{
 "libraryName": "<framework>",
 "query": "performance optimization"
}

---

Quick Wins (Highest Impact, Lowest Effort)

Issue	Solution	Impact
Large bundle	Code split routes, lazy load heavy libs	High
Slow images	WebP + lazy load + responsive	High
No caching	Add Cache-Control headers	High
N+1 queries	Eager load / batch	High
Missing indexes	Add database indexes	High
Unoptimized fonts	Subset + preload + font-display:swap	Medium
No compression	Enable gzip/brotli	Medium
Expensive re-renders	React.memo + useMemo	Medium
Layout shifts	Set explicit width/height on images/embeds	Medium

---

Output: Performance Audit Report

## Performance Audit: [Project Name]

### Production Metrics (from Sentry)
- LCP: [value] — [good/needs work/poor]
- INP: [value] — [good/needs work/poor]
- CLS: [value] — [good/needs work/poor]
- Slowest transactions: [list with p95 times]

### Critical Issues (fix immediately)
| # | Area | Issue | Impact | Fix |
|---|------|-------|--------|-----|
| 1 | DB | N+1 on /users endpoint | p95 = 2.3s | Eager load orders relation |

### Optimizations (prioritized)
| # | Area | Issue | Impact | Effort | Fix |
|---|------|-------|--------|--------|-----|
| 1 | FE | Bundle 450KB gzipped | High | Low | Code split routes |

### Already Optimized
- [list of performance areas that are well-implemented]

### Monitoring Recommendations
- [what to add to track performance over time]

### Research Sources
- [URL] — [what optimization pattern it provided]