---

name: perf-lighthouse description: 'Run Lighthouse audits locally via CLI or Node API, parse and interpret reports, and set performance budgets. Use when measuring site performance, understanding Lighthouse scores, setting up budgets, or integrating audits into CI. Triggers on: lighthouse, run lighthouse, lighthouse score, performance audit, performance budget. Do NOT use for fixing specific performance issues (use perf-web-optimization or core-web-vitals) or Astro-specific optimization (use perf-astro).'

Lighthouse Audits

CLI Quick Start

# Install
npm install -g lighthouse

# Basic audit
lighthouse https://example.com

# Mobile performance only (faster)
lighthouse https://example.com --preset=perf --form-factor=mobile

# Output JSON for parsing
lighthouse https://example.com --output=json --output-path=./report.json

# Output HTML report
lighthouse https://example.com --output=html --output-path=./report.html

Common Flags

--preset=perf           # Performance only (skip accessibility, SEO, etc.)
--form-factor=mobile    # Mobile device emulation (default)
--form-factor=desktop   # Desktop
--throttling-method=devtools  # More accurate throttling
--only-categories=performance,accessibility  # Specific categories
--chrome-flags="--headless"   # Headless Chrome

Performance Budgets

Create budget.json:

[
  {
    "resourceSizes": [
      { "resourceType": "script", "budget": 200 },
      { "resourceType": "image", "budget": 300 },
      { "resourceType": "stylesheet", "budget": 50 },
      { "resourceType": "total", "budget": 500 }
    ],
    "resourceCounts": [{ "resourceType": "third-party", "budget": 5 }],
    "timings": [
      { "metric": "interactive", "budget": 3000 },
      { "metric": "first-contentful-paint", "budget": 1500 },
      { "metric": "largest-contentful-paint", "budget": 2500 }
    ]
  }
]

Run with budget:

lighthouse https://example.com --budget-path=./budget.json

Node API

import lighthouse from 'lighthouse'
import * as chromeLauncher from 'chrome-launcher'

async function runAudit(url) {
  const chrome = await chromeLauncher.launch({ chromeFlags: ['--headless'] })

  const result = await lighthouse(url, {
    port: chrome.port,
    onlyCategories: ['performance'],
    formFactor: 'mobile',
    throttling: {
      cpuSlowdownMultiplier: 4,
    },
  })

  await chrome.kill()

  const { performance } = result.lhr.categories
  const { 'largest-contentful-paint': lcp } = result.lhr.audits

  return {
    score: Math.round(performance.score * 100),
    lcp: lcp.numericValue,
  }
}

GitHub Actions

# .github/workflows/lighthouse.yml
name: Lighthouse

on:
  pull_request:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  lighthouse:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Build site
        run: npm ci && npm run build

      - name: Run Lighthouse
        uses: treosh/lighthouse-ci-action@v11
        with:
          urls: |
            http://localhost:3000
            http://localhost:3000/about
          budgetPath: ./budget.json
          uploadArtifacts: true
          temporaryPublicStorage: true
        env:
          LHCI_GITHUB_APP_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.LHCI_GITHUB_APP_TOKEN }}

Lighthouse CI (LHCI)

For full CI integration with historical tracking:

# Install
npm install -g @lhci/cli

# Initialize config
lhci wizard

Creates lighthouserc.js:

module.exports = {
  ci: {
    collect: {
      url: ['http://localhost:3000/', 'http://localhost:3000/about'],
      startServerCommand: 'npm run start',
      numberOfRuns: 3,
    },
    assert: {
      assertions: {
        'categories:performance': ['error', { minScore: 0.9 }],
        'categories:accessibility': ['warn', { minScore: 0.9 }],
        'first-contentful-paint': ['error', { maxNumericValue: 1500 }],
        'largest-contentful-paint': ['error', { maxNumericValue: 2500 }],
        'cumulative-layout-shift': ['error', { maxNumericValue: 0.1 }],
      },
    },
    upload: {
      target: 'temporary-public-storage', // or 'lhci' for self-hosted
    },
  },
}

Run:

lhci autorun

Parse JSON Report

import fs from 'fs'

const report = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('./report.json'))

// Overall scores (0-1, multiply by 100 for percentage)
const scores = {
  performance: report.categories.performance.score,
  accessibility: report.categories.accessibility.score,
  seo: report.categories.seo.score,
}

// Core Web Vitals
const vitals = {
  lcp: report.audits['largest-contentful-paint'].numericValue,
  cls: report.audits['cumulative-layout-shift'].numericValue,
  fcp: report.audits['first-contentful-paint'].numericValue,
  tbt: report.audits['total-blocking-time'].numericValue,
}

// Failed audits
const failed = Object.values(report.audits)
  .filter((a) => a.score !== null && a.score < 0.9)
  .map((a) => ({ id: a.id, score: a.score, title: a.title }))

Compare Builds

# Save baseline
lighthouse https://prod.example.com --output=json --output-path=baseline.json

# Run on PR
lighthouse https://preview.example.com --output=json --output-path=pr.json

# Compare (custom script)
node compare-reports.js baseline.json pr.json

Simple comparison script:

const baseline = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(process.argv[2]))
const pr = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(process.argv[3]))

const metrics = ['largest-contentful-paint', 'cumulative-layout-shift', 'total-blocking-time']

metrics.forEach((metric) => {
  const base = baseline.audits[metric].numericValue
  const current = pr.audits[metric].numericValue
  const diff = (((current - base) / base) * 100).toFixed(1)
  const emoji = current <= base ? '✅' : '❌'
  console.log(`${emoji} ${metric}: ${diff}% (${base.toFixed(0)} → ${current.toFixed(0)})`)
})

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Inconsistent scores	Run multiple times (--number-of-runs=3), use median
Chrome not found	Set CHROME_PATH env var
Timeouts	Increase with --max-wait-for-load=60000
Auth required	Use --extra-headers or puppeteer script