Skill: Optimize performance

SkillDev tools

Workflow for identifying and applying backend performance improvements. Use when the user asks to optimize, speed up, or reduce latency.

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the Skill: Optimize performance skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by girijashankarj/cursor-handbook in .cursor/skills/backend/optimize-performance/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

Trigger

When the user asks to optimize, speed up, or reduce latency of an endpoint or function.

Steps

  1. Measure — Identify the slow path (endpoint, query, or function); use existing metrics or add a quick timing log.
  2. Profile — Pinpoint bottleneck (DB query, N+1, CPU, I/O); avoid guessing.
  3. Design — Propose 1–2 concrete changes (index, batch, cache, algorithm); prefer smallest change first.
  4. Implement — Apply the change; keep the same behavior.
  5. Verify — Re-run the scenario and confirm improvement; run existing tests.

Rules

  • Do not optimize without measuring first.
  • Prefer indexing and query changes over application-level hacks.
  • Follow project query patterns (parameterized, soft delete, pagination).

Signals

GitHub stars
30
Forks
3
Last commit
Aug 2026
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
optimize-performance-girijashankarj
Source
github.com/girijashankarj/cursor-handbook