nginx.org C Module Performance & Reliability Best Practices

Comprehensive performance optimization and reliability guide for nginx C modules, derived from the official nginx development documentation and production engineering experience. Contains 43 rules across 8 categories, prioritized by impact to guide automated optimization and resilience improvements.

Companion skill: This skill complements nginx-c-modules which covers correctness (memory safety, request lifecycle, configuration). This skill covers performance optimization and operational reliability.

When to Apply

Reference these guidelines when:

• Optimizing nginx C module throughput and latency
• Reducing buffer copies and enabling zero-copy I/O paths
• Tuning connection pooling and socket options
• Minimizing shared memory lock contention across workers
• Implementing graceful error recovery and fallback responses
• Configuring upstream timeouts and retry strategies
• Building in-module response caches with shared memory
• Tuning worker process behavior under load

Rule Categories by Priority