perf: speed up workflow listing by reading only file headers

Instead of parsing entire workflow JSON files (which can be many MB with
embedded base64 data), read only the first 1KB to extract the name via
regex. Drop nodeCount from the listing. Probe all directories in parallel.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/app/api/list-workflows/route.ts

@@ -6,10 +6,58 @@ import { validateWorkflowPath } from "@/utils/pathValidation";
 interface WorkflowListEntry {
   name: string;
   directoryPath: string;
-  nodeCount: number;
   lastModified: number;
 }
 
+// Read just enough of the file to find the "name" field without parsing the whole thing.
+// Workflow JSON starts with { "version": 1, "name": "..." ... } so 1KB is plenty.
+const HEAD_BYTES = 1024;
+
+async function probeWorkflow(
+  dirPath: string,
+  dirName: string
+): Promise<WorkflowListEntry | null> {
+  try {
+    const files = await fs.readdir(dirPath);
+    const jsonFiles = files.filter((f) => f.endsWith(".json"));
+
+    for (const jsonFile of jsonFiles) {
+      const filePath = path.join(dirPath, jsonFile);
+      try {
+        const handle = await fs.open(filePath, "r");
+        try {
+          const buf = Buffer.alloc(HEAD_BYTES);
+          const { bytesRead } = await handle.read(buf, 0, HEAD_BYTES, 0);
+          const head = buf.toString("utf-8", 0, bytesRead);
+
+          // Quick check: must look like a workflow file
+          if (!head.includes('"version"') || !head.includes('"nodes"')) {
+            continue;
+          }
+
+          // Extract name via regex — avoids JSON.parse on potentially huge files
+          const nameMatch = head.match(/"name"\s*:\s*"([^"]*)"/);
+          const name = nameMatch ? nameMatch[1] : dirName;
+
+          const stat = await fs.stat(filePath);
+          return {
+            name,
+            directoryPath: dirPath,
+            lastModified: stat.mtimeMs,
+          };
+        } finally {
+          await handle.close();
+        }
+      } catch {
+        continue;
+      }
+    }
+  } catch {
+    // Can't read directory
+  }
+  return null;
+}
+
 export async function GET(request: NextRequest) {
   const parentPath = request.nextUrl.searchParams.get("path");
 
@@ -32,39 +80,16 @@ export async function GET(request: NextRequest) {
     const entries = await fs.readdir(parentPath, { withFileTypes: true });
     const directories = entries.filter((e) => e.isDirectory());
 
-    const workflows: WorkflowListEntry[] = [];
+    // Probe all directories in parallel
-
+    const results = await Promise.all(
-    for (const dir of directories) {
+      directories.map((dir) =>
-      const dirPath = path.join(parentPath, dir.name);
+        probeWorkflow(path.join(parentPath, dir.name), dir.name)
-      try {
+      )
-        const files = await fs.readdir(dirPath);
+    );
-        const jsonFiles = files.filter((f) => f.endsWith(".json"));
-
-        for (const jsonFile of jsonFiles) {
-          try {
-            const filePath = path.join(dirPath, jsonFile);
-            const content = await fs.readFile(filePath, "utf-8");
-            const parsed = JSON.parse(content);
 
-            if (parsed.version && parsed.nodes && parsed.edges) {
+    const workflows = results.filter(
-              const stat = await fs.stat(filePath);
+      (r): r is WorkflowListEntry => r !== null
-              workflows.push({
+    );
-                name: parsed.name || dir.name,
-                directoryPath: dirPath,
-                nodeCount: parsed.nodes.length,
-                lastModified: stat.mtimeMs,
-              });
-              break; // Use first valid workflow file per directory
-            }
-          } catch {
-            continue;
-          }
-        }
-      } catch {
-        // Skip directories we can't read
-        continue;
-      }
-    }
 
     // Sort by most recently modified first
     workflows.sort((a, b) => b.lastModified - a.lastModified);
@@ -74,7 +99,8 @@ export async function GET(request: NextRequest) {
     return NextResponse.json(
       {
         success: false,
-        error: error instanceof Error ? error.message : "Failed to list workflows",
+        error:
+          error instanceof Error ? error.message : "Failed to list workflows",
       },
       { status: 500 }
     );

src/components/quickstart/WorkflowBrowserView.tsx

@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import {
 interface WorkflowListEntry {
   name: string;
   directoryPath: string;
-  nodeCount: number;
   lastModified: number;
 }
 
@@ -261,11 +260,7 @@ export function WorkflowBrowserView({
                     <span className="text-sm font-medium text-neutral-200 group-hover:text-neutral-100 transition-colors">
                       {entry.name}
                     </span>
-                    <div className="flex items-center gap-2 mt-0.5">
+                    <div className="mt-0.5">
-                      <span className="text-xs text-neutral-500">
-                        {entry.nodeCount} node{entry.nodeCount !== 1 ? "s" : ""}
-                      </span>
-                      <span className="text-neutral-700">·</span>
                       <span className="text-xs text-neutral-500">
                         {formatRelativeTime(entry.lastModified)}
                       </span>