Lighthouse Audit

lighthouse-audit

Run Lighthouse performance audits on deployed websites. Checks Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, and SEO scores.

Installation

# Lighthouse CLI (optional, for local audits)
npm install -g lighthouse

# agent-browser for visual testing
npm install -g agent-browser
agent-browser install

Quick Audit (CLI)

# Run Lighthouse audit
npx lighthouse https://example.com --output=json --output-path=/tmp/report.json

# Extract scores
cat /tmp/report.json | jq '{
  performance: (.categories.performance.score * 100 | round),
  accessibility: (.categories.accessibility.score * 100 | round),
  bestPractices: (.categories["best-practices"].score * 100 | round),
  seo: (.categories.seo.score * 100 | round)
}'

Detailed Audit

# Full audit with all categories
npx lighthouse https://example.com \
  --output=json \
  --output-path=/tmp/lighthouse.json \
  --chrome-flags="--headless" \
  --only-categories=performance,accessibility,best-practices,seo

# Extract scores and metrics
cat /tmp/lighthouse.json | jq '{
  scores: {
    performance: (.categories.performance.score * 100 | round),
    accessibility: (.categories.accessibility.score * 100 | round),
    bestPractices: (.categories["best-practices"].score * 100 | round),
    seo: (.categories.seo.score * 100 | round)
  },
  metrics: {
    FCP: .audits["first-contentful-paint"].displayValue,
    LCP: .audits["largest-contentful-paint"].displayValue,
    TBT: .audits["total-blocking-time"].displayValue,
    CLS: .audits["cumulative-layout-shift"].displayValue,
    SpeedIndex: .audits["speed-index"].displayValue
  }
}'

PageSpeed Insights (Visual)

# Open PageSpeed Insights
agent-browser open "https://pagespeed.web.dev/analysis?url=https://example.com" --session lighthouse

# Wait for analysis to complete
sleep 20

# Take screenshot of results
agent-browser screenshot /tmp/lighthouse-results.png --session lighthouse
agent-browser close --session lighthouse

Output Format

Score Ranges

Core Web Vitals

Common Workflows

Quick Performance Check

npx lighthouse https://mysite.com --output=json --quiet | jq '.categories.performance.score * 100'

Mobile vs Desktop

# Mobile (default)
npx lighthouse https://mysite.com --output=json --output-path=/tmp/mobile.json

# Desktop
npx lighthouse https://mysite.com --output=json --output-path=/tmp/desktop.json --preset=desktop

# Compare
echo "Mobile: $(cat /tmp/mobile.json | jq '.categories.performance.score * 100')%"
echo "Desktop: $(cat /tmp/desktop.json | jq '.categories.performance.score * 100')%"

Find Performance Issues

# Get failed audits
cat /tmp/lighthouse.json | jq '[.audits | to_entries[] | select(.value.score != null and .value.score < 0.9) | {id: .key, score: .value.score, title: .value.title}] | sort_by(.score) | .[0:10]'

Check Unused JavaScript

cat /tmp/lighthouse.json | jq '.audits["unused-javascript"].details.items[:5]'

Check LCP Element

cat /tmp/lighthouse.json | jq '.audits["largest-contentful-paint-element"].details'

Report Options

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

# Generate both JSON and HTML
npx lighthouse https://example.com --output=json --output=html --output-path=./report

# Specific categories only
npx lighthouse https://example.com --only-categories=performance,seo

# Quiet mode (less output)
npx lighthouse https://example.com --quiet

Automation

CI/CD Check

#!/bin/bash
SCORE=$(npx lighthouse https://mysite.com --output=json --quiet | jq '.categories.performance.score * 100')
if (( $(echo "$SCORE < 90" | bc -l) )); then
  echo "Performance score $SCORE is below 90"
  exit 1
fi
echo "Performance score: $SCORE"

Compare Before/After

# Before changes
npx lighthouse https://mysite.com --output=json --output-path=/tmp/before.json

# After changes
npx lighthouse https://mysite.com --output=json --output-path=/tmp/after.json

# Compare
echo "Before: $(cat /tmp/before.json | jq '.categories.performance.score * 100')%"
echo "After: $(cat /tmp/after.json | jq '.categories.performance.score * 100')%"

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• Chrome/Chromium (for CLI audits)
• Website must be publicly accessible

Notes

• Mobile scores are default (throttled 4G, mobile viewport)
• Use --preset=desktop for desktop scores
• PageSpeed Insights API has rate limits
• Scores can vary between runs (network conditions, server load)
• Use multiple runs and average for accurate comparison