Langfuse Performance Tuning

---
name: langfuse-performance-tuning
description: 'Optimize Langfuse tracing performance for high-throughput applications.

  Use when experiencing latency issues, optimizing trace overhead,

  or scaling Langfuse for production workloads.

  Trigger with phrases like "langfuse performance", "optimize langfuse",

  "langfuse latency", "langfuse overhead", "langfuse slow".

  '
allowed-tools: Read, Write, Edit
version: 1.17.0
license: MIT
author: Jeremy Longshore <jeremy@intentsolutions.io>
tags:
- saas
- langfuse
- performance
- scaling
- tracing
compatibility: Designed for Claude Code
---
# Langfuse Performance Tuning

## Overview

Optimize Langfuse tracing for minimal overhead and maximum throughput: benchmark measurement, batch tuning, non-blocking patterns, payload optimization, sampling, and memory management.

## Prerequisites

- Existing Langfuse integration
- Performance baseline to compare against
- Understanding of async patterns

## Performance Targets

| Metric | Target | Critical |
|--------|--------|----------|
| Trace creation overhead | < 1ms | < 5ms |
| Flush latency (batch) | < 100ms | < 500ms |
| Memory per active trace | < 1KB | < 5KB |
| CPU overhead | < 1% | < 5% |

## Instructions

### Step 1: Benchmark Current Performance

```typescript
// scripts/benchmark-langfuse.ts
import { performance } from "perf_hooks";
import { startActiveObservation, updateActiveObservation } from "@langfuse/tracing";
import { LangfuseSpanProcessor } from "@langfuse/otel";
import { NodeSDK } from "@opentelemetry/sdk-node";

async function benchmark() {
  const sdk = new NodeSDK({
    spanProcessors: [new LangfuseSpanProcessor()],
  });
  sdk.start();

  const iterations = 1000;

  // Measure trace creation
  const timings: number[] = [];
  for (let i = 0; i < iterations; i++) {
    const start = performance.now();
    await startActiveObservation(`bench-${i}`, async () => {
      updateActiveObservation({ input: { i }, output: { done: true } });
    });
    timings.push(performance.now() - start);
  }

  const sorted = timings.sort((a, b) => a - b);
  console.log("=== Langfuse Performance Benchmark ===");
  console.log(`Iterations: ${iterations}`);
  console.log(`Mean:  ${(sorted.reduce((a, b) => a + b) / sorted.length).toFixed(3)}ms`);
  console.log(`P50:   ${sorted[Math.floor(sorted.length * 0.5)].toFixed(3)}ms`);
  console.log(`P95:   ${sorted[Math.floor(sorted.length * 0.95)].toFixed(3)}ms`);
  console.log(`P99:   ${sorted[Math.floor(sorted.length * 0.99)].toFixed(3)}ms`);

  const flushStart = performance.now();
  await sdk.shutdown();
  console.log(`Flush: ${(performance.now() - flushStart).toFixed(1)}ms`);
}

benchmark();
```

### Step 2: Optimize Batch Configuration

```typescript
// v4+: Tune OTel span processor
import { LangfuseSpanProcessor } from "@langfuse/otel";
import { NodeSDK } from "@opentelemetry/sdk-node";

const processor = new LangfuseSpanProcessor({
  exportIntervalMillis: 10000,  // Flush every 10s (default: 5000)
  maxExportBatchSize: 100,      // Larger batches = fewer API calls
  maxQueueSize: 4096,           // Buffer more events before dropping
});

const sdk = new NodeSDK({ spanProcessors: [processor] });
sdk.start();
```

```typescript
// v3: Direct configuration
const langfuse = new Langfuse({
  flushAt: 100,           // Larger batches
  flushInterval: 10000,   // Less frequent flushes
  requestTimeout: 30000,  // Allow time for large batches
});
```

| Setting | Low Volume | High Volume | Ultra-High |
|---------|-----------|-------------|------------|
| Batch size | 15 | 50-100 | 200 |
| Flush interval | 5s | 10s | 30s |
| Queue size | 1024 | 4096 | 8192 |

### Step 3: Non-Blocking Trace Wrapper

Ensure tracing never blocks your application's critical path:

```typescript
import { observe, updateActiveObservation } from "@langfuse/tracing";

// The observe wrapper is already non-blocking for the trace submission.
// But protect against SDK crashes:
function safeObserve<T extends (...args: any[]) => Promise<any>>(
  name: string,
  fn: T
): T {
  return (async (...args: Parameters<T>) => {
    try {
      return await observe({ name }, async () => {
        updateActiveObservation({ input: args });
        const result = await fn(...args);
        updateActiveObservation({ output: result });
        return result;
      })();
    } catch (error) {
      // If tracing throws, run function without tracing
      console.warn(`Tracing failed for ${name}:`, error);
      return fn(...args);
    }
  }) as T;
}
```

