What is browser-perf-runner?

addyosmani/browser-perf-runner — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-07-23 · repo last pushed 2014-07-25

★ 1JavaScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5DormantSetup · moderate

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Tests web page speed
      Runs on pull requests
      Returns metrics on GitHub
    How it works
      Travis CI triggers tests
      Uses browser-perf tool
      Measures scroll and paint
    Use cases
      Benchmark a redesign
      Check page smoothness
      No local setup needed
    Audience
      Frontend developers
      Product managers
    Tech stack
      JavaScript
      Travis CI
      GitHub

mindmap root((repo)) What it does Tests web page speed Runs on pull requests Returns metrics on GitHub How it works Travis CI triggers tests Uses browser-perf tool Measures scroll and paint Use cases Benchmark a redesign Check page smoothness No local setup needed Audience Frontend developers Product managers Tech stack JavaScript Travis CI GitHub

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Benchmark a web page's rendering speed before shipping a redesign by submitting a pull request.

USE CASE 2

Check scroll smoothness and paint metrics for a URL without installing local testing tools.

USE CASE 3

Get rendering performance feedback directly on a GitHub pull request for quick review.

What is it built with?

JavaScriptTravis CIbrowser-perfGitHub

How does it compare?

	addyosmani/browser-perf-runner	0xmukesh/docusaurus-tutorial	1tsmejp/palworld-docker-wine
Stars	1	1	1
Language	JavaScript	JavaScript	JavaScript
Last pushed	2014-07-25	2021-12-27	—
Maintenance	Dormant	Dormant	—
Setup difficulty	moderate	easy	moderate
Complexity	2/5	2/5	4/5
Audience	developer	developer	ops devops

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

The README is very sparse so you need to study existing pull requests to figure out how to format your submission and interpret the results.

No license information is provided in the repository.

So what is it?

browser-perf-runner lets you check how fast a web page renders by doing something clever: you send a pull request (basically a proposed code change) to the project's GitHub repository, and it runs a performance test for you automatically. Here's how it works in practice. The repository is connected to a continuous integration service called Travis CI, which watches for new pull requests. When you submit one, that service springs into action and runs a tool called browser-perf against whatever web page URL you've specified. browser-perf measures things like how smoothly a page scrolls, how quickly it paints content to the screen, and other rendering metrics that affect how fast the page feels to actual users. The results come back through the pull request, so you can see them right there in GitHub. This setup would appeal to someone like a frontend developer or a product manager who wants a quick, no-fuss way to benchmark a web page without installing performance testing tools locally or setting up a complicated testing pipeline. For example, if you're about to ship a redesign of your landing page and want to confirm it didn't get noticeably slower, you could submit a pull request here and get measurements back without touching your own codebase. The notable thing about the project is its unconventional "pull request as a trigger" design. Instead of asking you to install software, configure a testing environment, or remember command-line flags, it turns GitHub itself into the interface. That said, the README is extremely sparse and doesn't explain exactly how to format your pull request, what information to include, or how to read the results. You'd likely need to look at existing pull requests in the repository to figure out the pattern.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

How do I format my pull request for browser-perf-runner to get performance metrics for my web page URL?

Prompt 2

Look at the existing closed pull requests in the browser-perf-runner repository and tell me what pattern or format I need to follow to trigger a performance test.

Prompt 3

I want to measure scroll smoothness and paint metrics for my landing page using browser-perf-runner. What URL do I submit and what results should I expect back on my pull request?

Frequently asked questions