hf-perftest

name	hf-perftest
description	Benchmark Gradio app performance. Use when the user wants to load test a Gradio app, compare branches, profile a HF Space, or run A/B tests.

hf-perftest — Gradio Performance Benchmarking

Installation

pip install hf-perftest

Commands

List built-in apps

hf-perftest list-apps

Built-in apps can be used by name (no file path needed): echo_text, file_heavy, image_to_image, streaming_chat, stateful_counter, llm_chat, text_to_image, audio_to_audio, video_to_video.

Local benchmark

hf-perftest run \
    --app echo_text \
    --tiers 1,10,100 \
    --requests-per-user 10 \
    --output-dir results

Key options:

• --app — Built-in app name or path to a Gradio app file (required)
• --tiers — Comma-separated concurrent user counts (default: 1,10,100)
• --requests-per-user — Rounds per tier (default: 10)
• --mode burst|wave — Simultaneous or staggered requests (default: burst)
• --concurrency-limit — App concurrency limit (default: 1, "none" for unlimited)
• --mixed-traffic — Add background page loads, uploads, and downloads alongside predictions
• --num-workers — Number of Gradio workers via GRADIO_NUM_WORKERS (default: 1)
• --port — App port (default: 7860, auto-increments if occupied)
• --api-name — Target API endpoint (auto-detected if omitted)

Remote benchmark on HF Jobs

Single branch:

hf-perftest run-remote run \
    --apps echo_text streaming_chat \
    --branch main \
    --hardware cpu-upgrade \
    --tiers 1,10,100

A/B test:

hf-perftest run-remote ab \
    --apps echo_text file_heavy \
    --base main \
    --branch my-optimization \
    --hardware cpu-upgrade \
    --tiers 1,10,100

Profile a HF Space:

hf-perftest run-remote run \
    --apps owner/space-name \
    --sidecar prompts.json \
    --api-name /generate \
    --branch main \
    --hardware gpu-l4-1

Additional remote options:

• --hardware — HF Jobs flavor (default: cpu-basic)
• --sidecar — Prompt files for spaces
• --timeout — Job timeout (default: 90m)
• --dry-run — Preview without submitting
• --run-name — Label for the run

Result schema

hf-perftest result-schema

Prints the directory structure of benchmark results.

Sidecar Prompt Files

For apps with non-text inputs, create a .prompts.json sidecar file. Two formats:

String list (text-only inputs — replaces the first text input):

["A cat sitting on a windowsill", "Sunset over a mountain lake"]

List of lists (full data payloads — sent as-is):

[
    ["A cat sitting on a windowsill", 1024, 1024, 4, 42, true],
    ["Sunset over a mountain lake", 1024, 1024, 4, 42, true]
]

Interpreting Results

Results are saved to <output-dir>/<timestamp>/summary.json with per-tier breakdowns:

• client_summary — p50/p90/p95/p99 client latency in ms, success rate
• server_summary — Per-phase server timing (queue_wait, preprocess, fn_call, postprocess, total)
• background_traffic — (if --mixed-traffic) p50/p90/p99 for page loads, uploads, downloads

Always validate with multiple runs — single runs may be affected by system variance.

Monitoring Remote Jobs

hf jobs logs <job_id>
hf jobs inspect <job_id>