explaingit

mitchellh/minitest-speed

Analysis updated 2026-07-03 · repo last pushed 2011-09-15

8RubyAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5DormantSetup · easy

TLDR

A proof-of-concept Ruby gem that adds timed speed tests to minitest, letting developers measure how fast specific code runs and track performance trends over time.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Adds timed speed tests
      Runs only with SPEED flag
      Prints timing data
    Tech stack
      Ruby
      minitest
    Use cases
      Track query speed
      Catch slowdowns early
      Monitor parsing routines
    Audience
      Ruby developers
      Performance-focused devs
    Status
      Proof of concept
      Not production ready
Click or tap to explore — scroll the page freely

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Track how long a database query takes across code changes over time.

USE CASE 2

Monitor data-parsing routine speed to catch performance regressions early.

USE CASE 3

Run speed tests separately from regular tests to collect timing data for trend analysis.

What is it built with?

Rubyminitest

How does it compare?

mitchellh/minitest-speedmitchellh/xidl100rabhg/railswatch
Stars8711
LanguageRubyRubyRuby
Last pushed2011-09-152011-03-09
MaintenanceDormantDormant
Setup difficultyeasyeasyeasy
Complexity2/52/52/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Requires an existing Ruby project using the minitest testing framework.

In plain English

minitest-speed is a proof-of-concept tool that lets Ruby developers measure how fast individual pieces of code run during their automated tests. It extends an existing testing framework called minitest by adding a new category of "speed tests", tests that exist solely to be timed, rather than to check whether code produces the right answer. When a developer writes a speed test, they define a test method that performs whatever operation they want to measure. Running the tests with a specific environment flag (SPEED=1) executes only the speed tests and prints out timing data for each one. Without that flag, the speed tests are skipped and only regular tests run. The idea is that if you save those timing results over time, you can graph them and spot trends, like a particular operation getting slower as the codebase grows. This would appeal to developers who care about performance and want to catch regressions early. For example, if someone's building an API and wants to track how long a database query or data-parsing routine takes across dozens of code changes, they could use this to keep an eye on it. The timing data could be collected each time tests run and compared week over week. The project is explicitly a proof of concept and the author warns it's not intended for production use in its current form. It works, but it's more of an experiment than a polished tool. The README doesn't go into detail about what's missing or what would need to change before it could be relied on for real projects, it simply shows the basic mechanism of defining and running a timed test. Given that it has only a handful of stars and is labeled as experimental, anyone considering it should understand it's more of a starting point or inspiration than something ready to drop into a real codebase.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Using minitest-speed in a Ruby project, write a speed test that measures how long it takes to parse a large JSON payload and prints the timing when run with SPEED=1.
Prompt 2
Show me how to set up minitest-speed in an existing Ruby minitest suite so that speed tests are skipped by default and only run when SPEED=1 is set.
Prompt 3
Create a few minitest-speed test methods that time database query operations, and explain how I could collect the timing output over multiple runs to build a performance trend chart.

Frequently asked questions

What is minitest-speed?

A proof-of-concept Ruby gem that adds timed speed tests to minitest, letting developers measure how fast specific code runs and track performance trends over time.

What language is minitest-speed written in?

Mainly Ruby. The stack also includes Ruby, minitest.

Is minitest-speed actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2011-09-15).

How hard is minitest-speed to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is minitest-speed for?

Mainly developer.

Open on GitHub → Explain another repo

This repo across BitVibe Labs

Scan in gitsafehub Deploy in gitdeployhub mitchellh on gitmyhub

Verify against the repo before relying on details.