name	performance-test-planning
description	Design performance test strategies including load profiles, capacity planning, SLA validation, and .NET performance testing with NBomber and k6.
allowed-tools	Read, Write, Glob, Grep, Task, WebSearch, WebFetch

Performance Test Planning

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

Performance Test Planning tasks - Designing load profiles, capacity planning, SLA validation
Planning or design - Need guidance on performance testing approaches
Best practices - Want to follow established patterns and standards

Overview

Performance testing validates that systems meet non-functional requirements under expected and peak loads. Effective planning identifies critical paths, defines realistic load profiles, and establishes measurable success criteria.

Performance Test Types

Type	Purpose	Load Pattern	Duration
Load Test	Validate expected load	Normal traffic	15-60 min
Stress Test	Find breaking point	Increasing until failure	Until failure
Soak Test	Find memory leaks	Sustained normal load	4-24 hours
Spike Test	Handle sudden bursts	Sharp increase/decrease	10-30 min
Capacity Test	Determine max capacity	Incremental increase	Variable
Scalability Test	Validate horizontal scale	Increasing with resources	Variable

Load Profile Patterns

Ramp-Up Pattern

Users
  │
100├────────────────────────●
  │                   ●────
  │              ●────
50├         ●────
  │    ●────
  │●────
 0└─────────────────────────►
   0    1    2    3    4    5 min

Spike Pattern

Users
  │         ●
  │        ╱ ╲
500├──────╱   ╲──────
  │     ╱     ╲
  │    ╱       ╲
100├───●         ●───
  │
 0└─────────────────────────►
   0   5   10  15  20 min

Quick Reference: Metrics Targets

Metric	Target	Critical Threshold
Response Time (p50)	< 100ms	< 200ms
Response Time (p95)	< 200ms	< 500ms
Response Time (p99)	< 500ms	< 1000ms
Throughput	> 1000 RPS	> 500 RPS
Error Rate	< 0.1%	< 1%
CPU Utilization	< 70%	< 90%

Key Formulas

Little's Law: L = λ × W (Concurrent requests = Arrival rate × Response time)

Throughput: Concurrent Users / Average Response Time

Apdex: (Satisfied + Tolerating/2) / Total

References

Reference	Content	When to Load
performance-strategy-template.md	Full strategy template, scope, environment, scenarios	Planning performance test strategy
nbomber-examples.md	Basic load test, complex scenarios, data-driven tests	Implementing .NET performance tests
capacity-planning.md	Little's Law, throughput, Apdex, BenchmarkDotNet	Capacity planning calculations

Integration Points

Inputs from:

Non-functional requirements → SLA targets
Architecture documents → Component topology
test-strategy-planning skill → Test scope

Outputs to:

CI/CD pipeline → Automated performance gates
Monitoring systems → Baseline metrics
Capacity planning → Infrastructure sizing

Test Scenarios

Scenario 1: Planning performance strategy

Query: "Help me create a performance test plan for our API"

Expected: Skill activates, provides strategy template, guides through objectives and scope

Scenario 2: Implementing load tests

Query: "Show me how to use NBomber for load testing in .NET"

Expected: Skill activates, loads nbomber-examples.md reference, provides code examples

Scenario 3: Capacity planning

Query: "How do I calculate capacity requirements for 10,000 users?"

Expected: Skill activates, loads capacity-planning.md reference, provides formulas and templates

Last Updated: 2025-12-28

Version History

v1.1.0 (2025-12-28): Refactored to progressive disclosure - extracted templates/examples to references/
v1.0.0 (2025-12-26): Initial release

performance-test-planning

Install Skill

SKILL.md