perf(cli): upgrade check delays fast commands when registry response is slow

[leslieeilsel]

Describe the bug

On commit a24eede77ebec23b3e942437bda34f6d34a95cd3, a fast interactive command such as vp env list normally completes within a few milliseconds on my machine. When the configured npm registry responds slowly, the same command consistently takes roughly half a second.

If the upgrade request is still pending when the command exits, the upgrade check cache is not written. The next invocation performs the same request and experiences the same delay again.

I reproduced this with five consecutive invocations. Each invocation made a new registry request, and .upgrade-check.json remained absent.

Expected behavior: a pending upgrade check should not noticeably delay command exit or cause the same registry request on every subsequent invocation.

Reproduction

https://github.com/voidzero-dev/vite-plus/tree/a24eede77ebec23b3e942437bda34f6d34a95cd3

Steps to reproduce

1. Build the release CLI

cargo build -p vite_global_cli --release --locked

2. Start a local registry that responds after two seconds

Run this in a separate terminal:

node - <<'JS'
const http = require('node:http');

const body = JSON.stringify({
  version: '999.0.0',
  dist: {
    tarball: '',
    integrity: '',
  },
});

http
  .createServer((request, response) => {
    console.log('request:', request.url);

    setTimeout(() => {
      if (response.destroyed) return;

      response.writeHead(200, {
        'content-type': 'application/json',
        'content-length': Buffer.byteLength(body),
      });
      response.end(body);
    }, 2_000);
  })
  .listen(48_731, '127.0.0.1', () => {
    console.log('Local registry listening on http://127.0.0.1:48731');
  });
JS

3. Configure an isolated test environment

Run this from the Vite+ repository in an interactive terminal:

export VP_HOME="$(mktemp -d)"
export NPM_CONFIG_REGISTRY="http://127.0.0.1:48731"

unset CI
unset VP_CLI_TEST
unset VP_NO_UPDATE_CHECK

The test must run in an interactive terminal because the upgrade check is skipped when stderr is not a TTY.

4. Establish a baseline

Warm up the binary once, then measure it with the upgrade check disabled:

VP_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 target/release/vp env list >/dev/null
time VP_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 target/release/vp env list

On my machine, the command normally completes within a few milliseconds after warm-up.

5. Run the command repeatedly with the delayed registry

for run in 1 2 3 4 5; do
  echo "Run $run"
  time target/release/vp env list
done

Each invocation takes roughly half a second, and the registry terminal prints a new request for every invocation.

6. Inspect the cache

test -f "$VP_HOME/.upgrade-check.json" \
  && cat "$VP_HOME/.upgrade-check.json" \
  || echo "cache missing"

Observed output:

cache missing

System Info

Device: Mac mini
Chip: Apple M4, 10-core
Memory: 16 GB
OS: macOS 27.0, arm64

Vite+ commit: a24eede77ebec23b3e942437bda34f6d34a95cd3
vp: 0.2.6, release build
Rust: 1.98.0-nightly
Node.js: 22.18.0
Package manager: pnpm 10.34.4

Used Package Manager

pnpm

Logs

Baseline after warm-up: a few milliseconds
Delayed registry: roughly half a second per invocation
Registry requests: one new request per invocation
Upgrade check cache after five invocations: missing

Validations

• Read the Contributing Guidelines.
• Checked open and closed issues for the same bug.
• Checked open pull requests for an existing fix.
• Confirmed this behavior is in Vite+ rather than an upstream tool.
• Provided a self-contained reproduction.