al-perf

Analyze Business Central .alcpuprofile files — find hotspots, detect anti-patterns, and track regressions.

Works as a CLI, web app, MCP server, or library.

Table of Contents

• Install
• Quick Start
• CLI Reference
• Web Server
• MCP Server
• Library API
• Docker
• Pattern Reference
• Development
• License

Install

# npm / bun
bun add al-perf

# From source
git clone https://github.com/SShadowS/al-perf.git
cd al-perf
bun install

Requires Bun >= 1.0.0.

Quick Start

# Analyze a profile
al-profile analyze profile.alcpuprofile

# With AL source correlation
al-profile analyze profile.alcpuprofile --source ./al-src

# Quick top-5 hotspots
al-profile hotspots profile.alcpuprofile

# Compare before/after
al-profile compare before.alcpuprofile after.alcpuprofile

# CI/CD quality gate (exits 1 on critical patterns)
al-profile gate profile.alcpuprofile --max-critical 0

CLI Reference

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | analyze <profile> | Full analysis — hotspots, patterns, app/object breakdowns | | hotspots <profile> | Quick top-N hotspot summary | | compare <before> <after> | Before/after diff — regressions and improvements | | explain <profile> <method> | Deep dive into a single method — callers, callees, times | | analyze-source <path> | Static analysis of AL source files (no profile needed) | | source-map <profile> | Map profile methods to source file locations | | gate <profile> | CI/CD quality gate — pass/fail against thresholds | | mcp | Start the MCP server (stdio transport) |

Common flags:

-f, --format <type>   Output format: terminal, json, markdown, auto (default: auto)
-t, --top <n>         Number of hotspots to show (default: 10)
-s, --source <path>   Path to AL source files for correlation
--cache               Cache the source index for faster re-analysis
--explain             Append AI-powered explanation (requires ANTHROPIC_API_KEY)
--model <name>        AI model: sonnet (default), opus

Web Server

Upload .alcpuprofile files through a browser for instant analysis.

bun run web
# → http://localhost:3010

Accepts optional source .zip files for correlation. If ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is set, results include an AI-generated explanation.

MCP Server

Expose all analysis tools to AI agents (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "al-profiler": {
      "command": "bun",
      "args": ["run", "src/mcp/index.ts"]
    }
  }
}

Tools: analyze_profile · get_hotspots · compare_profiles · explain_method · analyze_source · gate_check

Resources: pattern-docs · last-analysis

Library API

import { analyzeProfile, compareProfiles } from "al-perf";

const result = await analyzeProfile("profile.alcpuprofile", {
  top: 10,
  includePatterns: true,
  sourcePath: "./al-src",
});

for (const p of result.patterns) {
  console.log(`[${p.severity}] ${p.title}: ${p.suggestion}`);
}

Docker

docker build -t al-perf .
docker run -p 3010:3010 al-perf

# With AI explanation
docker run -p 3010:3010 -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-... al-perf

Pattern Reference

Profile-based

| Pattern | Severity | Description | |---------|----------|-------------| | High Hit Count | warning | Methods called excessively | | Repeated Siblings | critical | Same method called repeatedly at same call site | | Single Method Dominance | critical | One method consumes >50% of total time | | Deep Call Stack | warning | Call chains deeper than 30 levels | | Event Subscriber Hotspot | warning | Event subscribers consuming significant time |

Source-correlated (requires --source)

| Pattern | Severity | Description | |---------|----------|-------------| | CalcFields in Loop | critical | CalcFields/CalcSums called inside loops | | Modify in Loop | critical | Modify/ModifyAll called inside loops | | Record Op in Loop | critical | FindSet/FindFirst/Get inside loops | | Missing SetLoadFields | warning | Find operations without SetLoadFields |

Source-only (no profile needed)

| Pattern | Severity | Description | |---------|----------|-------------| | Nested Loops | warning | Loops nested inside other loops | | Unfiltered FindSet | warning | FindSet without SetRange/SetFilter | | Event Subscriber Issues | info | Event subscribers containing loops or record ops |

Development

bun install          # Install dependencies
bun test             # Run all tests
bun test <file>      # Run a single test file
bunx tsc --noEmit    # Type check
bun run build        # Generate .d.ts declarations
bun run web          # Start the web server

License

GNU GPLv3