perf(lesson): harden GraphQL metadata path with timeout + fallback

[joelhooks]

Problem

lesson.loadLessonMetadataFromGraphQL.graphql is a top latency/error hotspot in structured logs:

• avg: ~836ms
• p95: ~2069ms
• errors: 476 (last ~24h)

lesson.loadLesson.summary ends up at ~1231ms avg / ~2783ms p95 partly due to this dependency.

Goal

Harden the GraphQL leg so lesson pages degrade gracefully and avoid retry/refetch cascades.

Proposed work

• Add timeout + bounded retry for lesson metadata GraphQL fetch.
• Add explicit fallback behavior when metadata fetch fails (serve known-safe minimal lesson data).
• Emit structured outcome fields (status, timed_out, fallback_used, error_class).
• Ensure client does not trigger duplicate recovery fetches when SSR already returned fallback data.

Acceptance

• GraphQL metadata error rate reduced materially (target: >50% drop).
• p95 for lesson.loadLesson.summary improves.
• Fallback path is observable in Axiom and does not break playback/auth gating.

[joelhooks]

Agent Report: Analysis Full

Window: 2026-02-06T19:28:41.269Z -> 2026-02-07T19:28:41.269Z (24.00h, source=hours)

Frontend (Vercel)

• Cache: hitRate=7.4% missRate=90.5% (hits=156,661 misses=1,917,102)
• 500s top routes: /courses/[course] (1,178), /api/cio-subscriber (548), /api/pricing (260), /api/trpc/[trpc] (182), /blog/using-branded-types-in-typescript (84), /q/[[...all]] (62)
• Top routes: /q/[[...all]] (911,678), /courses/[course] (377,927), /api/trpc/[trpc] (227,473), /lessons/[slug] (185,111), /api/cio-subscriber (74,198), /api/pricing (56,851)

Structured Story (Lambda JSON Events)

• Structured coverage: 55.9% (899,109/1,608,119)
• Search SSR cache: hit_rate=1.83% (hit=2,810 miss=150,986)
• tRPC feature-flag tax: 88.3% (126,651/143,481)
• lesson.loadLesson.summary: calls=49,931 avg=1283ms p95=2839ms
• lesson.loadLessonMetadataFromGraphQL.graphql: calls=51,309 avg=865ms p95=2153ms errors=500
• course.loadResourcesForCourse.summary: calls=2,412 avg=1898ms p95=4059ms
• GraphQL lesson metadata errors: total=500 404=468 other=32
• Worst GraphQL slugs: react-getting-started-with-react-storybook (85), misc-practical-git-copy-remote-repos-to-local-machines-with-git-clone (11), tools-practical-git-view-commit-history-with-git-log (11), misc-practical-git-create-local-repos-with-git-init (10), tools-practical-git-remove-all-unnecessary-git-tracking-with-a-global-gitignore-file (10)

Backend (Rails)

• totalEvents=256,864 activeWorkers=20 errorTypes=6
• Top errors: job.failed RuntimeError (198), job.failed NoMethodError (25), ? ? (9), stripe.webhook.handler.missing_subscription ? (4), job.failed ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound (1)

Deltas (Previous Window)

• Structured coverage delta: 42.53%
• Search hit_rate delta: ?
• tRPC feature-flag pct delta: 6.86%

Generated by bun tools/me.ts analysis full (agent-only).

[joelhooks]

Agent Report: Analysis Full

Window: 2026-02-07T05:34:06.000Z -> 2026-02-07T21:34:50.286Z (16.01h, source=cursor)

Frontend (Vercel)

• Cache: hitRate=7.7% missRate=90.1% (hits=102,482 misses=1,205,170)
• 500s top routes: /courses/[course] (502), /api/pricing (172), /api/trpc/[trpc] (48), /blog/github-issues-powered-blog (40), /blog/how-to-use-the-animate-on-scroll-aos-library-in-vue (32), /blog/using-branded-types-in-typescript (30)
• Top routes: /q/[[...all]] (606,468), /courses/[course] (218,932), /api/trpc/[trpc] (136,748), /lessons/[slug] (109,697), /api/cio-subscriber (45,985), /api/pricing (35,404)

