Raxol Performance Benchmarking Suite

Overview

The Raxol benchmarking suite provides comprehensive performance testing and analysis tools to ensure optimal performance across all components of the system.

Quick Start

# Run all benchmarks
mix benchmark --all

# Run specific suite
mix benchmark --suite terminal

# Compare with baseline
mix benchmark --all --compare

# Quick benchmark (reduced time)
mix benchmark --suite terminal --quick

Available Benchmark Suites

Terminal Benchmarks

Tests terminal emulation performance including ANSI parsing, text rendering, cursor movement, and screen operations.

mix benchmark --suite terminal

Rendering Benchmarks

Tests UI rendering pipeline performance including scene rendering, animations, and layout calculations.

mix benchmark --suite rendering

Buffer Benchmarks

Tests buffer operations including read/write performance, scrolling, and memory management.

mix benchmark --suite buffer

Plugin Benchmarks

Tests plugin system performance including loading, messaging, and lifecycle operations.

mix benchmark --suite plugin

Component Benchmarks

Tests UI component rendering performance for various component types.

mix benchmark --suite component

Security Benchmarks

Tests security operations performance including input validation and session management.

mix benchmark --suite security

Advanced Usage

Profiling Mode

Enable detailed profiling to identify performance bottlenecks:

mix benchmark --suite terminal --profile

Custom Benchmark Configuration

# Longer benchmark duration for more accurate results
mix benchmark --suite terminal --time 10 --warmup 5

# Include memory measurements
mix benchmark --suite terminal --memory

# Run only specific benchmarks
mix benchmark --suite terminal --only "ANSI.*"

# Exclude specific benchmarks
mix benchmark --suite terminal --except "Complex.*"

Output Formats

Generate reports in different formats:

# HTML report with charts
mix benchmark --all --format html --output bench/reports

# JSON for programmatic analysis
mix benchmark --all --format json

# Markdown for documentation
mix benchmark --all --format markdown

Baseline Management

Save and compare performance baselines:

# Save current results as baseline
mix benchmark --all --save-baseline

# Compare with saved baseline
mix benchmark --all --compare

# Update baseline for specific suite
UPDATE_BASELINE_terminal=true mix benchmark --suite terminal

Analyzing Results

Performance Regression Detection

The benchmark suite automatically detects performance regressions when comparing with baselines:

• Regression: Performance degradation > 10%
• Improvement: Performance improvement > 10%

Report Structure

Generated reports include:

1. Summary: Overall performance metrics
2. Performance Highlights: Fastest and slowest operations
3. Regressions: Detected performance degradations
4. Improvements: Detected performance improvements
5. Recommendations: Suggested optimizations
6. Detailed Results: Full benchmark data

Historical Analysis

View performance trends over time:

# In IEx
alias Raxol.Benchmark.Storage

# Load last 30 days of results
Storage.load_historical("terminal", days: 30)

# Export to CSV for external analysis
Storage.export_to_csv("terminal", "terminal_benchmarks.csv")

Writing Custom Benchmarks

Create a new benchmark suite:

defmodule Raxol.Benchmark.Suites.CustomBenchmarks do
  def run(opts \\ []) do
    Benchee.run(
      %{
        "my operation" => fn input ->
          # Benchmark code here
        end
      },
      Keyword.merge(default_options(), opts)
    )
  end
  
  defp default_options do
    [
      warmup: 2,
      time: 5,
      inputs: %{
        "small" => generate_small_input(),
        "large" => generate_large_input()
      }
    ]
  end
end

Continuous Integration

Add benchmarking to your CI pipeline:

# .github/workflows/benchmark.yml
- name: Run benchmarks
  run: mix benchmark --all --compare
  
- name: Upload results
  uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
  with:
    name: benchmark-results
    path: bench/output/

Performance Guidelines

Target Performance Metrics

• Terminal Operations: < 1ms for typical operations
• Rendering: 60 FPS (16.67ms per frame)
• Buffer Operations: < 0.1ms for read/write
• Component Rendering: < 5ms for complex components

Optimization Strategies

1. Profile First: Use --profile to identify bottlenecks
2. Measure Impact: Compare before/after with baselines
3. Focus on Hot Paths: Optimize frequently called operations
4. Memory Efficiency: Monitor memory usage with --memory

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Inconsistent Results

   • Increase warmup time: --warmup 5
   • Increase benchmark time: --time 10
   • Close other applications

2. Out of Memory

   • Reduce input size
   • Run suites individually
   • Use --quick mode

3. Missing Baseline

   • Create initial baseline: --save-baseline
   • Check bench/baselines/ directory

Debug Mode

Enable verbose output:

MIX_DEBUG=1 mix benchmark --suite terminal

Directory Structure

bench/
├── README.md           # This file
├── baselines/         # Saved performance baselines
├── output/            # Generated reports
├── results/           # Raw benchmark results
├── snapshots/         # Version snapshots
└── scripts/           # Utility scripts

Contributing

When adding new features:

1. Add corresponding benchmarks
2. Run benchmarks before submitting PR
3. Include benchmark results in PR description
4. Update baseline if intentional performance change

Resources

• Benchee Documentation
• Performance Monitoring (documentation in progress)
• Performance Optimization (documentation in progress)