Performance
Performance characteristics of ForgeUI components
Performance
ForgeUI components are designed with performance in mind, but never at the cost of clarity or maintainability.
Performance is treated as a system-level concern, not a collection of isolated optimizations.
A fast component that is hard to reason about will eventually slow teams down in more expensive ways.
Key principles
ForgeUI follows a small set of performance principles that guide everyday decisions.
- No unnecessary re-renders
- No heavy runtime abstractions
- Minimal client-side JavaScript
- Animation used sparingly and intentionally
These principles favor predictable behavior over clever optimizations that are difficult to debug or maintain.
Composability over monoliths
ForgeUI prefers small, well-scoped components over large, feature-heavy widgets.
Breaking complex UI into smaller pieces:
- reduces the surface area of re-renders
- makes memoization easier and more effective
- allows teams to optimize only the parts that need it
Rather than optimizing a single heavy component, ForgeUI encourages composing lighter primitives that remain fast by default.
If a component needs aggressive optimization to perform well, it is often doing too much.
Server-first mindset
ForgeUI is designed to work naturally with server rendering.
Where possible:
- markup is rendered on the server
- meaningful structure exists without JavaScript
- client-side behavior is added only when interaction requires it
This approach:
- reduces bundle size
- improves initial load performance
- simplifies state synchronization
- improves SEO by default
Client components are introduced intentionally, not by accident.
Measuring the right things
Performance decisions should be guided by user-centric metrics, not abstract benchmarks.
Instead of focusing on micro-optimizations, ForgeUI encourages measuring:
- Time to Interactive (TTI)
- input responsiveness
- layout stability during interaction
- perceived responsiveness in real user flows
Profiling real scenarios often reveals that clarity and structure have a larger impact on performance than small technical tweaks.
Animation and motion
Animations in ForgeUI are treated as a communication tool, not decoration.
Motion is used to:
- explain state changes
- reinforce hierarchy
- guide attention
Animations are avoided when they:
- obscure content
- introduce unnecessary re-renders
- compete with user intent
CSS transitions are preferred when possible, with JavaScript-driven animation reserved for cases where it provides clear value.
Progressive enhancement
ForgeUI favors progressive enhancement over JavaScript-heavy interaction models.
This means:
- rendering useful markup first
- enhancing behavior incrementally
- avoiding client-side state unless it is necessary
Progressive enhancement leads to:
- better performance on low-end devices
- simpler mental models for state
- fewer hydration edge cases
It also makes components easier to test and reason about.
Trade-offs and intent
ForgeUI does not chase absolute performance at all costs.
It intentionally trades:
- extreme optimization for readability
- aggressive memoization for clarity
- premature tuning for measured improvements
A component that is easy to understand is easier to optimize when it actually matters.
Performance work is most effective when applied after real bottlenecks are identified, not before.
In practice
When using ForgeUI components:
- start with the default behavior
- measure performance in real contexts
- optimize only where clear issues appear
ForgeUI aims to give you a solid baseline that performs well in most cases, without requiring constant tuning.
Performance is not a feature to bolt on later — it is a result of good structure, clear intent, and disciplined design.