perf: small tweaks and lazy-loading to improve --help performance by JoshMock · Pull Request #400 · elastic/cli

JoshMock · 2026-06-04T20:40:10Z

This was mostly an opportunity to experiment with pi-autoresearch. I noticed that startup time of the CLI was visibly laggy in many cases.

These performance tweaks were made by Pi running Claude Opus 4.6, applied over ~80 experiments measuring total runtime of --help commands:

elastic --help
elastic es --help
elastic cloud --help
elastic kb --help

Each commit contains a single performance tweak. Each commit message contains an explanation and perf measurement deltas. Autoresearch also produced quite a bit of ugly code that only improved runtimes by 5-10ms, so I've only kept the most useful improvements.

I highly encourage reading each commit separately rather than the whole diff at once. 🙏

Before/after deltas

Methodology: hyperfine -w 10 -m 100 $command
Hardware:

Model: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
Memory: 16GB
CPU: 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1365U
OS: Arch Linux, kernel 7.0.11-arch1-1

The following are mean runtimes in milliseconds.

`elastic`

Before: 417.9 ms ± 44.9 ms
After: 99.0 ms ± 15.6 ms

`elastic --help`

Before: 444.8 ms ± 22.1 ms
After: 99.4 ms ± 15.9 ms

`elastic es --help`

Before: 470.9 ms ± 16.1 ms
After: 93.3 ms ± 37.3 ms

`elastic es`

Before: 480.4 ms ± 30.2 ms
After: 54.0 ms ± 5.4 ms

`elastic cloud --help`

Before: 508.8 ms ± 30.4 ms
After: 59.4 ms ± 29.7 ms

`elastic cloud`

Before: 512.0 ms ± 36.4 ms
After: 42.4 ms ± 5.1 ms

`elastic kb --help`

Before: 485.0 ms ± 52.0 ms
After: 83.7 ms ± 4.7 ms

`elastic kb`

Before: 464.8 ms ± 30.7 ms
After: 76.9 ms ± 4.4 ms

github-actions · 2026-06-04T20:42:47Z

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✅ REPOSITORY	secretlint	yes	no	no	34.82s
✅ REPOSITORY	trivy	yes	no	no	20.73s
✅ TYPESCRIPT	eslint	28	0	0	7.53s
✅ YAML	yamllint	3	0	0	0.96s

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- tsconfig.json: set removeComments: true, reducing compiled JS size by ~30% (e.g., factory.js 880 → 619 lines). V8 parses less text at startup. - package.json: add postbuild step to run create-dist-package-jsons.mjs - scripts/create-dist-package-jsons.mjs: creates package.json with {"type": "module"} in each dist/ subdirectory, eliminating 5+ ENOENT syscalls per invocation as Node.js walks up to find the package type. - NOTICE.txt: regenerated after package.json change. Metric impact: ~10-15ms saved (fewer syscalls + smaller files to parse). Baseline sum: 606ms

…only Remove method, path, responseType, and bodyFormat from EsApiMeta and KbApiMeta interfaces. These fields are only needed at command invocation time (loaded from individual API definition files), not at startup for building the command tree. The build scripts (build-api-manifest.mjs, build-kb-manifest.mts) now extract only the needed fields. Metric impact: ~5ms saved from reduced manifest parse time. Running total: 606ms → ~585ms

Add register-lazy.ts that builds 7 top-level stub commands (trust, auth, billing, orgs, users, hosted, serverless) for `cloud --help` WITHOUT loading any cloud API definitions or Zod schemas. The full command tree loads only when an actual command is invoked. - src/cloud/constants.ts: extract PROMOTED_NAMESPACES constant (shared between lazy and eager paths) - src/cloud/register-lazy.ts: lightweight registration using only commander + factory-core + constants (~5 imports vs 20+) - src/cloud/register.ts: inline isCredentialCommand check, lazy-import applyCredentialPolicy/readCredentialPolicyOptions to avoid loading config/writer (→ yaml) at cloud startup - test/cloud/register-lazy.test.ts: verifies stub commands are created Metric impact: cloud --help 222ms → ~72ms (-68%). Running total: 606ms → ~236ms (after all lazy-loading combined)

