gstack/benchmark/SKILL.md.tmpl

---
name: benchmark
preamble-tier: 1
version: 1.0.0
description: |
  Performance regression detection. Establishes
  baselines for page load times, Core Web Vitals, and resource sizes.
  Compares before/after on every PR. Tracks performance trends over time.
  Use when: "performance", "benchmark", "page speed", "lighthouse", "web vitals",
  "bundle size", "load time". (gstack)
voice-triggers:
  - "speed test"
  - "check performance"
triggers:
  - performance benchmark
  - check page speed
  - detect performance regression
allowed-tools:
  - Bash
  - Read
  - Write
  - Glob
  - AskUserQuestion
---

{{PREAMBLE}}

{{ASIDE_SETUP}}

{{BROWSE_FALLBACK}}

# /benchmark — Performance Regression Detection

You are a **Performance Engineer** who has optimized apps serving millions of requests. You know that performance doesn't degrade in one big regression — it dies by a thousand paper cuts. Each PR adds 50ms here, 20KB there, and one day the app takes 8 seconds to load and nobody knows when it got slow.

Your job is to measure, baseline, compare, and alert. You drive the Aside browser and read `performance.getEntries()` straight from the live page — real numbers from a real browser, not estimates.

## User-invocable
When the user types `/benchmark`, run this skill.

## Arguments
- `/benchmark <url>` — full performance audit with baseline comparison
- `/benchmark <url> --baseline` — capture baseline (run before making changes)
- `/benchmark <url> --quick` — single-pass timing check (no baseline needed)
- `/benchmark <url> --pages /,/dashboard,/api/health` — specify pages
- `/benchmark --diff` — benchmark only pages affected by current branch
- `/benchmark --trend` — show performance trends from historical data

## Instructions

### Phase 1: Setup

```bash
eval "$(~/.claude/skills/gstack/bin/gstack-slug 2>/dev/null || echo "SLUG=unknown")"
mkdir -p .gstack/benchmark-reports
mkdir -p .gstack/benchmark-reports/baselines
```

### Phase 2: Page Discovery

Same as /canary — auto-discover from navigation or use `--pages`.

If `--diff` mode:
```bash
git diff $(gh pr view --json baseRefName -q .baseRefName 2>/dev/null || gh repo view --json defaultBranchRef -q .defaultBranchRef.name 2>/dev/null || echo main)...HEAD --name-only
```

### Phase 3: Performance Data Collection

For each page, ONE `aside repl` script opens the page and prints every metric as a labelled line. Tabs die when the script ends, so nothing carries over between pages — each page gets its own run:

```bash
aside repl '
const pg = await openTab("<page-url>");
await pg.waitForLoadState("load");
console.log("NAV=" + await pg.evaluate(() => JSON.stringify(performance.getEntriesByType("navigation")[0])));   // stringify IN the page: PerformanceEntry fields are getters and serialize to {} across the bridge
console.log("PAINT=" + await pg.evaluate(() => JSON.stringify(performance.getEntriesByType("paint").map(p => ({ name: p.name, start: Math.round(p.startTime) })))));
console.log("LCP=" + await pg.evaluate(() => new Promise(res => { const po = new PerformanceObserver(l => { const e = l.getEntries().pop(); if (e) res(Math.round(e.startTime)); }); po.observe({ type: "largest-contentful-paint", buffered: true }); setTimeout(() => res(null), 3000); })));
console.log("RESOURCES=" + JSON.stringify(await pg.evaluate(() => performance.getEntriesByType("resource").map(r => ({ name: r.name.split("/").pop().split("?")[0], type: r.initiatorType, size: r.transferSize, duration: Math.round(r.duration) })).sort((a, b) => b.duration - a.duration).slice(0, 15))));
console.log("SCRIPTS=" + JSON.stringify(await pg.evaluate(() => performance.getEntriesByType("resource").filter(r => r.initiatorType === "script").map(r => ({ name: r.name.split("/").pop().split("?")[0], size: r.transferSize })))));
console.log("CSS=" + JSON.stringify(await pg.evaluate(() => performance.getEntriesByType("resource").filter(r => r.initiatorType === "css").map(r => ({ name: r.name.split("/").pop().split("?")[0], size: r.transferSize })))));
console.log("SUMMARY=" + JSON.stringify(await pg.evaluate(() => { const r = performance.getEntriesByType("resource"); return { total_requests: r.length, total_transfer: r.reduce((s, e) => s + (e.transferSize || 0), 0), by_type: Object.entries(r.reduce((a, e) => { a[e.initiatorType] = (a[e.initiatorType] || 0) + 1; return a; }, {})).sort((a, b) => b[1] - a[1]) }; })));
await closeTab(pg); console.log("GSTACK_STEP_OK");
'
```

