mgeeky-decode-spam-headers/docs/research/analysis-performance-benchmark.md

type, title, created, tags, related

type	title	created	tags	related
report	Web Header Analyzer Performance Benchmark (Sample Headers)	2026-02-18	performance backend benchmark	SpecKit-web-header-analyzer-Phase-09-Polish

Scope

Benchmark the full analysis runtime for backend/tests/fixtures/sample_headers.txt using the default backend analyzer configuration. Capture per-scanner timings to identify the slowest scanners.

Environment

Local run on Windows PowerShell in repository root (D:\dev2\decode-spam-headers).

Method

1. Load backend/tests/fixtures/sample_headers.txt into AnalysisRequest with default AnalysisConfig.
2. Run HeaderAnalyzer.analyze(...) once and record wall-clock runtime.
3. Run a per-scanner timing pass using the same parsed headers and HeaderAnalyzer._run_scanner(...) to match real execution behavior, including per-test timeouts.

Results

• Full analysis runtime: 0.3396 seconds (metadata elapsed: 339.58 ms)
• Total scanners executed: 106
• Threshold requirement: under 10 seconds (met)

Top 10 scanners by runtime (single pass):

• 239.33 ms | Test 17 | Domain Impersonation
• 31.22 ms | Test 1 | Received - Mail Servers Flow
• 29.09 ms | Test 86 | Suspicious Words in Headers
• 2.19 ms | Test 3 | Extracted Domains
• 1.53 ms | Test 78 | Security Appliances Spotted
• 0.87 ms | Test 79 | Email Providers Infrastructure Clues
• 0.43 ms | Test 18 | SpamAssassin Spam Status
• 0.38 ms | Test 2 | Extracted IP addresses
• 0.38 ms | Test 12 | X-Forefront-Antispam-Report
• 0.37 ms | Test 7 | Authentication-Results

Scanners at or above 25 ms:

• 239.33 ms | Test 17 | Domain Impersonation
• 31.22 ms | Test 1 | Received - Mail Servers Flow
• 29.09 ms | Test 86 | Suspicious Words in Headers

Notes

• No optimization required; runtime is well within the 10 second threshold.
• If regressions occur later, prioritize profiling Test 17, then Test 1 and Test 86.