Will an AI Agent Slow Down Your Website?

When you’re running an online store, speed matters. Poor core web vitals can hurt search rankings, create a subpar customer experience, and negatively impact conversions. 

So it’s totally fair to ask: Will adding an AI shopping agent like alby slow things down?

Let’s talk about how alby is built and why it won’t drag down your site’s performance.

The Short Answer: No, It Won’t

alby was designed from the ground up to be lightweight, modular, and flexible. It doesn’t load anything you don’t use, and it doesn’t surprise your layout with unexpected elements.

Most alby setups load less than 200KB — that’s smaller than most product images on your homepage.

What Makes alby Fast?

1. It only loads what you use
alby doesn’t load the full toolkit unless it needs to. If you only use one feature, that’s all that gets added to the page.

2. It’s built with speed in mind
We keep things lean by avoiding large design libraries or unnecessary extras. Everything is written in lightweight code and delivered through fast, global servers.

3. You control where it shows up
Unlike some tools that inject content across your entire site, alby only appears where you tell it to. You place it where it makes sense whether that’s on product detail pages or the homepage.

Best Practices for Embedding 

alby gives you control and with that control comes the ability to maintain strong Core Web Vitals.

If your team tracks performance metrics like CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift), LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), and INP (Interaction to Next Paint), here are a few simple best practices to follow:

Maintain Layout Stability (CLS)

To prevent layout shifts when a widget loads, reserve space in advance using CSS. For example, adding a min-height of 200px ensures the page layout stays steady as the widget appears.

Load Widgets Only When Needed (LCP + INP)

To keep load times fast and interactions responsive:

• Use IntersectionObserver to load widgets only when they enter the viewport
  
• Or delay loading the launcher script until after your main content finishes rendering

These strategies help reduce upfront loading time, especially important for mobile users or slower networks, while still giving shoppers the full alby experience.

Final Thoughts

Adding a new tool to your site can feel risky. At alby, speed isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s built in. Whether you’re adding it to one product page or across your entire store, you’ll stay in control.

Want to Go Deeper?

If you or your developer team is thinking about performance metrics, we’ve put together a more detailed breakdown of how to integrate alby with speed in mind.

Read the technical documentation on alby and Core Web Vitals.