Very Long Startup Time

[3-ark]

Somehow, Smart Composer causes a longer than normal startup time, I will show it in startup time breakdowns in the order of "without SC (Smart Composer)", "with SC", "without SC":

Any idea about this? It was good, I came across this bug after one recent update, which I can't remember exactly because I didn't pay much attention. I want to find the problem, but I don't know where to start debugging.

Startup Time Breakdown:

1 Obsidian start-up time breakdown

Obsidian version: v1.8.9
Installer version: v1.8.9
Operating system: Windows 11 Home 10.0.26100

• Total startup time: 1,542ms
• Initialization: 321ms
• Vault (6,963 files): 330ms
• Workspace (16 tabs, 13 deferred): 231ms
• Core plugins: 55ms
• Community plugins (25 active): 605ms
  • Iconize (v2.14.7): 92ms
  • Map View (v5.5.0): 70ms
  • Excalidraw (v2.9.2): 66ms
  • Chronos Timeline (v1.2.1): 60ms
  • Omnisearch (v1.26.1): 53ms
  • Image Converter (v1.3.10): 27ms
  • Dataview (v0.5.68): 25ms
  • Text Extractor (v0.5.2): 23ms
  • Smart Connections (v2.5.4): 21ms
  • Global Search and Replace (v0.5.0): 19ms
  • Pomodoro Timer (v1.2.3): 16ms
  • Journals (v2.1.0): 16ms
  • Style Settings (v1.0.9): 16ms
  • Advanced Canvas (v4.0.1): 14ms
  • Templater (v2.10.0): 11ms
  • Editing Toolbar (v3.1.1): 9ms
  • Checklist (v2.2.14): 9ms
  • Media DB (v0.8.0): 7ms
  • Outliner (v4.9.0): 7ms
  • Tab Panels (v1.1.8): 5ms
  • TagFolder (v0.18.10): 5ms
  • Tag Wrangler (v0.6.4): 5ms
  • Multi Tag (v0.10.0): 3ms
  • Timeline (v1.1.0): 2ms
  • Vault Changelog (v1.1.0): 2ms

2. Obsidian start-up time breakdown

Obsidian version: v1.8.9
Installer version: v1.8.9
Operating system: Windows 11 Home 10.0.26100

• Total startup time: 9,674ms

• Initialization: 314ms

• Vault (6,963 files): 8,002ms

• Workspace (16 tabs, 13 deferred): 273ms

• Core plugins: 42ms

• Community plugins (26 active): 1,044ms

  • Smart Composer (v1.1.13): 447ms
  • Iconize (v2.14.7): 85ms
  • Excalidraw (v2.9.2): 75ms
  • Map View (v5.5.0): 69ms
  • Chronos Timeline (v1.2.1): 63ms
  • Omnisearch (v1.26.1): 53ms
  • Image Converter (v1.3.10): 25ms
  • Dataview (v0.5.68): 25ms
  • Text Extractor (v0.5.2): 23ms
  • Smart Connections (v2.5.4): 19ms
  • Global Search and Replace (v0.5.0): 18ms
  • Journals (v2.1.0): 16ms
  • Style Settings (v1.0.9): 15ms
  • Advanced Canvas (v4.0.1): 12ms
  • Outliner (v4.9.0): 12ms
  • Templater (v2.10.0): 11ms
  • Editing Toolbar (v3.1.1): 10ms
  • Pomodoro Timer (v1.2.3): 8ms
  • Checklist (v2.2.14): 8ms
  • Media DB (v0.8.0): 7ms
  • TagFolder (v0.18.10): 5ms
  • Tab Panels (v1.1.8): 5ms
  • Tag Wrangler (v0.6.4): 5ms
  • Vault Changelog (v1.1.0): 4ms
  • Multi Tag (v0.10.0): 2ms
  • Timeline (v1.1.0): 1ms

  3 Obsidian start-up time breakdown

Obsidian version: v1.8.9
Installer version: v1.8.9
Operating system: Windows 11 Home 10.0.26100

