> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.usenightowl.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Agent Throughput

> Performance characteristics of the NightOwl agent.

The NightOwl agent is built for throughput. A single instance handles **13,000+ payloads per second** using PostgreSQL COPY protocol, SQLite WAL buffering, and batch draining.

## How it works

1. **Ingest**: The agent receives telemetry over TCP using ReactPHP. Payloads are parsed and written to a local SQLite WAL buffer.
2. **Drain**: A background worker reads batches of 5,000 rows from the buffer and writes them to PostgreSQL using the COPY protocol (10x faster than INSERT).
3. **Back-pressure**: When the SQLite buffer exceeds 100,000 pending rows, the agent gracefully rejects new payloads. Your app is never blocked.

## Key optimizations

* **SQLite WAL mode** — concurrent reads and writes without locking
* **PostgreSQL COPY protocol** — bulk loading for 10 of 12 tables (exceptions and users use INSERT for upsert)
* **`synchronous_commit = off`** — 2-5x write throughput boost on PostgreSQL connections
* **Batch size of 5,000** — configurable via `NIGHTOWL_DRAIN_BATCH_SIZE`

## Benchmarks

On a single instance (M1 Mac, PostgreSQL via Docker):

| Metric                  | Value                  |
| ----------------------- | ---------------------- |
| Ingest throughput       | 13,400 payloads/s      |
| Drain throughput        | Keeps pace with ingest |
| Back-pressure threshold | 100,000 pending rows   |
| Memory usage            | \~200-400MB            |

<Note>
  Actual throughput depends on your hardware, PostgreSQL instance, and network latency. The agent's built-in health dashboard shows real-time performance metrics.
</Note>