Structured Story (Lambda JSON Events)

• Structured coverage: 59.7% (605,220/1,013,099)
• Search SSR cache: hit_rate=1.73% (hit=2,027 miss=115,059)
• tRPC feature-flag tax: 89.1% (77,305/86,765)
• lesson.loadLesson.summary: calls=34,549 avg=1384ms p95=3012ms
• lesson.loadLessonMetadataFromGraphQL.graphql: calls=35,558 avg=966ms p95=2377ms errors=259
• course.loadResourcesForCourse.summary: calls=1,601 avg=2077ms p95=4661ms
• GraphQL lesson metadata errors: total=259 404=246 other=13
• Worst GraphQL slugs: react-getting-started-with-react-storybook (45), misc-practical-git-copy-remote-repos-to-local-machines-with-git-clone (6), tools-practical-git-remove-unnecessary-git-tracking-with-gitignore-files (5), misc-practical-git-create-local-repos-with-git-init (5), tools-practical-git-use-semantic-versioning-with-git-tag (5)

Backend (Rails)

• totalEvents=144,935 activeWorkers=18 errorTypes=4
• Top errors: job.failed RuntimeError (130), job.failed NoMethodError (13), ? ? (9), stripe.webhook.handler.missing_subscription ? (2)

Deltas (Previous Window)

• Structured coverage delta: 17.96%
• Search hit_rate delta: -0.41%
• tRPC feature-flag pct delta: 2.75%

Generated by bun tools/me.ts analysis full (agent-only).

[joelhooks]

Agent Report: Analysis Full

Window: 2026-02-07T05:34:06.000Z -> 2026-02-07T21:34:50.000Z (16.01h, source=explicit)

Frontend (Vercel)

• Cache: hitRate=7.7% missRate=90.1% (hits=102,483 misses=1,205,196)
• 500s top routes: /courses/[course] (502), /api/pricing (172), /api/trpc/[trpc] (48), /blog/github-issues-powered-blog (40), /blog/how-to-use-the-animate-on-scroll-aos-library-in-vue (32), /blog/using-branded-types-in-typescript (30)
• Top routes: /q/[[...all]] (606,494), /courses/[course] (218,932), /api/trpc/[trpc] (136,748), /lessons/[slug] (109,697), /api/cio-subscriber (45,985), /api/pricing (35,404)

Structured Story (Lambda JSON Events)

• Structured coverage: 59.7% (605,226/1,013,112)
• Search SSR cache: hit_rate=1.73% (hit=2,027 miss=115,062)
• tRPC feature-flag tax: 89.1% (77,305/86,765)
• lesson.loadLesson.summary: calls=34,549 avg=1384ms p95=3012ms
• lesson.loadLessonMetadataFromGraphQL.graphql: calls=35,558 avg=966ms p95=2377ms errors=259
• course.loadResourcesForCourse.summary: calls=1,601 avg=2077ms p95=4661ms
• GraphQL lesson metadata errors: total=259 404=246 other=13
• Worst GraphQL slugs: react-getting-started-with-react-storybook (45), misc-practical-git-copy-remote-repos-to-local-machines-with-git-clone (6), tools-practical-git-remove-unnecessary-git-tracking-with-gitignore-files (5), misc-practical-git-create-local-repos-with-git-init (5), tools-practical-git-use-semantic-versioning-with-git-tag (5)

Backend (Rails)

• totalEvents=144,935 activeWorkers=18 errorTypes=4
• Top errors: job.failed RuntimeError (130), job.failed NoMethodError (13), ? ? (9), stripe.webhook.handler.missing_subscription ? (2)

Deltas (Previous Window)

• Structured coverage delta: 17.96%
• Search hit_rate delta: -0.41%
• tRPC feature-flag pct delta: 2.75%

Generated by bun tools/me.ts analysis full (agent-only).