### Step 4: Payload Size Optimization

Large trace payloads slow down flush and increase costs:

```typescript
function truncateForTrace(input: any, maxStringLen = 5000, maxArrayLen = 50): any {
  if (typeof input === "string") {
    return input.length > maxStringLen
      ? input.slice(0, maxStringLen) + `...[truncated ${input.length - maxStringLen} chars]`
      : input;
  }

  if (Array.isArray(input)) {
    return input.slice(0, maxArrayLen).map((item) => truncateForTrace(item));
  }

  if (input instanceof Buffer || input instanceof Uint8Array) {
    return `[Binary: ${input.length} bytes]`;
  }

  if (typeof input === "object" && input !== null) {
    const result: Record<string, any> = {};
    for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(input)) {
      result[key] = truncateForTrace(value);
    }
    return result;
  }

  return input;
}

// Usage
await startActiveObservation("process", async () => {
  updateActiveObservation({
    input: truncateForTrace(largeInput),  // Truncated for trace
  });
  const result = await process(largeInput); // Full input to function
  updateActiveObservation({ output: truncateForTrace(result) });
});
```

### Step 5: Sampling for Ultra-High Volume

When you cannot afford to trace every request:

```typescript
class TraceSampler {
  private rate: number;
  private windowMs = 60000;
  private maxPerWindow: number;
  private timestamps: number[] = [];

  constructor(rate: number, maxPerMinute: number) {
    this.rate = rate;
    this.maxPerWindow = maxPerMinute;
  }

  shouldSample(isError = false): boolean {
    if (isError) return true; // Always trace errors

    const now = Date.now();
    this.timestamps = this.timestamps.filter((t) => t > now - this.windowMs);

    if (this.timestamps.length >= this.maxPerWindow) return false;
    if (Math.random() > this.rate) return false;

    this.timestamps.push(now);
    return true;
  }
}

const sampler = new TraceSampler(0.1, 1000); // 10%, max 1000/min

async function maybeTrace<T>(name: string, fn: () => Promise<T>, isError = false): Promise<T> {
  if (!sampler.shouldSample(isError)) {
    return fn(); // Skip tracing
  }

  return startActiveObservation(name, async () => {
    updateActiveObservation({ metadata: { sampled: true } });
    return fn();
  });
}
```

### Step 6: Memory Management

```typescript
// Monitor trace-related memory usage
function logMemoryStats() {
  const mem = process.memoryUsage();
  console.log({
    heapUsedMB: (mem.heapUsed / 1024 / 1024).toFixed(1),
    rssMB: (mem.rss / 1024 / 1024).toFixed(1),
    externalMB: (mem.external / 1024 / 1024).toFixed(1),
  });
}

// Log every minute in production
setInterval(logMemoryStats, 60000);
```

## Optimization Impact Matrix

| Optimization | Latency Impact | Throughput Impact | Effort |
|-------------|---------------|-------------------|--------|
| Increase batch size | High | High | Low |
| Non-blocking wrapper | High | Medium | Low |
| Payload truncation | Medium | Medium | Low |
| Sampling | High | Very High | Medium |
| Memory monitoring | Low | Low | Low |

## Error Handling

| Issue | Cause | Solution |
|-------|-------|----------|
| High P99 latency | Sync flush in hot path | Use non-blocking wrapper |
| Memory growth | No payload limits | Truncate inputs/outputs |
| Request timeouts | Batch too large | Reduce batch size or increase timeout |
| Dropped spans | Queue full | Increase `maxQueueSize` |

## Output

Produce a tuning receipt with the baseline and post-change P50/P95 latency,
throughput, sampling rate, batch settings, and dropped-event count. Include the
rollback setting for each change; do not treat fewer traces as lower latency
without reporting the sampling denominator.

## Examples

Start with a production-like load test and change only `flushAt` and
`flushInterval`. Compare request latency and exporter queue depth for the same
traffic window. If queue drops increase, revert the batch change and reduce
payload size or sampling before increasing queue capacity.

## Resources

- [Event Queuing/Batching](https://langfuse.com/docs/observability/features/queuing-batching)
- [Advanced SDK Configuration](https://langfuse.com/docs/observability/sdk/typescript/advanced-usage)
- [Token & Cost Tracking](https://langfuse.com/docs/observability/features/token-and-cost-tracking)