- completion/complete.ts: defer config/loader import inside loadCompletionCommandPolicy() — only loaded when completion actually runs, not when the module is imported at startup. - completion/completers/context-names.ts: same pattern — lazy config/loader import deferred until context name completion is invoked. - test/completion/context-names.test.ts: add coverage for the lazy path. For bare startup, completion is imported but config/loader (cosmiconfig + yaml, ~52ms) is never loaded. For namespace --help (es/cloud), completion module itself is skipped entirely via a stub. Metric impact: bare 107ms → 81ms (-24%). Running total: 606ms → ~282ms

Extract defineGroup, configureJsonHelp, hideBlockedCommands, isCommandAllowed, stripTransportMeta, and all shared type exports into factory-core.ts (66 source lines, ~91 compiled lines). cli.ts, namespaces.ts, and cloud/register-lazy.ts import from factory-core.ts instead of factory.ts. This means cloud --help and bare startup never load factory.ts (453 compiled lines with defineCommand, buildLeafHandle, output rendering, etc.). factory.ts imports and re-exports from factory-core.ts so existing consumers (es/register.ts, tests) continue to work unchanged and test coverage flows through. Metric impact: cloud --help skips 362 lines of JS parsing (~3-5ms). Running total: 606ms → ~137ms

Multiple lazy-loading optimizations in factory.ts: 1. Lazy zod via createRequire: replace static `import { z } from 'zod'` with a getter that calls createRequire()('zod') on first use. For all --help paths, zod is never loaded (-28ms per invocation). 2. Lazy output.ts (cli-table3) in action handler: renderText and formatHandlerError loaded via cached Promise getOutput(). cli-table3 and its string-width/emoji-regex deps never loaded for startup paths. 3. Lazy es/handler in buildLeafHandle: createEsHandler dynamically imported — handler.js transitively loads es-client.js (~5ms), never needed for --help. 4. Re-export from factory-core.ts: defineGroup, configureJsonHelp, types, etc. are re-exported so existing imports from factory.ts still work. Metric impact: es --help 210ms → ~57ms, cloud --help 222ms → ~49ms. Combined with other changes: 606ms → ~146ms

Restructure es/register.ts for minimal startup cost on `es --help`: 1. Import apiManifest directly from api-manifest.ts instead of via es/apis.ts (saves loading the 74-line re-export module). 2. Lazy defineCommand via getDefineCommand() cached Promise: buildLeafHandle is now async, only importing factory.ts when a leaf command is actually invoked. For `es --help`, factory.ts is NEVER loaded. 3. Lazy es/types.ts via getTypes(): validateApiDefinition and resolveInput only loaded when a leaf is invoked. schema-args.ts (and its zod dependency) avoided for --help. 4. Lazy zod via createRequire in registerEsCommands: same pattern as factory.ts — zod never loaded for es --help. 5. registerEsCommands made async; test updated from assert.throws to assert.rejects. Metric impact: es --help 210ms → ~53ms (-75%). Running total: 606ms → ~132ms

- Import defineGroup from factory-core.ts instead of factory.ts, avoiding the heavy factory module for namespace registration. - Accept targetSubNamespace parameter to skip loading the Kibana command tree when only ES commands are requested. - Use cloud/register-lazy.ts path for cloud --help instead of the full cloud/register.ts. Metric impact: contributes to the overall lazy-loading architecture. Running total: 606ms → ~130ms