• Total startup time: 1,480ms
• Initialization: 320ms
• Vault (6,963 files): 327ms
• Workspace (16 tabs, 13 deferred): 193ms
• Core plugins: 49ms
• Community plugins (25 active): 591ms
  • Iconize (v2.14.7): 85ms
  • Map View (v5.5.0): 70ms
  • Excalidraw (v2.9.2): 70ms
  • Chronos Timeline (v1.2.1): 61ms
  • Omnisearch (v1.26.1): 54ms
  • Dataview (v0.5.68): 26ms
  • Image Converter (v1.3.10): 25ms
  • Text Extractor (v0.5.2): 22ms
  • Smart Connections (v2.5.4): 18ms
  • Global Search and Replace (v0.5.0): 18ms
  • Style Settings (v1.0.9): 17ms
  • Journals (v2.1.0): 16ms
  • Advanced Canvas (v4.0.1): 15ms
  • Pomodoro Timer (v1.2.3): 15ms
  • Templater (v2.10.0): 10ms
  • Checklist (v2.2.14): 10ms
  • Editing Toolbar (v3.1.1): 9ms
  • Media DB (v0.8.0): 7ms
  • TagFolder (v0.18.10): 5ms
  • Tag Wrangler (v0.6.4): 5ms
  • Tab Panels (v1.1.8): 5ms
  • Outliner (v4.9.0): 5ms
  • Multi Tag (v0.10.0): 3ms
  • Timeline (v1.1.0): 2ms
  • Vault Changelog (v1.1.0): 2ms

[kevin-on]

Hi @3-ark, thanks for reporting this issue with detailed startup time logs. Here are some potential causes I can think of:

1. Large Vector Database

If you have a large vector database, it might take considerable time to load initially. This can cause Obsidian to appear frozen during startup.

To troubleshoot this:

1. Open your vault directory via file explorer or command line
2. Find the hidden file .smtcmp_vector_db.tar.gz (you may need to enable "Show hidden files" in your file explorer)
3. Temporarily rename it (e.g., .backup_smtcmp_vector_db.tar.gz)
4. Reload Obsidian and check if the startup time improves
5. To restore your database later: delete the newly created .smtcmp_vector_db.tar.gz file and rename your backup file back to the original name

Could you also share a screenshot of your database status from "Settings → Smart Composer → Manage Embedding Database"? This might help identify if the database size is the issue.

2. Large Number of Chat Histories

The recent 1.1.13 release changed how chat histories are stored, which might be affecting performance.

To troubleshoot this:

1. Navigate to your vault directory
2. Find the directory .smtcmp_json_db/chats/ (again, you may need to show hidden files)
3. Temporarily rename this directory (e.g., .smtcmp_json_db/backup_chats/)
4. Reload Obsidian and check if the startup time improves
5. To restore: remove the newly created .smtcmp_json_db/chats/ directory and rename your backup directory back

Please let me know if either of these steps helps resolve the issue, or if you need further assistance!

[3-ark]

Hi @3-ark, thanks for reporting this issue with detailed startup time logs. Here are some potential causes I can think of:

1. Large Vector Database

If you have a large vector database, it might take considerable time to load initially. This can cause Obsidian to appear frozen during startup.

To troubleshoot this:

1. Open your vault directory via file explorer or command line
2. Find the hidden file .smtcmp_vector_db.tar.gz (you may need to enable "Show hidden files" in your file explorer)
3. Temporarily rename it (e.g., .backup_smtcmp_vector_db.tar.gz)
4. Reload Obsidian and check if the startup time improves
5. To restore your database later: delete the newly created .smtcmp_vector_db.tar.gz file and rename your backup file back to the original name

Could you also share a screenshot of your database status from "Settings → Smart Composer → Manage Embedding Database"? This might help identify if the database size is the issue.

This helps, it improved a lot by making a new database file:

Obsidian start-up time breakdown

Obsidian version: v1.8.9
Installer version: v1.8.9
Operating system: Windows 11 Home 10.0.26100

**- Total startup time: 2,806ms**
- Initialization: 322ms
- Vault (6,964 files): 918ms
- Workspace (16 tabs, 11 deferred): 723ms
- Core plugins: 40ms
- Community plugins (26 active): 803ms
  - Smart Composer (v1.1.13): 218ms
  - Iconize (v2.14.7): 85ms
  - Excalidraw (v2.9.2): 80ms
  - Map View (v5.5.0): 60ms
  - Chronos Timeline (v1.2.1): 58ms
  - Omnisearch (v1.26.1): 51ms
  - Text Extractor (v0.5.2): 28ms
  - Dataview (v0.5.68): 25ms
  - Image Converter (v1.3.10): 25ms
  - Global Search and Replace (v0.5.0): 22ms
  - Smart Connections (v2.5.4): 18ms
  - Pomodoro Timer (v1.2.3): 16ms
  - Journals (v2.1.0): 16ms
  - Advanced Canvas (v4.0.1): 11ms
  - Checklist (v2.2.14): 11ms
  - Templater (v2.10.0): 11ms
  - Style Settings (v1.0.9): 10ms
  - Editing Toolbar (v3.1.1): 8ms
  - Media DB (v0.8.0): 7ms
  - Outliner (v4.9.0): 6ms
  - TagFolder (v0.18.10): 5ms
  - Tab Panels (v1.1.8): 4ms
  - Tag Wrangler (v0.6.4): 4ms
  - Multi Tag (v0.10.0): 2ms
  - Timeline (v1.1.0): 2ms
  - Vault Changelog (v1.1.0): 1ms

