How do you integrate performance tests into a CI/CD pipeline?

CI/CD
performance regression
automated testing

Your answer

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Model answer

Use lightweight performance tests (not full load tests) in CI: (1) Run a small-scale load test (50-100 VUs for 2 minutes) against a dedicated perf environment. (2) Assert thresholds in the script, k6 `thresholds` fail the test if p95 > X ms. (3) Fail the pipeline if thresholds are breached. (4) Store results (InfluxDB + Grafana) for trend analysis over time. (5) Run full-scale load tests on a schedule (nightly or pre-release) rather than on every commit. Keep CI fast, catch regressions automatically.

What interviewers listen for

Workload modelling
You design the load shape from product traffic, not from tool defaults.
Percentile literacy
You read p50/p95/p99 separately and explain why each matters.
Bottleneck triage
You correlate metrics across application, database, and infrastructure layers.
Capacity instincts
You can translate a soak test into a sizing or scaling recommendation.

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