Comprehensive micro-optimizations to the CLI entry point, eliminating unnecessary work for the three benchmark paths (bare help, es --help, cloud --help): Lazy loading: - Lazy config/loader and config/store via dynamic import (only loaded when commands actually execute, not for --help) - Completion stub (new Command('completion')) for bare startup instead of the full completion module (avoids zod via config/schema) - Lazy renderLogo via createRequire (logo.js not loaded for es/cloud) - Skip preAction hook entirely for --help invocations Deferred allocations: - Move skipConfigNames Set inside the hook if-block - Defer SKIP_EARLY_CONFIG Set inside condition - Defer allShortcuts object inside firstArg==null block - Inline _isCompletion() instead of constructing Array - Inline _isValueOpt() instead of constructing Set Early exits: - Break early from NAMESPACES loop once match found - Skip extension lookup for --help - Skip 5 option registrations when no global flags in argv - Skip status/version stubs for namespace invocations Fast-path detection: - Pre-slice argv once and reuse - _nsMap for O(1) namespace lookup - Lightweight stubs for bare startup namespace list - Unify wantsHelp computation (single argv scan) - Defer configureJsonHelp, program.version, addHelpText to root help only Metric impact: bare 174ms → ~42ms, es 210ms → ~53ms, cloud 222ms → ~44ms. Sum: 606ms → ~113ms (-81.4%)

… magnitude performance

 */
 export function stripHtmlTags (s: string): string {
-  return s.replace(/<[^>]*>/g, '')
+  return s.replace(/<[^>]*>|[<>]/g, '')


JoshMock force-pushed the autoresearch-perf branch 3 times, most recently from 9f9aae5 to 23f92c4 Compare June 5, 2026 15:56

JoshMock requested review from MattDevy and margaretjgu June 5, 2026 16:20

JoshMock marked this pull request as ready for review June 5, 2026 16:21

JoshMock force-pushed the autoresearch-perf branch from 23f92c4 to eb7452b Compare June 5, 2026 16:30

margaretjgu reviewed Jun 5, 2026

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Comment thread src/cloud/register.ts Outdated

margaretjgu reviewed Jun 5, 2026

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Comment thread src/cloud/register-lazy.ts Outdated

Comment thread src/cli.ts Outdated

Comment thread src/cli.ts Outdated

JoshMock force-pushed the autoresearch-perf branch 3 times, most recently from 3e5f924 to 1243a4a Compare June 10, 2026 12:44

JoshMock requested a review from margaretjgu June 10, 2026 12:45

JoshMock force-pushed the autoresearch-perf branch from 1243a4a to 8a277ad Compare June 11, 2026 07:56

JoshMock added 13 commits June 15, 2026 11:57

perf(cli): ensure 'kb --help' vs 'kb' operates with the same order of…

f05b456

… magnitude performance

chore: boost test coverage

8c6ffe1

ci: test for perf regressions

a29f2eb

ci: limit concurrency of perf check

67c7f05

JoshMock force-pushed the autoresearch-perf branch from e38909a to 67c7f05 Compare June 15, 2026 16:02

chore: fix packaging test

8e41e9a

ci: increase perf threshold

c49ab09

github-advanced-security AI found potential problems Jun 15, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread src/cli.ts Fixed

Comment thread src/cli.ts Fixed

JoshMock added 2 commits June 15, 2026 12:35

ci: tweak stdout codeql rule

29c6aee

ci: fix security scan results

58784ad

github-advanced-security AI found potential problems Jun 15, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread src/docs/client.ts Fixed

chore: fix a weird test

3447ee5

JoshMock force-pushed the autoresearch-perf branch from 14d4d0e to 3447ee5 Compare June 15, 2026 17:27

github-advanced-security AI found potential problems Jun 15, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread src/docs/client.ts

*/

export function stripHtmlTags (s: string): string {

return s.replace(/<[^>]*>/g, '')

return s.replace(/<[^>]*>|[<>]/g, '')

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perf: small tweaks and lazy-loading to improve --help performance#400

perf: small tweaks and lazy-loading to improve --help performance#400
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JoshMock commented Jun 4, 2026 •

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JoshMock commented Jun 4, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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Before/after deltas

elastic

elastic --help

elastic es --help

elastic es

elastic cloud --help

elastic cloud

elastic kb --help

elastic kb

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JoshMock commented Jun 4, 2026 •

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`elastic`

`elastic --help`

`elastic es --help`

`elastic es`

`elastic cloud --help`

`elastic cloud`

`elastic kb --help`

`elastic kb`

github-actions Bot commented Jun 4, 2026 •

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