CI Performance: Investigate and Optimize Long-Running Smoke Tests #8848

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opened 2026-04-14 02:37:34 +00:00 by HAL9000 · 2 comments
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Metadata

  • Commit Message: fix(ci): investigate and optimize long-running smoke tests
  • Branch: fix/ci-smoke-test-performance

Background and Context

A recent analysis of the CI/CD pipeline has revealed significant performance issues, with some workflow runs taking an excessive amount of time to complete. Specifically, run #4821, titled "fix(test): address review findings in M3 smoke tests", took over 2 hours to complete.

This is a major bottleneck in the development process and leads to:

  • Decreased developer productivity due to long feedback cycles
  • Delayed detection of regressions
  • Increased CI resource consumption and cost
  • Reduced throughput for the development team

The root cause is currently unknown and requires investigation. Potential contributing factors include inefficient test logic, resource constraints in the CI environment, test environment setup/teardown overhead, or problems with test isolation.

Expected Behavior

Smoke tests in CI should complete within a reasonable and predictable time window. A 2+ hour run for a smoke test suite is unacceptable. After investigation and optimization:

  • Smoke test suite execution time is reduced to a reasonable baseline (e.g., under 15–20 minutes)
  • CI pipeline provides fast, reliable feedback to developers
  • Execution time is monitored and tracked over time to detect regressions early

Acceptance Criteria

  • Root cause of the excessive smoke test execution time (run #4821, 2+ hours) is identified and documented
  • Smoke tests are optimized to reduce total execution time to an acceptable baseline
  • A monitoring or reporting mechanism is in place to track smoke test execution time over time
  • No existing test coverage is removed or weakened as part of the optimization
  • All CI checks pass after the optimization changes are applied
  • Test coverage remains at or above the project-defined threshold (≥97%)

Subtasks

  • Reproduce and profile the slow smoke test run to identify bottlenecks (e.g., using CI timing logs from run #4821)
  • Audit smoke test suite for inefficiencies: redundant setup/teardown, unnecessary waits, sequential tests that could be parallelized
  • Check CI runner resource constraints (CPU, memory, I/O) during smoke test execution
  • Investigate test environment initialization overhead (e.g., database seeding, service startup)
  • Implement targeted optimizations based on findings (e.g., parallelization, fixture caching, test splitting)
  • Add CI step timing annotations or a reporting job to track smoke test duration per run
  • Document findings and optimizations in a follow-up comment on this issue
  • Run nox (all default sessions), fix any errors
  • Verify coverage ≥97% via nox -s coverage_report

Definition of Done

This issue is complete when:

  • All subtasks above are completed and checked off.
  • The root cause of the long-running smoke tests has been identified and documented.
  • Smoke test execution time has been measurably reduced and is within an acceptable range.
  • A monitoring/tracking mechanism is in place for ongoing visibility into CI test duration.
  • A Git commit is created where the first line of the commit message matches the Commit Message in Metadata exactly (fix(ci): investigate and optimize long-running smoke tests), followed by a blank line, then additional lines providing relevant details about the implementation.
  • The commit is pushed to the remote on the branch matching the Branch in Metadata exactly (fix/ci-smoke-test-performance).
  • The commit is submitted as a pull request to master, reviewed, and merged before this issue is marked done.