[joelhooks]

Agent Report: Analysis Full

Window: 2026-02-06T23:05:14.499Z -> 2026-02-07T22:06:59.917Z (23.03h, source=explicit)
Deploy: 2026-02-06T23:05:14.499Z (ref=https://vercel.com/eggheadio/egghead-io-nextjs/5TjftruCzDAsBimVmDTkfL2VDuvf)

Frontend (Vercel)

• Cache: hitRate=7.0% missRate=91.0% (hits=145,422 misses=1,893,900)
• 500s top routes: /courses/[course] (956), /api/pricing (232), /api/trpc/[trpc] (152), /blog/github-issues-powered-blog (64), /blog/using-branded-types-in-typescript (56), /q/[[...all]] (46)
• Top routes: /q/[[...all]] (884,947), /courses/[course] (419,057), /api/trpc/[trpc] (209,730), /lessons/[slug] (179,686), /api/cio-subscriber (69,232), /api/pricing (53,396)

Structured Story (Lambda JSON Events)

• Structured coverage: 60.7% (973,213/1,604,491)
• Search SSR cache: hit_rate=1.87% (hit=3,185 miss=166,768)
• tRPC feature-flag tax: 88.8% (117,053/131,767)
• lesson.loadLesson.summary: calls=62,071 avg=1239ms p95=2729ms
• lesson.loadLessonMetadataFromGraphQL.graphql: calls=63,519 avg=837ms p95=2069ms errors=559
• course.loadResourcesForCourse.summary: calls=3,186 avg=1800ms p95=3827ms
• GraphQL lesson metadata errors: total=559 404=500 other=59
• Worst GraphQL slugs: react-getting-started-with-react-storybook (86), misc-practical-git-copy-remote-repos-to-local-machines-with-git-clone (12), tools-practical-git-view-commit-history-with-git-log (12), tools-practical-git-remove-unnecessary-git-tracking-with-gitignore-files (11), tools-practical-git-diagnose-which-commit-broke-something-with-git-bisect (11)

Backend (Rails)

• totalEvents=239,606 activeWorkers=19 errorTypes=6
• Top errors: job.failed RuntimeError (191), ? ? (126), job.failed NoMethodError (21), stripe.webhook.handler.missing_subscription ? (3), job.failed ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound (1)

Deltas (Previous Window)

• Structured coverage delta: 40.11%
• Search hit_rate delta: ?
• tRPC feature-flag pct delta: 4.46%

Generated by bun tools/me.ts analysis full (agent-only).

[joelhooks]

Agent Report: Analysis Full

Window: 2026-02-07T23:17:47.608Z -> 2026-02-07T23:44:51.839Z (0.45h, source=explicit)
Deploy: 2026-02-07T23:17:47.608Z (ref=egghead.io)

Frontend (Vercel)

• Cache: hitRate=8.7% missRate=90.1% (hits=2,596 misses=26,887)
• 500s top routes: /blog/github-issues-powered-blog (2), /api/pricing (2)
• Top routes: /q/[[...all]] (14,814), /courses/[course] (4,821), /lessons/[slug] (2,355), /api/trpc/[trpc] (2,111), /api/cio-subscriber (984), /api/pricing (761)

Structured Story (Lambda JSON Events)

• Structured coverage: 56.8% (12,764/22,490)
• Search SSR cache: hit_rate=4.54% (hit=128 miss=2,693)
• tRPC feature-flag tax: 43.3% (391/903)
• lesson.loadLesson.summary: calls=754 avg=1005ms p95=2240ms
• lesson.loadLessonMetadataFromGraphQL.graphql: calls=759 avg=602ms p95=1506ms errors=5
• course.loadResourcesForCourse.summary: calls=38 avg=1372ms p95=2800ms
• GraphQL lesson metadata errors: total=5 404=5 other=0
• Worst GraphQL slugs: create-a-react-project-with-webpack-4 (4), wp-login.php (1)

Backend (Rails)

• totalEvents=5,486 activeWorkers=4 errorTypes=1
• Top errors: job.failed RuntimeError (3)

Deltas (Previous Window)

• Structured coverage delta: -0.13%
• Search hit_rate delta: 1.20%
• tRPC feature-flag pct delta: -46.34%

Generated by bun tools/me.ts analysis full (agent-only).

