Performance Tests

Write performance tests that measure and guard against performance regressions.

Test Creation Checklist

Benchmark Design

• Establish clear metrics (latency, throughput, memory) for each benchmark
• Use warm-up iterations to eliminate JIT and cache cold-start effects
• Run sufficient iterations for statistically significant results
• Isolate benchmarked code from measurement overhead
• Document hardware and environment assumptions for reproducibility

Load Testing

• Define realistic load profiles based on production traffic patterns
• Test with sustained load, spike patterns, and gradual ramp-up
• Measure response time percentiles (p50, p95, p99) under load
• Verify graceful degradation when load exceeds capacity
• Check resource utilization (CPU, memory, connections) during load

Memory & Resource Profiling

• Measure allocation rates for hot code paths
• Detect memory leaks by monitoring heap growth over time
• Check for unclosed resources (file handles, connections, streams)
• Verify garbage collection pause times remain acceptable
• Profile object retention to identify unnecessary caching

Regression Baselines

• Capture baseline metrics from stable release builds
• Define acceptable variance thresholds for each metric
• Automate comparison between current and baseline results
• Alert on regressions exceeding defined thresholds
• Store historical performance data for trend analysis

Output Format

Report test plan with priority ratings: