I made my SaaS dashboard load instantly — here's exactly how

David Kubgak — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 16:53:33 +0000

I just made my dashboard go from 2-3 second loading
spinner to instant. Here's the exact technique.

The problem: every time a user opened the dashboard,
they'd see a spinner while we fetched their plan,
repos, and docs from the API. Even on fast connections
it felt slow.

The solution: stale-while-revalidate with localStorage

Here's the pattern:

On load, check localStorage for cached data
If found, show it IMMEDIATELY (no spinner)
Always fetch fresh data in background
Update the UI silently when fresh data arrives

The user sees their data in milliseconds. If data
changed since last visit they see the update
a second later with zero disruption.

The cache utility (TypeScript):

\`typescript
interface CacheEntry {
data: T
timestamp: number
userId: string
version: string
}

export function getCached(
key: string,
userId: string,
ttlMs: number
): T | null {
try {
const raw = localStorage.getItem(`pushpen_\${key}) if (!raw) return null const entry: CacheEntry<T> = JSON.parse(raw) if (entry.userId !== userId) return null if (Date.now() - entry.timestamp > ttlMs) return null return entry.data } catch { return null } } \\

Usage in the dashboard:

\`typescript
async function fetchUserPlan(userId: string) {
// Show cached data instantly
const cached = getCached('user_plan', userId, 300000)
if (cached) {
setUserPlan(cached)
setLoading(false)
}

// Always fetch fresh in background
const res = await fetch('/api/user/plan')
const data = await res.json()
setUserPlan(data)
setCached('user_plan', userId, data)
}
`\

TTLs I use:

User plan: 5 minutes
Connected repos: 3 minutes
Docs list: 2 minutes
Templates: 10 minutes

Also preloaded the interactive demo iframe 2 seconds
after page load so clicking play is instant.

The result: dashboard feels native-app fast.

I built this for Pushpen (pushpen.dev) — an AI tool
that auto-generates GitHub docs on every push.

What performance tricks have worked for your SaaS?

I built an AI that writes GitHub docs automatically on every push

David Kubgak — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 08:42:17 +0000

Every developer I know has the same problem.

The README describes a project from 6 months ago. The changelog
is either empty or a list of git hashes nobody can read. New
engineers spend their first two weeks asking questions that should
be answered by documentation.

Nobody fixes it because nobody has time.

I got tired of this and built Pushpen.

What it does

Pushpen connects to your GitHub repository via webhook. Every time
you push code, it:

Reads the diff across all commits in the push
Understands what actually changed — not just commit messages
Generates updated documentation
Opens a pull request for you to review and merge

The documentation it generates:

README — kept accurate to your actual codebase
Changelog — written in plain English from your diff
API docs — updated when endpoints change
Onboarding guide — so new team members can actually follow it

Why a PR and not a direct commit

I made a deliberate choice here. Pushpen never writes directly
to your codebase. Every update comes as a pull request.

You review it. You approve it. You merge it. Or you ignore it.

No surprises. No AI touching production directly.

What else it does

Beyond documentation, Pushpen also:

Summarizes every PR with impact analysis and risk assessment
Triages new GitHub issues automatically
Analyzes CI failures and suggests fixes
Tracks your repository health score over time

The tech stack

Built with Next.js 14, Supabase, Clerk, and Claude API via
OpenRouter. GitHub webhooks handle the event pipeline.

Try it free

Free plan — no credit card required.

https://pushpen.dev

Would love feedback from the dev.to community.
What would make you actually use something like this?