Tigris Egress Optimizer

Tigris Egress Optimizer

Diagnose and fix excessive storage egress (network data transfer) costs. Follow this 4-step framework to identify anti-patterns, apply fixes, and verify savings.

Most high egress bills come from the application fetching more data than it uses — not from infrastructure issues.

Prerequisites

Before doing anything else, install the Tigris CLI if it's not already available:

tigris help || npm install -g @tigrisdata/cli

If you need to install it, tell the user: "I'm installing the Tigris CLI (@tigrisdata/cli) so we can work with Tigris object storage."

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Step 1: Diagnose

Identify which buckets and access patterns consume the most bandwidth.

Check Bandwidth Metrics

# Check bucket usage
tigris usage

# List objects by size (find large files being served frequently)
tigris ls t3://my-bucket --recursive -l | sort -k3 -rn | head -20

Questions to Answer

• Which buckets have the highest bandwidth?
• Are large files being downloaded repeatedly?
• Are objects being accessed through the app server or directly?
• Are there objects being downloaded that are never displayed to users?

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Step 2: Analyze Codebase

Check your application code for these common anti-patterns:

Anti-Pattern Checklist

| Anti-Pattern | Symptom | Impact | |-------------|---------|--------| | Downloading full objects for metadata | Using get() when head() would suffice | High — downloads entire file | | Re-downloading immutable assets | No caching layer for static content | High — repeated bandwidth | | Proxying through app server | Server downloads then re-serves to client | 2x bandwidth (Tigris→server + server→client) | | Missing Cache-Control headers | Browsers re-fetch on every page load | Very high — multiplied by users | | Not using CDN | Private bucket for public content | Medium — single origin, no edge caching | | Downloading full objects for thumbnails | Fetching 5MB image to show 100px thumbnail | High — 50x more data than needed |

Code Search

Look for these patterns in your codebase:

# Downloads that should be head() calls
grep -rn "get(" --include="*.ts" --include="*.js" | grep -v "test"

# Missing cache headers on put()
grep -rn "put(" --include="*.ts" --include="*.js" | grep -v "cacheControl\|Cache-Control"

# Server-side file proxying
grep -rn "pipe\|stream\|createReadStream" --include="*.ts" --include="*.js"

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Step 3: Fix

Fix 1: Use head() Instead of get() for Metadata

// Before — downloads entire file just to check if it exists
const result = await get("avatars/user-123.jpg", "file");
if (result.error) console.log("not found");

// After — only fetches metadata (size, contentType, modified)
const result = await head("avatars/user-123.jpg");
if (result.error) console.log("not found");
console.log(result.data?.size, result.data?.contentType);

Fix 2: Add Cache-Control Headers

// Set cache headers on upload
await put("assets/logo.png", file, {
  access: "public",
  contentType: "image/png",
});

Recommended cache values:

| Content Type | Cache-Control | |-------------|---------------| | Hashed assets (JS, CSS) | public, max-age=31536000, immutable | | Images (avatars, uploads) | public, max-age=86400 (1 day) | | Dynamic content | private, no-cache | | Fonts | public, max-age=31536000, immutable |

Fix 3: Use Public Buckets for CDN

Tigris public buckets automatically serve from the nearest global edge — no separate CDN setup needed.

# Make bucket public
tigris buckets create my-public-assets --public

# Or update existing bucket
tigris buckets update my-bucket --public

Public bucket URLs are served from Tigris's global edge network. This eliminates the need for CloudFront, Cloudflare, or other CDN layers for basic static asset delivery.

Fix 4: Use Presigned URLs (Skip Server Proxy)

// Before — server downloads file, then sends to client (2x egress)
app.get("/download/:path", async (req, res) => {
  const result = await get(req.params.path, "stream");
  result.data.pipe(res);
});

// After — redirect client to download directly from Tigris (1x egress)
app.get("/download/:path", async (req, res) => {
  const result = await getPresignedUrl(req.params.path, {
    operation: "get",
    expiresIn: 300,
  });
  res.redirect(result.data!.url);
});

Fix 5: Store Thumbnails Separately

// Before — serving 5MB original for a 100px avatar

// After — generate and store thumbnail on upload
import sharp from "sharp";

const thumb = await sharp(originalBuffer)
  .resize(100, 100, { fit: "cover" })
  .jpeg({ quality: 80 })
  .toBuffer();

await put("avatars/user-123-thumb.jpg", thumb, {
  access: "public",
  contentType: "image/jpeg",
});
// Serve the 5KB thumbnail instead of the 5MB original

Fix 6: Client-Side Caching with ETags

// Server returns ETag on first request
app.get("/api/config", async (req, res) => {
  const result = await head("config/app.json");
  const etag = result.data?.modified?.toISOString();

  if (req.headers["if-none-match"] === etag) {
    return res.status(304).end(); // No body sent, no egress
  }

  const file = await get("config/app.json", "string");
  res.set("ETag", etag);
  res.json(JSON.parse(file.data));
});

Fix 7: Regional Pinning

Keep data close to compute to reduce cross-region transfer:

# Pin bucket to specific regions
tigris buckets create my-bucket --locations us-east-1,eu-west-1

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Step 4: Verify

After applying fixes:

1. Monitor bandwidth — check Tigris dashboard for bandwidth reduction
2. Compare before/after — track bandwidth for 1-2 weeks
3. Set alerts — configure monitoring for unexpected bandwidth spikes
4. Review periodically — new features can introduce new anti-patterns

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Quick Wins Summary

| Fix | Effort | Impact | |-----|--------|--------| | Add Cache-Control headers | Low | High | | Switch to public bucket (CDN) | Low | High | | Use presigned URLs instead of proxying | Medium | High | | Replace get() with head() for checks | Low | Medium | | Store thumbnails separately | Medium | High | | Regional pinning | Low | Medium |

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Critical Rules

Always: Use public buckets for content served to users | Set Cache-Control headers on every upload | Use presigned URLs for private file downloads | Use head() for existence/metadata checks

Never: Proxy files through your app server when presigned URLs work | Serve original images when thumbnails suffice | Skip caching for immutable assets | Ignore bandwidth metrics

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Related Skills

• tigris-image-optimization — Generate thumbnails and variants
• tigris-static-assets — CDN delivery with cache headers
• tigris-lifecycle-management — Move cold data to cheaper tiers

Official Documentation

• Tigris: https://www.tigrisdata.com/docs/

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: tigrisdata
• Source: tigrisdata/skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.