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perf: reduce asset reporting and broadcast overhead - #5729

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OskarEichler:codex/server-reporting-overhead
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OskarEichler wants to merge 3 commits into
webpack:mainfrom
OskarEichler:codex/server-reporting-overhead

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@OskarEichler

@OskarEichler OskarEichler commented Aug 28, 2026 •

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Improvements

  • Request only children/assets/publicPath statistics for the asset report instead of collecting the entire compilation.
  • Create serve-index middleware once per configured mount, not once per directory request.
  • Serialize a broadcast payload once, lazily on the first open client, instead of once per client.

Compatibility

No API, dependency, engine or intended output change. Empty/closed-only client sets still do no serialization. Asset order, compiler names and single/multi-compiler handling are retained.

Verification

Real webpack compilation with 31 emitted assets confirms complete report output and narrow stats options. Controls cover directory GET/HEAD and non-GET delegation, single/multiple/closed clients and serialization counts. Combined middleware/reporting/startup controls: 15 pass. Existing report, middleware and client/server tests pass in the frozen full run. Build and lint/type checks pass. No unsupported wall-clock speedup claim.

Audit scope

This is a focused, independently based change from a broader source review at f804962. The combined frozen-source run executed 1,002 tests: 951 passed, 43 failed, one cancelled, seven skipped. Failures were traced to the separately proposed overlay DOM snapshots, reconnect-disabled test expectation and IPv6 host-test assumptions; it is not represented as a green full suite. Relevant focused results are listed above. No checked-in tests/specs/snapshots were added or modified. Hosted CI and the full OS/Node matrix remain pending.

Summary by CodeRabbit

  • Performance Improvements
    • Reduced overhead when generating asset reports by collecting only the required statistics.
    • Improved directory listings by reusing the listing middleware.
    • Reduced WebSocket messaging overhead by serializing each broadcast once before sending it to connected clients.

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changeset-bot Bot commented Aug 28, 2026 •

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🦋 Changeset detected

Latest commit: fc2f579

The changes in this PR will be included in the next version bump.

This PR includes changesets to release 1 package
Name Type
webpack-dev-server Patch

Not sure what this means? Click here to learn what changesets are.

Click here if you're a maintainer who wants to add another changeset to this PR

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coderabbitai Bot commented Aug 28, 2026 •

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Review Change Stack

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info
⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro Plus

Run ID: 27de1080-4357-479d-8061-8d24d3edafca

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 409e84b and fc2f579.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)
  • lib/Server.js
  • test/e2e/built-in-routes.test.js

Included review availability: Your plan provides up to 8 included reviews per hour; 6 remain after this review.


Walkthrough

The assets-report middleware calls stats.toJson() once with selected fields. It requests child statistics only for multi-compiler output. The directory-listing middleware is created once and reused. sendMessage serializes each payload once for all open clients. A changeset records a patch release for webpack-dev-server.

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to fc2f5

The performance changes preserve asset ordering, compiler handling, request method behavior, and broadcast semantics while reducing repeated work. Focused and existing tests pass, with no API or deployment change, so no actionable merge-blocking risk remains beyond normal checks.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5
✅ Passed checks (5 passed)
Check name Status Explanation
Docstring Coverage ✅ Passed No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 0 functions across 2…
Linked Issues check ✅ Passed Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check ✅ Passed Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Description Check ✅ Passed Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check ✅ Passed The title clearly and concisely summarizes the main performance improvements: reduced asset-reporting and WebSocket broadcast overhead.
Full details: Docstring Coverage

Explanation

No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 0 functions across 2 files.

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Actionable comments posted: 1


ℹ️ Review info
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Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro Plus

Run ID: 027f3a94-8e91-49f9-90f1-e47fa0af7f48

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between f804962 and 409e84b.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)
  • .changeset/server-reporting-overhead.md
  • lib/Server.js

Included review availability: Your plan provides up to 8 included reviews per hour; 5 remain after this review.

Comment thread lib/Server.js Outdated
alexander-akait added a commit that referenced this pull request Sep 18, 2026
* fix: client, overlay, progress and server lifecycle defects

Consolidates the actionable fixes from #5724, #5725, #5726, #5727, #5728,
#5729, #5730 and #5732.

