macos-app-optimizer

name	macos-app-optimizer
description	Use when analyzing macOS apps for optimization opportunities, improving memory/RAM usage, reducing memory leaks, optimizing SwiftUI performance, or analyzing Swift code for efficiency. Load for any macOS app performance analysis or memory optimization task.
keywords	["macos","optimization","memory","ram","swiftui","performance","profiling","leaks","swift","appkit"]

macOS App Optimizer

Analyze macOS applications for performance and memory optimization opportunities.

Core Principle: RAM Optimization

Memory optimization is the primary focus. Every analysis should identify:

• Memory leaks (retain cycles, unbalanced alloc/free)
• Unnecessary object retention
• Inefficient data structures
• Cached data that should be purged
• Large objects that could be lazy-loaded

Workflow

1. Analyze Codebase Structure

# Identify main components
find . -name "*.swift" -type f | head -20
# Check for common patterns
grep -r "@Published\|@State\|@ObservedObject" --include="*.swift"
# Find potential retain cycles
grep -r "closure\|weak\|unowned" --include="*.swift"

2. Check Context7 for Apple Best Practices

Use Context7 to query relevant Apple documentation:

Use Case	Context7 Query
SwiftUI performance	/swiftlang/swift "SwiftUI performance view redraw"
Memory management	/swiftlang/swift "ARC memory management retain cycles"
Async operations	/swiftlang/swift "async await memory management"
SwiftData optimization	Search for SwiftData-specific docs
Foundation patterns	/apple/foundation "memory efficient collections"

3. Analyze Common Memory Issues

Issue	Pattern to Find	Fix
Retain cycles	Closures capturing self	Use [weak self]
@Published bloat	Too many published properties	Consolidate or use computed
Large images	Image literals, large assets	Lazy load, downsample
Memory leaks	Classes without deinit	Add deinit to verify
Cached data	Static caches without purge	LRU cache, memory pressure handlers

4. Check Instruments-Ready Patterns

Ensure code is instrumentable:

// Good - trackable
class ViewModel: ObservableObject {
    deinit { print("ViewModel deallocated") }
}

// Bad - can't track lifecycle
class ViewModel {
    // No deinit
}

5. Specific Optimizations by Component

SwiftUI Views

• Use @State for local view state only
• Prefer let over var for view body
• Extract expensive computations to separate functions
• Use LazyVStack/LazyHStack for long lists

ViewModels

• Use @Observable instead of ObservableObject (Swift 5.9+)
• Minimize @Published properties
• Avoid storing large data directly (use IDs, fetch separately)

Networking

• Cancel tasks on deinit
• Stream large responses instead of buffering
• Use URLSession.shared (singleton)

Persistence

• Use SwiftData with proper faulting
• Avoid loading entire datasets into memory
• Consider Core Data for complex queries

6. Memory Pressure Handling

// Listen for memory warnings
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(
    forName: NSApplication.didReceiveMemoryWarningNotification,
    object: nil,
    queue: .main
) { _ in
    // Purge caches, clear non-essential data
}

7. Output Format

Provide optimization report in this table:

Priority	Issue	Location	RAM Impact	Fix
HIGH	Retain cycle in closure	ViewModel.swift:42	~5MB/minute	Use [weak self]
MEDIUM	Unnecessary image caching	ImageLoader.swift:15	~50MB	Downsample images
LOW	Redundant @Published	SettingsView.swift:8	~1KB	Remove @Published

Quick Reference: Context7 Library IDs

Library	ID	Use For
Swift Language	/swiftlang/swift	Language patterns, ARC, async
Foundation	/apple/foundation	Collections, URL, file I/O
SwiftUI	Check Apple docs	View optimization
SwiftData	Check Apple docs	Persistence patterns

Scripts

Script	Purpose
scripts/analyze_memory.sh	Find potential memory issues
scripts/check_retain_cycles.sh	Detect closure capture patterns
scripts/measure_heap.sh	Estimate heap allocation