And after I recover the original file, the delay comes back:

Obsidian start-up time breakdown

Obsidian version: v1.8.9
Installer version: v1.8.9
Operating system: Windows 11 Home 10.0.26100

**- Total startup time: 15,566ms**
- Initialization: 309ms
- Vault (6,964 files): 8,528ms
- Workspace (16 tabs, 11 deferred): 5,663ms
- Core plugins: 46ms
- Community plugins (26 active): 1,020ms
  - Smart Composer (v1.1.13): 429ms
  - Iconize (v2.14.7): 86ms
  - Map View (v5.5.0): 68ms
  - Excalidraw (v2.9.2): 68ms
  - Chronos Timeline (v1.2.1): 58ms
  - Omnisearch (v1.26.1): 53ms
  - Image Converter (v1.3.10): 28ms
  - Text Extractor (v0.5.2): 28ms
  - Dataview (v0.5.68): 25ms
  - Smart Connections (v2.5.4): 20ms
  - Global Search and Replace (v0.5.0): 19ms
  - Journals (v2.1.0): 17ms
  - Pomodoro Timer (v1.2.3): 16ms
  - Advanced Canvas (v4.0.1): 12ms
  - Style Settings (v1.0.9): 11ms
  - Templater (v2.10.0): 10ms
  - Editing Toolbar (v3.1.1): 10ms
  - Checklist (v2.2.14): 9ms
  - Outliner (v4.9.0): 9ms
  - Media DB (v0.8.0): 7ms
  - TagFolder (v0.18.10): 5ms
  - Tab Panels (v1.1.8): 5ms
  - Tag Wrangler (v0.6.4): 5ms
  - Multi Tag (v0.10.0): 2ms
  - Timeline (v1.1.0): 1ms
  - Vault Changelog (v1.1.0): 1ms
  

[3-ark]

I deleted all the embeddings, now it improves significantly, but still too laggy compared to the previous ones:

It was around 2,000ms with all the embedding files.

Obsidian start-up time breakdown

Obsidian version: v1.8.9
Installer version: v1.8.9
Operating system: Windows 11 Home 10.0.26100

- **Total startup time: 4,547ms**
- Initialization: 351ms
- Vault (6,964 files): 2,146ms
- Workspace (16 tabs, 11 deferred): 1,079ms
- Core plugins: 50ms
- Community plugins (26 active): 921ms
  - Smart Composer (v1.1.13): 277ms
  - Iconize (v2.14.7): 89ms
  - Excalidraw (v2.9.2): 71ms
  - Map View (v5.5.0): 69ms
  - Omnisearch (v1.26.1): 63ms
  - Chronos Timeline (v1.2.1): 60ms
  - Text Extractor (v0.5.2): 31ms
  - Image Converter (v1.3.10): 29ms
  - Dataview (v0.5.68): 26ms
  - Global Search and Replace (v0.5.0): 21ms
  - Pomodoro Timer (v1.2.3): 19ms
  - Smart Connections (v2.5.4): 19ms
  - Style Settings (v1.0.9): 18ms
  - Journals (v2.1.0): 17ms
  - Templater (v2.10.0): 14ms
  - Advanced Canvas (v4.0.1): 13ms
  - Checklist (v2.2.14): 9ms
  - Editing Toolbar (v3.1.1): 9ms
  - Media DB (v0.8.0): 8ms
  - TagFolder (v0.18.10): 8ms
  - Outliner (v4.9.0): 7ms
  - Tab Panels (v1.1.8): 7ms
  - Tag Wrangler (v0.6.4): 5ms
  - Multi Tag (v0.10.0): 4ms
  - Vault Changelog (v1.1.0): 3ms
  - Timeline (v1.1.0): 2ms

[shayonpal]

I'll add in that I have also suddenly started feeling the initial lag, for the past 1 or 2 releases. The nature of the lag, in my case, is slightly different. I wouldn't face much of a slowdown when the app itself opens or when I am just working on the app. However, the moment I switch over to the Smart Composer, I can't click anywhere or type anywhere for the next 1 minutes or so. After that, everything starts working fine again. This happens every time I'll restart Obsidian.

[shayonpal]

Here is a screenshot of the same

[kevin-on]

Thanks for the details and screenshot. It does seem like large vector databases might be causing some issues. I’ll take a closer look at this problem to see if we can improve the performance.

[TomLucidor]

Is this still the case?

[shayonpal]

Yup. it atill ia. Can confirm.

[TomLucidor]

Check this out https://github.com/Lapis0x0/obsidian-yolo