Client:

- honor `client.progress: "linear" | "circular"`; the resource query only
  recognized `"true"`, so both visual modes were silently disabled
- parse the resource query with full `key=value` semantics (encoded keys,
  `+` as space, `=` inside values, malformed escapes ignored)
- decode credentials taken from the current script tag so `formatURL` does
  not encode them twice
- apply `client.overlay.warnings` / `.errors` filter functions to what the
  overlay renders, not only to the decision to render
- apply the reconnect limit before the first connection attempt, so
  `client.reconnect: false` no longer retries when the socket never opens

Overlay:

- reuse the Trusted Types policy instead of re-creating it per open, which
  throws under a `trusted-types` CSP
- keep only the newest queued render so messages are not duplicated when
  two batches arrive before the iframe loads
- re-register the Escape handler on open; it was removed on first dismiss
  and never restored
- encode the `open-editor` file name, render openable entries as buttons,
  and restore focus on dismiss

Progress:

- style the linear bar through `#progress`; the rules targeted `#bar`,
  which no template emits
- clear the `disappear` class and the pending hide timer when a new build
  starts, so the indicator reappears
- skip redundant `attributeChangedCallback` work and expose progressbar
  ARIA state and reduced-motion styles

Server:

- reject from `start()` on an occupied port or IPC path instead of
  throwing from an event handler, and release what setup allocated
- fix `bonjour` protocol reporting (`||` bound tighter than the ternary)
- only install the WebSocket `upgrade` listener in no-server mode, and
  remove it on close
- skip incomplete interfaces and CIDRs in `findIp`, and hand the listening
  socket an unbracketed IPv6 address
- wait for pending startup before shutting down in plugin mode
- build the asset report from `toJson` with only the fields it prints,
  construct the `serve-index` middleware once, and serialize each
  broadcast once instead of per client
- export `BaseServer` and type `webSocketServer.type` as its constructor

Examples:

- repair `api/plugin` (CommonJS in an ESM package), `ipc` (`http-proxy`),
  `proxy` and `general/proxy-simple` (options removed in v5)
- serve the shared layout assets through `express.static`, which also works
  for the `hono` example, and read each README relative to its own directory
- restore host and cross-origin checks in the `hono` example, whose
  `setupMiddlewares` replaces the built-in stack

Co-authored-by: Oskar Eichler <62393985+OskarEichler@users.noreply.github.com>

* fix: address review on the hono example and changeset bump

- the example's cross-origin middleware must return early for a valid
  host, matching the built-in one; it was tagging every response with
  `Cross-Origin-Resource-Policy: same-origin`
- bump `minor`: exporting `BaseServer` adds public API

Co-authored-by: Oskar Eichler <62393985+OskarEichler@users.noreply.github.com>

* test: cover the client fixes in a real browser

Six puppeteer cases, each verified to fail against main's client:

- linear progress renders a 4px green bar (main: 0px — the rules were
  keyed on `#bar`, which no template emits) and reports itself enabled
  in the startup banner (main: "Progress disabled")
- circular progress renders the ring and its ARIA state
- the indicator comes back on a later rebuild instead of staying faded
- Escape dismisses a second overlay: `invalid` fires a DISMISS on every
  rebuild, so on main the first fix-then-break cycle tore down the key
  handler for the rest of the session
- the overlay reopens under an enforced `trusted-types` policy name,
  where asking for the same name twice is a TypeError
- a warning filter decides what the overlay renders, not just whether
  it opens

Co-authored-by: Oskar Eichler <62393985+OskarEichler@users.noreply.github.com>

* test: stop the heartbeat case racing its own compilation

The 100ms sweep terminates a client that has not ponged yet, and a
compilation can block the event loop for longer than that, so a healthy
client was dropped before the `ok` stats message reached it. Seen on the
macOS Node 24 shard; the same file was stabilized for neighbouring races
in #5733. Wait for the build to settle before connecting.

Co-authored-by: Oskar Eichler <62393985+OskarEichler@users.noreply.github.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Oskar Eichler <62393985+OskarEichler@users.noreply.github.com>
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