LLM latency optimization starts by separating queue time, connection time, time to first token, generation time, tools, and retries. Improve the metric tied to the experience—often first useful output for chat and total completion time for batch work.
The INFRO view: INFRO records route and request timing so teams can optimize model experience with evidence and move traffic away from degraded paths.
Measure the latency budget
Record timestamps at the application, gateway, provider attempt, first byte, first token, tool boundary, and completion. Use p50, p95, and p99 by model, route, region, and workload; averages hide the slow tail users remember.
A recovered request can be successful and still violate the latency objective. Keep attempt and fallback time visible.
Reduce work before changing models
Shorten unnecessary context, retrieve fewer higher-quality chunks, cap output length, stream early, parallelize independent retrieval, and cache deterministic work. For agents, reduce serial tool calls and persist state instead of repeatedly reconstructing it.
Do not trim instructions that protect correctness just to win a benchmark. The useful metric is time to a correct answer.
Choose and route for the experience
Interactive chat may favor fast first-token behavior; classification favors total duration; voice needs predictable streaming; batch generation may favor throughput and cost. Evaluate routes against the workload's actual objective.
Use recent route health and latency, not a permanent ranking. Provider performance changes by region, model, load, and time.
Control retries and fallbacks
Set per-attempt and total deadlines. A long first timeout followed by a successful fallback creates a slow success that may be worse than a fast degraded response.
Hedge requests only for carefully selected high-value traffic because parallel attempts can multiply cost and provider load.
Where INFRO fits
Because supported models share one access layer, teams can compare first-token latency, total duration, error rate, and cost without maintaining separate telemetry formats. Routing and automatic recovery can then reflect the measured service objective.
Inspect request tracing, browse models, and test a representative workload through the quickstart. Measure INFRO's added network hop in your own region and traffic pattern.
Frequently asked questions
What is time to first token?
It is the time between sending a generation request and receiving the first streamed token. It strongly affects the perceived responsiveness of chat and voice experiences.
Does a gateway always make LLMs slower?
A gateway adds a network hop, but routing around degraded providers can improve end-to-end reliability and tail latency. Measure the complete path on your workload.
Can INFRO route based on health?
INFRO is designed to use route health for selection and eligible failover, with request timing visible in the operational trace.
