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Average latency masks event-loop stall tail latency

warning
performanceUpdated Feb 24, 2026(via Exa)
Technologies:
How to detect:

Average latency metrics hide tail latency spikes from event-loop stalls. Stalls create queueing and spikes that users experience as freezes, but averages get pulled down by fast requests.

Recommended action:

Alert on p95/p99 latency metrics instead of average. Add event-loop lag p95, time-to-first-byte (TTFB), and server-side request queue length or in-flight request count.