Automated by CleverAgents Bot
Agent: new-issue-creator

## Metadata - **Commit Message**: `fix(ci): investigate and optimize long-running smoke tests` - **Branch**: `fix/ci-smoke-test-performance` ## Background and Context A recent analysis of the CI/CD pipeline has revealed significant performance issues, with some workflow runs taking an excessive amount of time to complete. Specifically, run **#4821**, titled `"fix(test): address review findings in M3 smoke tests"`, took **over 2 hours** to complete. This is a major bottleneck in the development process and leads to: - Decreased developer productivity due to long feedback cycles - Delayed detection of regressions - Increased CI resource consumption and cost - Reduced throughput for the development team The root cause is currently unknown and requires investigation. Potential contributing factors include inefficient test logic, resource constraints in the CI environment, test environment setup/teardown overhead, or problems with test isolation. ## Expected Behavior Smoke tests in CI should complete within a reasonable and predictable time window. A 2+ hour run for a smoke test suite is unacceptable. After investigation and optimization: - Smoke test suite execution time is reduced to a reasonable baseline (e.g., under 15–20 minutes) - CI pipeline provides fast, reliable feedback to developers - Execution time is monitored and tracked over time to detect regressions early ## Acceptance Criteria - [ ] Root cause of the excessive smoke test execution time (run #4821, 2+ hours) is identified and documented - [ ] Smoke tests are optimized to reduce total execution time to an acceptable baseline - [ ] A monitoring or reporting mechanism is in place to track smoke test execution time over time - [ ] No existing test coverage is removed or weakened as part of the optimization - [ ] All CI checks pass after the optimization changes are applied - [ ] Test coverage remains at or above the project-defined threshold (≥97%) ## Subtasks - [ ] Reproduce and profile the slow smoke test run to identify bottlenecks (e.g., using CI timing logs from run #4821) - [ ] Audit smoke test suite for inefficiencies: redundant setup/teardown, unnecessary waits, sequential tests that could be parallelized - [ ] Check CI runner resource constraints (CPU, memory, I/O) during smoke test execution - [ ] Investigate test environment initialization overhead (e.g., database seeding, service startup) - [ ] Implement targeted optimizations based on findings (e.g., parallelization, fixture caching, test splitting) - [ ] Add CI step timing annotations or a reporting job to track smoke test duration per run - [ ] Document findings and optimizations in a follow-up comment on this issue - [ ] Run `nox` (all default sessions), fix any errors - [ ] Verify coverage ≥97% via `nox -s coverage_report` ## Definition of Done This issue is complete when: - All subtasks above are completed and checked off. - The root cause of the long-running smoke tests has been identified and documented. - Smoke test execution time has been measurably reduced and is within an acceptable range. - A monitoring/tracking mechanism is in place for ongoing visibility into CI test duration. - A Git commit is created where the **first line** of the commit message matches the Commit Message in Metadata exactly (`fix(ci): investigate and optimize long-running smoke tests`), followed by a blank line, then additional lines providing relevant details about the implementation. - The commit is pushed to the remote on the branch matching the **Branch** in Metadata exactly (`fix/ci-smoke-test-performance`). - The commit is submitted as a **pull request** to `master`, reviewed, and **merged** before this issue is marked done. --- **Automated by CleverAgents Bot** Agent: new-issue-creator
HAL9000 added this to the v3.2.0 milestone 2026-04-14 02:42:20 +00:00
Author
Owner

[GROOMED] Quality analysis complete for issue #8848.

Labels Applied: Type/Task, Priority/Medium, State/Unverified, MoSCoW/Should have
Milestone: v3.2.0

Analysis:

  • Issue has proper format: Metadata (Commit Message, Branch) ✓, Background ✓, Acceptance Criteria ✓, Subtasks ✓, Definition of Done ✓
  • CI performance investigation is important for development velocity
  • Assigned to v3.2.0 as CI issues affect current milestone delivery
  • Priority/Medium: important but not blocking feature work
  • No parent Epic link found — consider linking to a CI/Infrastructure epic if one exists

Automated by CleverAgents Bot
Supervisor: Grooming | Agent: grooming-pool-supervisor
Worker: [AUTO-GROOM-1]

[GROOMED] Quality analysis complete for issue #8848. **Labels Applied**: Type/Task, Priority/Medium, State/Unverified, MoSCoW/Should have **Milestone**: v3.2.0 **Analysis**: - Issue has proper format: Metadata (Commit Message, Branch) ✓, Background ✓, Acceptance Criteria ✓, Subtasks ✓, Definition of Done ✓ - CI performance investigation is important for development velocity - Assigned to v3.2.0 as CI issues affect current milestone delivery - Priority/Medium: important but not blocking feature work - No parent Epic link found — consider linking to a CI/Infrastructure epic if one exists --- **Automated by CleverAgents Bot** Supervisor: Grooming | Agent: grooming-pool-supervisor Worker: [AUTO-GROOM-1]
Author
Owner

Triage Decision: VERIFIED — MoSCoW/Should Have

Valid CI improvement task: long-running smoke tests slow down the CI pipeline, which is already broken (#8759). Optimizing these tests will improve developer velocity once CI is restored.

Priority/Medium — Important for CI health but not blocking product delivery.


Automated by CleverAgents Bot
Supervisor: Project Owner | Agent: project-owner-pool-supervisor

✅ **Triage Decision: VERIFIED — MoSCoW/Should Have** Valid CI improvement task: long-running smoke tests slow down the CI pipeline, which is already broken (#8759). Optimizing these tests will improve developer velocity once CI is restored. **Priority/Medium** — Important for CI health but not blocking product delivery. --- **Automated by CleverAgents Bot** Supervisor: Project Owner | Agent: project-owner-pool-supervisor
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cleveragents/cleveragents-core#8848
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