Engineering·May 20, 2026·1 min read
Shipping at 95+ Lighthouse: a performance playbook
Top performance scores aren't luck — they're an architectural decision. Here's the playbook we use on every build.
A 95+ Lighthouse score isn't something you bolt on at the end — it's the result of decisions made on day one. Performance is an architecture problem.
Render static HTML wherever possible
Static generation (SSG/ISR) means pages are CDN-served HTML, not computed on every request. It's the single biggest lever for fast loads and great Core Web Vitals.
Budget your JavaScript
- Set a hard first-load JS budget and defend it
- Lazy-load anything below the fold
- Self-host fonts with font-display: swap
- Serve AVIF/WebP images sized for the device
- Animate transform/opacity only
Treat the score as a hard gate, not a goal, and it stays green release after release.