Optimization
5 articles on Optimization.
Core Web Vitals for Backend Engineers: TTFB, Caching & Server-Side Wins (2026)
Most Core Web Vitals advice targets frontend developers, but LCP and INP problems usually start at the server. This guide covers the backend half: TTFB budgets, connection pooling, cache strategy, streaming SSR, CDN headers, and compression — with the production numbers behind each fix.
June 10, 2026·7 min readPostgres Index Bloat Nearly Took Down Production: A VACUUM Deep-Dive
A table that was 2 GB of data carried 14 GB of dead tuples and bloated indexes. How MVCC creates bloat, how to measure it, and how autovacuum tuning, HOT updates, and a careful REINDEX brought query times back from 3s to 40ms.
March 5, 2026·6 min readThe Cache Stampede That Took Down Our API: A Redis p99 War Story
A single expiring Redis key sent 4,000 requests to PostgreSQL at once and spiked our p99 latency to 9 seconds. Here's how cache stampedes happen, how we debugged ours, and the locking + jitter fixes that cut p99 by 80%.
February 10, 2026·7 min readDatabase Connection Pooling: The Performance Fix That Saved Our Production
How I learned about connection pooling after our PostgreSQL database crashed under load. Practical guide with real configurations from handling millions of healthcare queries.
December 19, 2025·10 min readPostgreSQL Performance Optimization: Complete Guide for Production
Master PostgreSQL performance tuning with indexing strategies, query optimization, configuration tuning, and monitoring. Learn techniques that helped us handle 10M+ daily transactions in healthcare systems.
December 14, 2024·7 min read