Reduce GPU usage when visualizer is off by adaptive tick rate (50ms→200ms), skip FFT on VisNone, and replace per-frame lipgloss allocations with string padding

Author: bjarneo

ui/model.go

@@ -57,6 +57,12 @@ const (
 type tickMsg time.Time
 type autoPlayMsg struct{}
 
+// Tick intervals: fast for visualizer animation, slow for time/seek display.
+const (
+	tickFast = 50 * time.Millisecond  // 20 FPS — visualizer active
+	tickSlow = 200 * time.Millisecond // 5 FPS — visualizer off or overlay
+)
+
 // Model is the Bubbletea model for the CLIAMP TUI.
 type Model struct {
 	player    *player.Player
@@ -225,6 +231,15 @@ func (m Model) ThemeName() string {
 	return m.themes[m.themeIdx].Name
 }
 
+// isOverlayActive reports whether a full-screen overlay is shown instead of
+// the main player view. When true, the visualizer is not visible and we can
+// use the slower tick rate.
+func (m *Model) isOverlayActive() bool {
+	return m.showKeymap || m.showThemes || m.showFileBrowser ||
+		m.showNavBrowser || m.showPlManager || m.showQueue ||
+		m.showInfo || m.searching
+}
+
 // openThemePicker re-loads themes from disk (picking up new user files)
 // and opens the theme selector overlay.
 func (m *Model) openThemePicker() {
@@ -596,7 +611,11 @@ func (m Model) Init() tea.Cmd {
 }
 
 func tickCmd() tea.Cmd {
-	return tea.Tick(time.Millisecond*50, func(t time.Time) tea.Msg {
+	return tickCmdAt(tickFast)
+}
+
+func tickCmdAt(d time.Duration) tea.Cmd {
+	return tea.Tick(d, func(t time.Time) tea.Msg {
 		return tickMsg(t)
 	})
 }
@@ -662,7 +681,15 @@ func (m Model) Update(msg tea.Msg) (tea.Model, tea.Cmd) {
 		if m.player.IsPlaying() && !m.player.IsPaused() {
 			m.titleOff++
 		}
-		cmds = append(cmds, tickCmd())
+
+		// Use fast ticks only when the visualizer is rendering; otherwise
+		// slow ticks are enough for time/seek updates and save significant
+		// GPU repaints in terminal emulators.
+		interval := tickSlow
+		if m.vis.Mode != VisNone && !m.isOverlayActive() {
+			interval = tickFast
+		}
+		cmds = append(cmds, tickCmdAt(interval))
 		return m, tea.Batch(cmds...)
 
 	case []playlist.PlaylistInfo:

ui/view.go

@@ -91,24 +91,32 @@ func (m Model) View() string {
 	content := strings.Join(sections, "\n")
 	frame := frameStyle.Render(content)
 
-	// Center horizontally and vertically within the terminal
+	return m.centerFrame(frame)
+}
+
+// centerFrame centers a pre-rendered frame in the terminal using plain string
+// padding instead of allocating a new lipgloss.Style every render.
+func (m Model) centerFrame(frame string) string {
 	frameW := lipgloss.Width(frame)
 	frameH := lipgloss.Height(frame)
-
 	padLeft := max(0, (m.width-frameW)/2)
 	padTop := max(0, (m.height-frameH)/2)
 
-	return strings.Repeat("\n", padTop) +
-		lipgloss.NewStyle().MarginLeft(padLeft).Render(frame)
+	if padLeft == 0 {
+		return strings.Repeat("\n", padTop) + frame
+	}
+	// Indent every line by padLeft spaces.
+	prefix := strings.Repeat(" ", padLeft)
+	lines := strings.Split(frame, "\n")
+	for i, l := range lines {
+		lines[i] = prefix + l
+	}
+	return strings.Repeat("\n", padTop) + strings.Join(lines, "\n")
 }
 
 // centerOverlay wraps content in a frame and centers it in the terminal.
 func (m Model) centerOverlay(content string) string {
-	frame := frameStyle.Render(content)
-	padLeft := max(0, (m.width-lipgloss.Width(frame))/2)
-	padTop := max(0, (m.height-lipgloss.Height(frame))/2)
-	return strings.Repeat("\n", padTop) +
-		lipgloss.NewStyle().MarginLeft(padLeft).Render(frame)
+	return m.centerFrame(frameStyle.Render(content))
 }
 
 func (m Model) renderKeymapOverlay() string {
@@ -487,6 +495,9 @@ func (m Model) renderTimeStatus() string {
 }
 
 func (m Model) renderSpectrum() string {
+	if m.vis.Mode == VisNone {
+		return ""
+	}
 	bands := m.vis.Analyze(m.player.Samples())
 	return m.vis.Render(bands)
 }