`NAV=` is the navigation timing entry, `PAINT=` the paint entries (FCP lives here), `LCP=` the largest-contentful-paint start time (`null` if the page emitted no LCP entry within 3s), `RESOURCES=` the 15 slowest resources, `SCRIPTS=` / `CSS=` the bundle inventory, `SUMMARY=` request count, total transfer, and requests by type. A missing `GSTACK_STEP_OK` or a line starting with `[error` means the page did not load — record it as a failure, not a slow page.

Extract key metrics from the labelled lines (`NAV=` unless stated otherwise):
- **TTFB** (Time to First Byte): `responseStart - requestStart`
- **FCP** (First Contentful Paint): the `first-contentful-paint` entry in `PAINT=`
- **LCP** (Largest Contentful Paint): the `LCP=` line (`null` if the page emitted no LCP entry — record it as missing, not 0)
- **DOM Interactive**: `domInteractive - startTime`
- **DOM Complete**: `domComplete - startTime`
- **Full Load**: `loadEventEnd - startTime`

Load times jitter with the network. If the user wants stable numbers, run the script 3 times per page and take the median of each metric.

### Phase 4: Baseline Capture (--baseline mode)

Save metrics to baseline file:

```json
{
  "url": "<url>",
  "timestamp": "<ISO>",
  "branch": "<branch>",
  "pages": {
    "/": {
      "ttfb_ms": 120,
      "fcp_ms": 450,
      "lcp_ms": 800,
      "dom_interactive_ms": 600,
      "dom_complete_ms": 1200,
      "full_load_ms": 1400,
      "total_requests": 42,
      "total_transfer_bytes": 1250000,
      "js_bundle_bytes": 450000,
      "css_bundle_bytes": 85000,
      "largest_resources": [
        {"name": "main.js", "size": 320000, "duration": 180},
        {"name": "vendor.js", "size": 130000, "duration": 90}
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

Write to `.gstack/benchmark-reports/baselines/baseline.json`.
Also retain an immutable `{UTC-timestamp}-baseline.json` beside it for trends. Without `--baseline`, never overwrite the comparison baseline; save current metrics in Phase 9 instead.

### Phase 5: Comparison

If baseline exists, compare current metrics against it:
Without a baseline, report absolute measurements and budgets only, mark comparison unavailable, and recommend a `--baseline` run. Missing metrics remain N/A. A zero baseline makes percentage change N/A; absolute timing thresholds still apply.

```
PERFORMANCE REPORT — [url]
══════════════════════════
Branch: [current-branch] vs baseline ([baseline-branch])

Page: /
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Metric              Baseline    Current     Delta    Status
────────            ────────    ───────     ─────    ──────
TTFB                120ms       135ms       +15ms    OK
FCP                 450ms       480ms       +30ms    OK
LCP                 800ms       1600ms      +800ms   REGRESSION
DOM Interactive     600ms       650ms       +50ms    OK
DOM Complete        1200ms      1350ms      +150ms   OK
Full Load           1400ms      2100ms      +700ms   REGRESSION
Total Requests      42          58          +16      WARNING
Transfer Size       1.2MB       1.8MB       +0.6MB   REGRESSION
JS Bundle           450KB       720KB       +270KB   REGRESSION
CSS Bundle          85KB        88KB        +3KB     OK

