From e967aaabfbc64b3533fa5500d25d4a57b7ea8a78 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: anti <samuel@securejump.cl>
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2026 20:36:39 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] perf: cache get_user_by_username on the login hot path
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Locust @task(2) hammers /auth/login in steady state on top of the
on_start burst. After caching the uuid-keyed user lookup and every
other read endpoint, login alone accounted for 47% of total
_execute at 500c/u — pure DB queueing on SELECT users WHERE
username=?.

5s TTL, positive hits only (misses bypass so a freshly-created
user can log in immediately). Password verify still runs against
the cached hash, so security is unchanged — the only staleness
window is: a changed password accepts the old password for up to
5s until invalidate_user_cache fires (it's called on every write).
---
 decnet/web/dependencies.py          | 43 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
 decnet/web/router/auth/api_login.py |  4 +--
 2 files changed, 43 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/decnet/web/dependencies.py b/decnet/web/dependencies.py
index 2c7f12c..1b1c798 100644
--- a/decnet/web/dependencies.py
+++ b/decnet/web/dependencies.py
@@ -32,22 +32,61 @@ _USER_TTL = 10.0
 _user_cache: dict[str, tuple[Optional[dict[str, Any]], float]] = {}
 _user_cache_lock: Optional[asyncio.Lock] = None
 
+# Username cache for the login hot path. Short TTL — the bcrypt verify
+# still runs against the cached hash, so security is unchanged. The
+# staleness window is: if a password is changed, the old password is
+# usable for up to _USERNAME_TTL seconds until the cache expires (or
+# invalidate_user_cache fires). We invalidate on every user write.
+# Missing lookups are NOT cached to avoid locking out a just-created user.
+_USERNAME_TTL = 5.0
+_username_cache: dict[str, tuple[dict[str, Any], float]] = {}
+_username_cache_lock: Optional[asyncio.Lock] = None
+
 
 def _reset_user_cache() -> None:
-    global _user_cache, _user_cache_lock
+    global _user_cache, _user_cache_lock, _username_cache, _username_cache_lock
     _user_cache = {}
     _user_cache_lock = None
+    _username_cache = {}
+    _username_cache_lock = None
 
 
 def invalidate_user_cache(user_uuid: Optional[str] = None) -> None:
-    """Drop a single user (or all users) from the auth cache.
+    """Drop a single user (or all users) from the auth caches.
 
     Callers: password change, role change, user create/delete.
+    The username cache is always cleared wholesale — we don't track
+    uuid→username and user writes are rare, so the cost is trivial.
     """
     if user_uuid is None:
         _user_cache.clear()
     else:
         _user_cache.pop(user_uuid, None)
+    _username_cache.clear()
+
+
+async def get_user_by_username_cached(username: str) -> Optional[dict[str, Any]]:
+    """Cached read of get_user_by_username for the login path.
+
+    Positive hits are cached for _USERNAME_TTL seconds. Misses bypass
+    the cache so a freshly-created user can log in immediately.
+    """
+    global _username_cache_lock
+    entry = _username_cache.get(username)
+    now = time.monotonic()
+    if entry is not None and now - entry[1] < _USERNAME_TTL:
+        return entry[0]
+    if _username_cache_lock is None:
+        _username_cache_lock = asyncio.Lock()
+    async with _username_cache_lock:
+        entry = _username_cache.get(username)
+        now = time.monotonic()
+        if entry is not None and now - entry[1] < _USERNAME_TTL:
+            return entry[0]
+        user = await repo.get_user_by_username(username)
+        if user is not None:
+            _username_cache[username] = (user, time.monotonic())
+        return user
 
 
 async def _get_user_cached(user_uuid: str) -> Optional[dict[str, Any]]:
diff --git a/decnet/web/router/auth/api_login.py b/decnet/web/router/auth/api_login.py
index d3c1af7..a41eaab 100644
--- a/decnet/web/router/auth/api_login.py
+++ b/decnet/web/router/auth/api_login.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from decnet.web.auth import (
     averify_password,
     create_access_token,
 )
-from decnet.web.dependencies import repo
+from decnet.web.dependencies import get_user_by_username_cached
 from decnet.web.db.models import LoginRequest, Token
 
 router = APIRouter()
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ router = APIRouter()
 )
 @_traced("api.login")
 async def login(request: LoginRequest) -> dict[str, Any]:
-    _user: Optional[dict[str, Any]] = await repo.get_user_by_username(request.username)
+    _user: Optional[dict[str, Any]] = await get_user_by_username_cached(request.username)
     if not _user or not await averify_password(request.password, _user["password_hash"]):
         raise HTTPException(
             status_code=status.HTTP_401_UNAUTHORIZED,