perf(tui): cut render delay by deferring provider and memory - #157
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Building the agent loop eagerly imported litellm (~2-7s) and the everos/lancedb memory backend (~2.1s) on the render path, so `raven tui` showed an empty shell for 4-5s before real content. - LazyProvider wraps the real provider so litellm loads on first chat, with a background prewarm thread; wired via make_lazy_provider for the TUI only. A cheap credential check preserves startup fail-fast without importing litellm. - EverosBackend defers its adapter import into start(), which the TUI now runs in the background after the render handshake; recall and store degrade to empty until it is ready. Render drops from 4-5s to ~1-2s with real tool and skill counts. Co-authored-by: Claude (claude-opus-4-8) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The intro row rendered an empty body between the wordmark and the session.info handshake (~1-2s). Show a StartupLoader in that gap: a braille spinner in the same rounded box as SessionPanel, with a label that steps through the bring-up stages. It is replaced by SessionPanel the moment info arrives, so there is no residual height. Co-authored-by: Claude (claude-opus-4-8) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The prettier-ui-tui hook checks the whole src tree on any ui-tui change; `useMainApp.ts` carried a pre-existing drift from #80 that this branch is the first ui-tui change to trip. Reformat it so CI is green. Co-authored-by: Claude (claude-opus-4-8) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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## Summary Bump Raven package metadata from 0.1.5 to 0.1.6 so the release tag can build a wheel from the current main branch. This release carries the changes merged after v0.1.5: - Version display now derives from installed package metadata (#139). - Tracing dashboard port reuse avoids taking over non-Raven viewers (#141). - CLI startup defers LiteLLM imports for faster cold start (#147). - Self-evolution stack and AppWorld benchmark entry points are included (#140). - TUI render delay is reduced by deferring provider and memory loading (#157). ## Type - [ ] Fix - [ ] Feature - [ ] Docs - [ ] CI / tooling - [ ] Refactor - [x] Other ## Verification - [x] Relevant tests pass locally - [x] Relevant lint / type checks pass locally - [ ] User-facing docs or screenshots are updated when needed Commands run: - `PYTHONPATH=. uv run pytest tests/test_cli_smoke.py::test_version_flag_matches_installed_metadata -q` - `make check-commits COMMIT_RANGE=origin/main..HEAD` - `PYTHONPATH=. uv run python scripts/check_commit_file.py /tmp/raven-commit-msg.txt` No user-facing docs or screenshots were needed for this version metadata bump; release notes will be published with the GitHub Release. ## Risk - [x] Security impact considered - [x] Backward compatibility considered - [x] Rollback path is clear for risky changes This changes package metadata only. Rollback is to delete the v0.1.6 tag/release if publication fails before users upgrade, or publish a follow-up patch release if a released package issue is found. ## Related Issues N/A
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Summary
Profiling
raven tuibring-up put the agent-loop build(
_build_tui_agent_loop) at ~7s, so the TUI showed an empty shellfor several seconds before real content (issue #128 reports it as a
4-5s delay). Two eager imports on that path dominated: litellm when
the loop built its provider, and the everos/lancedb memory backend
(its
start()measured ~2.5s). Deferring both off the render pathdrops the build to ~1.8s -- the diffuse-import residual -- and a
startup loader fills what remains.
perf:LazyProviderdefers litellm to the first chat (with abackground prewarm);
EverosBackenddefers its adapter import intostart(), which the TUI runs in the background after the renderhandshake. recall/store degrade to empty until the backend is ready.
A cheap credential check keeps startup fail-fast without importing
litellm.
feat(tui): aStartupLoader(braille spinner in the SessionPanelbox) fills the pre-handshake gap and is replaced by the real panel
the moment
session.infoarrives.The empty-shell window drops from ~7s to ~1-2s, with real tool/skill
counts and no
-32008on the first send.Non-blocking trade-offs (documented, not bugs): the residual ~1.8s is
diffuse imports with no single lever; quitting within the first ~2.5s
waits briefly on the background backend task; a first message sent
within ~2.5s runs one turn without memory recall (silent degrade).
Phase-timing startup logs (one of the issue's acceptance items) were
not added -- the delay was root-fixed rather than instrumented.
Also reformats
useMainApp.ts(a pre-existing drift from #80) so thewhole-tree prettier hook passes on this first ui-tui change since.
Type
Verification
Commands:
make lint-python,make test-python, andcd ui-tui && npm run lint && npm run type-check && npm test && npm run build.Risk
Provider swap on model change still works (the loop holds a plain
assignable provider attribute). agent/gateway paths keep
make_provider;only the TUI uses the lazy path.
Related Issues
Fixes #128