perf

Activate When

• /godmode:perf, "profile this", "find bottleneck"
• "memory leak", "race condition", "deadlock"
• "benchmark", "flame graph", "why is this slow"

Workflow

1. Profiling Strategy

# Node.js CPU profile
node --cpu-prof --cpu-prof-dir=./profiles app.js
# Go CPU profile
go tool pprof http://localhost:6060/debug/pprof/profile
# Python memory
python -c "import tracemalloc; tracemalloc.start()"

Target: <application/function>
Symptom: <slow response, high CPU, OOM, hang>
Language: <Node.js|Python|Go|Rust|Java>

2. CPU Profiling & Flame Graphs

For each hotspot found:

Function: <name> at <file>:<line>
CPU share: <N>% of total
Root cause: <why slow>
Remediation: <optimized code>
Expected improvement: <N>% reduction

IF hotspot >10% CPU: must address. IF hotspot <5% CPU: diminishing returns.

3. Memory Leak Detection

Tools: Node.js (--heap-prof), Python (tracemalloc), Go (pprof), Rust (DHAT), Java (JFR+JMC).

Pattern: baseline -> load -> analyze growth.

• Constant: OK
• Linear: leak
• Stepped: periodic leak

For each finding:

Type: LEAK | EXCESSIVE ALLOCATION | UNBOUNDED CACHE
Source: <file>:<line>
Growth rate: <MB per hour/request>
Retention chain: <root -> ... -> leaked object>

IF growth is linear under load: confirmed leak. IF cache grows without bound: add max size + eviction.

4. Concurrency Bug Detection

# Go race detector
go test -race ./...
# C/C++ thread sanitizer
gcc -fsanitize=thread -o app app.c && ./app

Common patterns: counter without atomic, lazy init without sync, collection modified during iteration, read-modify-write without transaction.

For each finding:

Type: RACE | DEADLOCK | LIVELOCK | STARVATION
Severity: CRITICAL | HIGH | MEDIUM
Code path: <file>:<line>
Reproducibility: always | under load | intermittent

Deadlock prevention: consistent lock ordering, try-lock with timeout, channels over shared memory.

5. Benchmarking

Protocol:
1. Dedicated hardware, disable frequency scaling
2. Warm-up iterations + measurement iterations
3. Report: mean, median, p95, p99, stddev, 95% CI
4. CV > 10% = unstable environment
5. Comparison: interleaved runs, Welch's t-test,
   p < 0.05 = statistically significant

IF benchmark variance >10%: fix environment first. NEVER benchmark on shared CI runners for final results. NEVER skip warm-up for JIT languages (Node, Java).

6. Report

CPU: top 3 hotspots with % and file:line
Memory: leaks found, growth rate, peak RSS
Concurrency: races, deadlock risks, contention
Benchmarks: values with 95% CI
Priority fixes: ordered by impact

Hard Rules

1. NEVER optimize without profiling first.
2. NEVER benchmark without confidence intervals.
3. NEVER benchmark on noisy/shared systems.
4. NEVER skip warm-up iterations (JIT languages).
5. NEVER profile debug builds (use release/prod).
6. ALWAYS measure before and after optimization.
7. ALWAYS report p95/p99, not just mean.

TSV Logging

Append .godmode/perf-results.tsv:

timestamp	module	finding_type	location	severity	metric_before	metric_after	status

Keep/Discard

KEEP if: improvement is statistically significant
  AND no regression AND tests pass.
DISCARD if: no significant improvement OR regression.
Never keep optimization without measured evidence.

Stop Conditions

STOP when FIRST of:
  - All hotspots >10% CPU addressed
  - Memory stable under sustained load
  - Zero races detected by sanitizer
  - 3 consecutive fixes < 5% improvement

Autonomous Operation

On failure: git reset --hard HEAD~1. Never pause.

Error Recovery

Failure	Action
No clear hotspot	Check sampling rate, profile under load
Optimization regresses	Measure all metrics, revert if needed
Noisy benchmarks	Pin CPU, disable turbo, dedicated HW