Document: 23-performance-architecture.md
Version: 1.0.0

Purpose

This document defines the performance architecture and optimization standards used across all Rundown projects.

Application performance influences user experience, search engine visibility, operational costs, and long-term maintainability. Performance should be considered throughout the development lifecycle rather than treated as a post-development optimization exercise.

This document establishes the architectural principles that enable performant applications by design.

Performance Philosophy

Performance is the result of architecture.

Every architectural decision influences application speed, responsiveness, and scalability.

Performance should be designed into the application from the beginning rather than optimized after development is complete.

Responsibilities

Performance architecture influences:

• Rendering strategy

• Asset delivery

• Database efficiency

• API performance

• Image optimization

• Code organization

• Caching

• Resource loading

Performance is a shared responsibility across the entire application.

Non-Responsibilities

Performance architecture should not:

• Sacrifice maintainability for negligible gains.

• Introduce unnecessary complexity.

• Encourage premature optimization.

• Replace functional correctness.

Performance improvements should always be measurable and justified.

Rendering Strategy

Choose the rendering strategy based on business requirements.

Preferred order:

1. Static Site Generation (SSG)

2. Server Components

3. Server-Side Rendering (SSR)

4. Client Components (only when necessary)

Minimize client-side JavaScript wherever practical.

Frontend Performance

The frontend should prioritize:

• Server Components by default.

• Lazy loading of non-critical content.

• Code splitting.

• Dynamic imports.

• Optimized fonts.

• Efficient hydration.

• Minimal JavaScript bundles.

Client Components should be introduced only when browser-side interactivity is required.

Images

Images should:

• Use WebP or AVIF where appropriate.

• Be responsive.

• Be compressed before delivery.

• Use lazy loading where beneficial.

• Include explicit dimensions to reduce layout shifts.

Serve images at the size required by the interface rather than relying on browser scaling.

Video

Videos should:

• Stream efficiently.

• Avoid unnecessary autoplay.

• Use appropriate compression.

• Load on demand where practical.

Large videos should never block page rendering.

Database Performance

Database performance should prioritize:

• Efficient queries.

• Proper indexing.

• Normalized data.

• Controlled joins.

• Predictable execution plans.

Performance issues should be solved by improving queries before adding infrastructure.

API Performance

APIs should:

• Return only required data.

• Avoid duplicate requests.

• Validate efficiently.

• Use caching where appropriate.

Payload Local API should be preferred for internal communication.

Storage Performance

Cloudflare R2 and Cloudflare CDN should provide:

• Cached asset delivery.

• Low-latency global distribution.

• Optimized media serving.

Application servers should not proxy media files unnecessarily.

Caching

Caching should exist at multiple layers where appropriate:

• CDN caching

• Browser caching

• Server caching

• Query caching

Cached data must remain consistent with business requirements.

Avoid stale content where freshness is critical.

Third-Party Scripts

Every third-party script increases page weight.

Before adding a script, verify:

• Is it essential?

• Can it be deferred?

• Does it affect Core Web Vitals?

• Is there a lighter alternative?

Unused third-party scripts should be removed.

Core Web Vitals

Every production project should target strong Core Web Vitals.

Primary metrics include:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

• Interaction to Next Paint (INP)

• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Performance decisions should support these metrics throughout development.

Monitoring

Performance should be monitored continuously.

Typical tools include:

• Lighthouse

• Google PageSpeed Insights

• Google Search Console

• Real User Monitoring (when applicable)

Performance regressions should be investigated before introducing additional infrastructure.

Scalability

Applications should scale by:

• Improving architecture.

• Optimizing bottlenecks.

• Introducing infrastructure only when required.

Scaling should remain incremental rather than speculative.

Engineering Decision

Performance by Design

Status: Accepted

Decision

Performance is treated as an architectural outcome rather than a final optimization phase.

Reasoning

Building performance into the architecture:

• Improves user experience.

• Supports SEO.

• Reduces infrastructure costs.

• Simplifies maintenance.

• Produces more predictable applications.

Performance should emerge naturally from good engineering decisions across the stack.

Performance Checklist

Before deployment, verify:

• Rendering strategy is appropriate.

• Images are optimized.

• JavaScript is minimized.

• Database queries are efficient.

• APIs return only required data.

• CDN caching is configured.

• Third-party scripts are justified.

• Core Web Vitals have been reviewed.

Summary

Performance is a shared architectural responsibility that spans every layer of a Rundown application.

By prioritizing efficient rendering, optimized assets, thoughtful data access, and deliberate infrastructure decisions, Rundown applications deliver fast, reliable experiences while remaining maintainable and cost-effective.

Related Documents

• 12-system-architecture.md

• 14-frontend-architecture.md

• 16-database-architecture.md

• 17-storage-architecture.md

• 19-api-architecture.md

• 22-seo-architecture.md

Related ADRs

• ADR-001: Repository Structure