- drop unused TUI helpers, test-only layout scaffolding, and stale public debug exports
- remove an unused profiler import and trim test-only coverage for deleted helpers
Before: change code → build → run profile → manually compare to
mental model of last run. After: `--loop` watches ui-tui/src and
packages/hermes-ink/src for .ts(x) changes, rebuilds on change,
re-runs the same scenario, prints a side-by-side A/B diff against
the previous iteration — so each edit's impact is quantified
instantly. Ctrl+C to stop.
Also added:
--save LABEL saves metrics snapshot to /tmp/perf-<LABEL>.json
--compare LABEL diffs the current run vs that snapshot
--extra-flag X pass-through to node dist/entry.js (prepping for
--no-fullscreen below)
key_metrics() flattens a full run into scalar numbers across
frames, React commits, and per-phase timings. format_diff() prints
a table with ↑/↓ markers denoting regressions vs improvements based
on whether the metric is lower-is-better (p99, max, patches, drain)
or higher-is-better (fps, gaps_under_16ms).
Run-to-run noise on static code is ~5-15% on most metrics — big
signal (>30% change on renderer_p99 / fps) cuts through cleanly.
Useful both for validating a single fix and for detecting subtle
regressions during the wheel-accel port.
Usage during the next perf session:
# one-shot with a baseline for later comparison
scripts/profile-tui.py --seconds 6 --hold wheel_up --save pre-accel
# after porting the wheel handler
scripts/profile-tui.py --seconds 6 --hold wheel_up --compare pre-accel
# continuous iteration
scripts/profile-tui.py --seconds 6 --hold wheel_up --loop
Adds four fields to FrameEvent.phases and the matching profile
summary:
optimizedPatches post-optimize patch count (what's actually
written to stdout; the .patches field is
pre-optimize)
writeBytes UTF-8 byte count of the write this frame
backpressure true when Node's stdout.write returned false
(Writable buffer full — outer terminal can't
keep up)
prevFrameDrainMs end-to-end drain time of the PREVIOUS frame's
write, captured from stdout.write's 2-arg
callback. Reported on the next frame so the
measurement reflects "time until OS flushed
the bytes to the terminal fd", not "time until
queued in Node".
writeDiffToTerminal() now returns { bytes, backpressure } and
accepts an optional onDrain callback. Only attached on TTY with
diff; piped/non-TTY stdout bypasses flow control so the callback
would fire synchronously anyway.
Initial measurements under hold-wheel_up against 1106-msg session
(30Hz for 6s):
patches total 28,888
optimized total 16,700 (ratio 0.58 — optimizer cuts ~42%)
writeBytes 42 KB / 10s = 4.2 KB/s throughput
drainMs p50 0.14 ms terminal accepts bytes instantly
drainMs p99 0.85 ms
backpressure 0% of frames
This rules out the terminal-parse hypothesis — Cursor's xterm.js
drains our output in sub-millisecond time at only 4 KB/s. The
remaining lag has to be in the render pipeline, not the wire.
Profile output now includes the bytes+drain+backpressure lines to
keep this visible on every subsequent iteration.
Extends HERMES_DEV_PERF to capture the complete render pipeline, not
just React commits. Adds scripts/profile-tui.py to drive repeatable
hold-PageUp stress tests against a real long session.
perfPane.tsx:
Wires ink's onFrame callback (already plumbed through the fork) into
the same perf.log as the React.Profiler samples. Captures per-phase
timing (yoga calculateLayout, renderNodeToOutput, screen diff, patch
optimize, stdout write) plus yoga counters (visited/measured/cache-
Hits/live) and patch counts per frame. Events are tagged
{src: 'react'|'frame'} so jq can split them. logFrameEvent is
undefined when HERMES_DEV_PERF is unset, so ink doesn't even attach
the callback.
entry.tsx:
Passes logFrameEvent into render().
types/hermes-ink.d.ts:
Declares FrameEvent + onFrame on RenderOptions so the ui-tui side
type-checks against the plumbed-through ink option.
scripts/profile-tui.py:
New harness. Launches the built TUI under a PTY with the longest
session in state.db resumed, holds PageUp/PageDown/etc at a
configurable Hz for N seconds, then parses perf.log and prints
per-phase p50/p95/p99/max plus yoga-counter summaries. Zero deps
beyond stdlib. Exit 2 if nothing was captured (wiring broken).
Initial findings (1106-msg session, 6s PageUp hold at 30Hz):
- Steady state: 10 fps; renderer phase p99=63ms, write p99=0.2ms
- 4/107 heavy frames (>=16ms), all dominated by renderNodeToOutput
- One pathological 97ms frame with yoga measuring 70,415 text cells
and Yoga visiting 225k nodes — the cold-unmeasured-region hit
- Ink's scroll fast-path (DECSTBM blit from prevScreen) is
disqualified because our spacer-based virtual history doesn't
keep heightDelta in sync with scroll.delta, so every PageUp step
falls through to a full 2000-4800 patch re-render instead of ~40
