Performance diagnosis

Measure a reproducible slow path before changing it. Diagnosis does not authorize a fix unless the user requested implementation.

Workflow

1. Establish the symptom, affected environment, route/action, regression window, expected threshold, and a repeatable reproduction. Infer these from traces/issues/code when possible; ask only for missing facts that change the investigation.
2. Detect framework/runtime/version, deploy topology, package manager, data stores, observability, and recent relevant diffs. Separate development-only behavior from production behavior.
3. Attribute resource symptoms before profiling the application. For heat, fan, battery, or system-wide spikes, use a short, thermally safe reproduction and sample process CPU, memory, energy, and GPU where available. Isolate the browser tab from extensions, the Node/dev server, compiler watchers, database, and unrelated processes. Stop the reproduction if temperature, power draw, or system stability becomes unsafe.
4. Capture a baseline with the tool suited to the symptom:
   • dev/build: timed cold and warm start/build, compiler logs, watcher scope;
   • server: route spans, CPU/memory profile, cold start, event-loop delay, query timing;
   • browser: tab/task-manager isolation, performance trace, network waterfall, long tasks, hydration, animation/compositor/GPU load, polling/timers, and Core Web Vitals;
   • bundle: framework-supported analyzer and route-level client/server composition;
   • database/network: query plans, connection waits, downstream latency and payload size.
5. Form ranked hypotheses and test the cheapest discriminating one first. A large log, expensive-looking call, or large package is evidence to investigate, not proof of root cause.
6. For Next.js, detect the major version and caching model before recommending React.cache, use cache, fetch caching, or Turbopack settings. React.cache deduplicates within a request; it is not a cross-request cache. Configure turbopack.root only when the project truly resolves linked files outside the detected root.
7. If implementation is authorized, make one narrow change at a time. Protect user/tenant isolation, freshness, invalidation, memory bounds, and failure behavior when caching. Preserve a before/after artifact and revert changes that do not improve the target metric.