tsh-optimizing-frontend

Optimizing Frontend

Provides optimization strategies for frontend rendering performance, bundle size reduction, and memory management to maintain fast, responsive user interfaces.

Optimization Process

Use the checklist below and track your progress:

Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Measure current performance
- [ ] Step 2: Optimize bundle size
- [ ] Step 3: Optimize rendering
- [ ] Step 4: Optimize assets and DOM
- [ ] Step 5: Manage memory
- [ ] Step 6: Verify improvement

Step 1: Measure current performance

Before optimizing anything, establish baselines:

• Run bundle analysis (bundler-specific analyzer tool) to identify large chunks and their contents.
• Use browser devtools Performance tab to record and identify slow renders, long tasks, and layout thrashing.
• Check Core Web Vitals:
  • LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) — how fast the main content appears.
  • CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) — how much the layout moves unexpectedly.
  • INP (Interaction to Next Paint) — how fast the UI responds to user input.
• Use performance.mark() / performance.measure() for custom timing of specific operations.
• Document baseline metrics — without baselines, you cannot prove improvement.

Step 2: Optimize bundle size

Reduce what ships to the user:

• Code split at route level: Lazy-load routes so users download only the code they need. Use the framework's lazy-loading mechanism (dynamic imports) with loading boundaries at each route entry point.
• Split heavy components: Large modals, charts, rich text editors, and data visualization components should load on demand when the user triggers them, not at initial page load.
• Named imports only: Always use import { Button } from 'lib' — never import * as Lib from 'lib'. Wildcard imports defeat tree shaking and pull in the entire module.
• Barrel file awareness: Barrel files (index.ts) that re-export everything from a folder can prevent tree shaking. For large libraries, prefer direct file imports (e.g., import { Button } from 'lib/components/Button') over barrel imports.
• Audit dependencies: Run dependency audit tools (depcheck or equivalent) regularly. Remove unused packages. Before adding a new dependency, check its bundle impact — a small utility should not cost 50KB.
• Analyze duplicate dependencies: Multiple versions of the same library inflate the bundle. Check the bundle analyzer output for duplicates and resolve version conflicts.
• Consider rendering strategy: Before optimizing client-side rendering, evaluate whether the page needs to render on the client at all. Server-side rendering (SSR) improves LCP by delivering ready HTML — the browser doesn't wait for JS to build the page. Static generation (SSG/prerendering) is even faster when content doesn't change per-request. If the framework supports streaming SSR, use it to send HTML chunks progressively rather than waiting for the full render. Reserve client-side rendering for highly interactive, user-specific UI that cannot be pre-rendered.

Step 3: Optimize rendering

Reduce unnecessary re-render work:

• Component memoization: Mark pure presentational components for memoization when they receive complex props and their parent re-renders frequently. Use a custom comparison function when props include objects that are structurally equal but referentially different. See the framework reference for the specific memoization API.
• Callback memoization: Stabilize event handler references when passed as props to memoized children. Skip stabilization for handlers that are not passed down — the overhead provides no benefit. See the framework reference for the specific API.
• Computed value memoization: Cache expensive computations — sorting or filtering large lists (1000+ items), complex data transformations, derived state calculations. Skip caching for trivial computations like simple arithmetic or string concatenation. See the framework reference for the specific API.
• Avoid object/array literals in the render path: Inline object/array expressions in the render path create a new reference every render cycle, defeating memoization on child components. Lift static values to module scope or cache dynamic ones.
• State granularity: Keep state as close to where it is consumed as possible. Broad state at the top of the tree causes cascading re-renders. If your state management solution supports selective subscriptions or slices, use them to minimize re-render scope.
• Key stability: Use stable, unique keys for list items (database IDs, UUIDs). Never use array indices as keys — index keys cause unnecessary unmount/remount when items are reordered, added, or removed.
• Virtualize long lists: For lists with hundreds or thousands of items, use a virtualization technique (windowing) to render only the visible items. This reduces DOM node count and re-render cost dramatically.

Step 4: Optimize assets and DOM

• Images: Use modern formats (WebP, AVIF) with fallbacks. Always provide explicit width and height attributes to prevent layout shift. Lazy-load images below the fold using native loading="lazy" or an intersection observer.
• CSS and animations: Avoid layout thrashing — batch DOM reads before DOM writes. Use transform and opacity for animations (GPU-composited) instead of top, left, width, or height (trigger layout recalculation). Use will-change sparingly and only on elements that are about to animate — leaving it on permanently increases memory usage.
• DOM depth: Keep the DOM tree shallow. Avoid unnecessary wrapper elements that exist only for styling — use CSS alternatives. Deep DOM trees increase style calculation, layout, and paint costs.
• Font loading: Use font-display: swap or font-display: optional to prevent invisible text during font load. Preload critical fonts. Subset fonts to include only the characters actually used.
• Third-party scripts: Load third-party scripts (analytics, tracking, chat widgets) with async or defer to prevent blocking the main thread. async downloads and executes as soon as ready (non-blocking, out of order). defer executes after HTML parsing in document order. For critical third-party origins, add <link rel="preconnect"> to reduce connection setup time. Lazy-load non-essential third-party resources (video embeds, social widgets) until the user scrolls to them or interacts. Audit third-party script count — set a resource budget (e.g., max 10 third-party requests) and enforce it.

