ArchitecturePerformanceFeatured
GraphQL Performance Was Deteriorating
API response times climbing steadily under normal load. The database is getting blamed. Infrastructure spend is on the table.
Situation
You're the lead engineer at a B2B SaaS platform. GraphQL response times have been climbing for weeks — p95 is now 2.4 seconds on list endpoints that used to return in 300ms. The database dashboard shows high query volume. Product is asking questions. Your CTO forwarded a Slack thread about upgrading the database tier.
Stakes
- API response times degrading under normal load
- Database being blamed prematurely — wrong fix wastes engineering effort and infra spend
- Product team losing confidence in the platform's scalability
Response times are climbing. The database is under load. Your CTO is asking about scaling the DB tier. What's your move?