[joelhooks]

Agent Report: Analysis Full

Window: 2026-02-07T23:35:22.622Z -> 2026-02-08T00:06:05.897Z (0.51h, source=explicit)
Deploy: 2026-02-07T23:35:22.622Z (ref=latest-prod)

Frontend (Vercel)

• Cache: hitRate=52.4% missRate=46.6% (hits=30,803 misses=27,405)
• 500s top routes: /blog/understanding-the-intl-javascript-api (2), /api/pricing (2), /blog/typescript-s-powerful-type-inference-with-conditional-types-and-string-literals (2), /blog/build-realtime-and-authenticated-apps-with-firebase-vite (2)
• Top routes: /q/[[...all]] (15,064), /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fres.cloudinary.com%2Fdg3gyk0gu%2Fimage%2Fupload%2Fw_72%2Ch_72%2Fv1683914713%2Ftags%2Faria.png&w=32&q=75 (6,691), /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fres.cloudinary.com%2Fdg3gyk0gu%2Fimage%2Fupload%2Fw_72%2Ch_72%2Fv1683914713%2Ftags%2Ffirefox.png&w=32&q=75 (6,632), /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fres.cloudinary.com%2Fdg3gyk0gu%2Fimage%2Fupload%2Fw_72%2Ch_72%2Fv1683914713%2Ftags%2Fchrome-devtools.png&w=32&q=75 (6,567), /_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fres.cloudinary.com%2Fdg3gyk0gu%2Fimage%2Fupload%2Fw_72%2Ch_72%2Fv1683914713%2Ftags%2Fchrome.png&w=32&q=75 (6,498), /courses/[course] (4,502)

Structured Story (Lambda JSON Events)

• Structured coverage: 56.4% (12,695/22,504)
• Search SSR cache: hit_rate=2.43% (hit=70 miss=2,811)
• tRPC feature-flag tax: 61.3% (467/762)
• lesson.loadLesson.summary: calls=689 avg=1036ms p95=2424ms
• lesson.loadLessonMetadataFromGraphQL.graphql: calls=724 avg=593ms p95=1477ms errors=35
• course.loadResourcesForCourse.summary: calls=33 avg=1548ms p95=2872ms
• GraphQL lesson metadata errors: total=35 404=35 other=0
• Worst GraphQL slugs: elm-add-validation-error-labels-to-an-elm-form (2), graphql-create-graphql-query-to-fetch-the-single-record-from-mongodb (1), elm-prevent-submitting-invalid-data-from-an-elm-form (1), graphql-create-express-server-in-node-js (1), graphql-set-up-basic-node-js-server-with-es6 (1)

Backend (Rails)

• totalEvents=3,760 activeWorkers=3 errorTypes=1
• Top errors: ? ? (0)

Deltas (Previous Window)

• Structured coverage delta: 0.16%
• Search hit_rate delta: -1.98%
• tRPC feature-flag pct delta: 5.54%

Generated by bun tools/me.ts analysis full (agent-only).

[joelhooks]

Agent Report: Analysis Full

Window: 2026-02-09T22:54:12.397Z -> 2026-02-09T22:54:32.449Z (0.01h, source=cursor)

Frontend (Vercel)

• Cache: hitRate=0.3% missRate=99.7% (hits=1 misses=347)
• 500s top routes: (none)
• Top routes: /courses/[course] (218), /q/[[...all]] (60), /api/trpc/[trpc] (27), /lessons/[slug] (27), /api/cio-subscriber (4), / (3)

Structured Story (Lambda JSON Events)

• Structured coverage: 64.2% (206/321)
• Search SSR cache: hit_rate_cacheable=? (hit=0 miss=0 err=0 cacheable_total=0) skip_rate=100.00% (skip=14 total=14)
• tRPC feature-flag tax: 16.7% (1/6)
• lesson.loadLesson.summary: calls=30 avg=1399ms p95=1954ms
• lesson.loadLessonMetadataFromGraphQL.graphql: calls=31 avg=1031ms p95=1758ms errors=0
• course.loadResourcesForCourse.summary: calls=1 avg=2085ms p95=2085ms
• GraphQL lesson metadata errors: total=0 404=0 other=0
• Worst GraphQL slugs: undefined (0)

Backend (Rails)

• totalEvents=74 activeWorkers=1 errorTypes=1
• Top errors: ? ? (0)

Generated by bun tools/me.ts analysis full (agent-only).