Step 5: Manage memory

Prevent leaks that degrade performance over time:

• Event listeners: Every addEventListener must have a corresponding removeEventListener in the component's cleanup phase. Forgetting cleanup causes listeners to accumulate on long-lived pages.
• Timers: Every setTimeout needs clearTimeout and every setInterval needs clearInterval in cleanup. Leaked intervals continue executing after the component is gone.
• In-flight requests: Use AbortController to cancel pending network requests when the component unmounts. Responses arriving after unmount can cause state updates on unmounted components.
• Refs for non-rendering values: Use mutable refs (non-reactive references) for values that should not trigger re-renders — previous values, callback refs, accumulated counters, DOM element references.
• Subscriptions: WebSocket connections, event bus subscriptions, and observable subscriptions must all be unsubscribed in cleanup. The pattern is always: subscribe in the effect body, unsubscribe in the cleanup return.

Step 6: Verify improvement

After applying optimizations, close the loop:

• Bundle size: Run the project's build command and bundle analyzer. Compare chunk sizes against the baselines from Step 1. Flag any chunk still over 200KB gzipped.

• Lighthouse audit: Run a Lighthouse audit against the application. Use vscode/askQuestions to gather two inputs from the user:

  1. URL to audit — local dev server, staging/preview deployment, or production URL.
  2. Expected thresholds (optional) — custom performance score or Core Web Vitals targets. If the user has no preference, use the defaults below.

  Default thresholds (based on web.dev/Google recommendations):

  Metric	Good	Needs Improvement	Poor
  Lighthouse Performance Score	≥ 90	50–89	< 50
  LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)	≤ 2.5s	2.5s–4.0s	> 4.0s
  INP (Interaction to Next Paint)	≤ 200ms	200ms–500ms	> 500ms
  CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)	≤ 0.1	0.1–0.25	> 0.25

  Execution steps:

  1. If the URL is local, verify the server is running (or start it using the project's dev/preview command from package.json).
  2. Run npx lighthouse <URL> --output=json --output-path=./lighthouse-report.json --chrome-flags="--headless".
  3. Parse the JSON report — extract performance score, LCP, INP, CLS values.
  4. Compare each metric against the user's custom thresholds or the defaults above. Flag any metric in the "Needs Improvement" or "Poor" range.
  5. If a local server was started in step 1, stop it after the audit completes.

• Quantify the delta: Every claimed improvement needs a number — e.g., "main chunk reduced from 280KB to 140KB gzipped", "LCP improved from 3.2s to 1.8s". If no measurable improvement, the optimization was either targeting the wrong bottleneck or introduced regression elsewhere — revert and re-profile.

• Document results: Record post-optimization metrics alongside the baselines from Step 1 for future reference.

Memoization Decision Guide

Bundle Size Red Flags

Performance Checklist

Performance:
- [ ] Bundle analyzed — no unexpected large chunks
- [ ] Routes lazy-loaded with loading boundaries/fallbacks
- [ ] Heavy components (modals, charts) loaded on demand
- [ ] Rendering strategy evaluated (SSR/SSG where applicable)
- [ ] Named imports only — no wildcard imports
- [ ] Memoization/caching applied where measured benefit exists
- [ ] No object/array literals created in render path
- [ ] State subscriptions are selective (not full-store)
- [ ] Images optimized (modern format, width/height, lazy-load)
- [ ] Animations use transform/opacity (not layout properties)
- [ ] All effects clean up: timers, listeners, abort controllers
- [ ] Long lists virtualized when item count exceeds visible area
- [ ] Third-party scripts loaded async/defer, non-essential ones lazy-loaded
- [ ] Baseline metrics documented for comparison
- [ ] Post-optimization metrics compared against baselines

Anti-Patterns

Framework-Specific Patterns

The patterns above are framework-agnostic. For framework-specific optimization APIs, load the appropriate reference:

• React: See ./references/react-patterns.md — React.memo, useMemo, useCallback, React.lazy, Suspense.

Connected Skills

• tsh-implementing-frontend — for component patterns that support performant rendering
• tsh-writing-hooks — for memoization and cleanup patterns within custom hooks
• tsh-reviewing-frontend — for performance-focused code review spot-checks
• tsh-ensuring-accessibility — to verify optimizations (lazy-loading, virtualization) don't break keyboard navigation or screen reader access