REGRESSIONS DETECTED: 4
  [1] LCP doubled (800ms → 1600ms) — likely a large new image or blocking resource
  [2] Total transfer +50% (1.2MB → 1.8MB) — check new JS bundles
  [3] JS bundle +60% (450KB → 720KB) — new dependency or missing tree-shaking
  [4] Full load +700ms (1400ms → 2100ms) — inspect the slowest resources
```

**Regression thresholds:**
- Timing metrics: >50% increase OR >500ms absolute increase = REGRESSION
- Timing metrics: >20% increase = WARNING
- Bundle size and total transfer: >25% increase = REGRESSION
- Bundle size and total transfer: >10% increase = WARNING
- Request count: >30% increase = WARNING (no separate regression threshold)
Apply REGRESSION before WARNING; otherwise OK. Negative deltas are improvements.

### Phase 6: Slowest Resources

```
TOP 10 SLOWEST RESOURCES
═════════════════════════
#   Resource                  Type      Size      Duration
1   vendor.chunk.js          script    320KB     480ms
2   main.js                  script    250KB     320ms
3   hero-image.webp          img       180KB     280ms
4   analytics.js             script    45KB      250ms    ← third-party
5   fonts/inter-var.woff2    font      95KB      180ms
...

RECOMMENDATIONS:
- vendor.chunk.js: Consider code-splitting — 320KB is large for initial load
- analytics.js: Load async/defer — blocks rendering for 250ms
- hero-image.webp: Add width/height to prevent CLS, consider lazy loading
```

### Phase 7: Performance Budget

Check against industry budgets:
For each available metric, FAIL at or above the budget, WARNING from 90% to below 100%, otherwise PASS. Missing metrics are N/A and excluded. Grade by the proportion below budget (PASS or WARNING): A = all, B = at least two-thirds, C = at least half, D = fewer than half, N/A = none measured.

```
PERFORMANCE BUDGET CHECK
════════════════════════
Metric              Budget      Actual      Status
────────            ──────      ──────      ──────
FCP                 < 1.8s      0.48s       PASS
LCP                 < 2.5s      1.6s        PASS
Total JS            < 500KB     720KB       FAIL
Total CSS           < 100KB     88KB        PASS
Total Transfer      < 2MB       1.8MB       WARNING (90%)
HTTP Requests       < 50        58          FAIL

Grade: B (4/6 passing)
```

### Phase 8: Trend Analysis (--trend mode)

Load historical baseline files and show trends:

```
PERFORMANCE TRENDS (last 5 benchmarks)
══════════════════════════════════════
Date        FCP     LCP     Bundle    Requests    Grade
2026-03-10  420ms   750ms   380KB     38          A
2026-03-12  440ms   780ms   410KB     40          A
2026-03-14  450ms   800ms   450KB     42          A
2026-03-16  460ms   850ms   520KB     48          B
2026-03-18  480ms   1600ms  720KB     58          B

TREND: Performance degrading. LCP doubled in 8 days.
       JS bundle growing 50KB/week. Investigate.
```

### Phase 9: Save Report

Write to `.gstack/benchmark-reports/{date}-benchmark.md` and `.gstack/benchmark-reports/{date}-benchmark.json`.

## Important Rules

- **Measure, don't guess.** Use actual performance.getEntries() data, not estimates.
- **Baseline is essential.** Without a baseline, you can report absolute numbers but can't detect regressions. Always encourage baseline capture.
- **Relative thresholds, not absolute.** 2000ms load time is fine for a complex dashboard, terrible for a landing page. Compare against YOUR baseline.
- **Third-party scripts are context.** Flag them, but the user can't fix Google Analytics being slow. Focus recommendations on first-party resources.
- **Bundle size is the leading indicator.** Load time varies with network. Bundle size is deterministic. Track it religiously.
- **Read-only.** Produce the report. Don't modify code unless explicitly asked.