diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index bb6db27..fdfbf9f 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -19,3 +19,9 @@ WEBP_METHOD=2
 
 # Maximum concurrent sessions per user (default: 5, minimum: 1)
 MAX_SESSIONS_PER_USER=5
+
+# Database connection pool size (default: 20)
+DB_POOL_SIZE=20
+
+# SSR page cache duration in seconds (default: 3600)
+SSR_CACHE_SECS=3600
diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 9ccb0be..4b676e4 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@ RATE_LIMIT_UPLOAD_PER_SEC=2
 RATE_LIMIT_UPLOAD_BURST=15
 RATE_LIMIT_IMAGE_PER_SEC=10
 RATE_LIMIT_IMAGE_BURST=50
+DB_POOL_SIZE=20             # database connection pool size
+SSR_CACHE_SECS=3600         # incremental SSR cache TTL
 ```
 
 Run migrations before first dev server start:
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index d02d44a..0722c35 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -4379,7 +4379,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "tower",
  "tower-layer",
  "tower-service",
- "tracing",
  "url",
 ]
 
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 42f2570..2ed14e9 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -15,9 +15,9 @@ chrono = { version = "0.4", features = ["serde"] }
 regex = "1.12"
 pulldown-cmark = "0.13"
 dotenvy = { version = "0.15", optional = true }
-tracing = { version = "0.1", optional = true }
+tracing = { version = "0.1", optional = true, features = ["release_max_level_info"] }
 tracing-subscriber = { version = "0.3", optional = true }
-tower-http = { version = "0.6", features = ["trace"], optional = true }
+tower-http = { version = "0.6", optional = true }
 rand = { version = "0.8", features = ["getrandom"] }
 getrandom = { version = "0.2", features = ["js"] }
 http = "1"
diff --git a/src/api/comments/markdown.rs b/src/api/comments/markdown.rs
index aa531d8..9586b60 100644
--- a/src/api/comments/markdown.rs
+++ b/src/api/comments/markdown.rs
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ fn html_escape(s: &str) -> String {
 }
 
 #[cfg(feature = "server")]
-pub fn clean_comment_html(input: &str) -> String {
+static COMMENT_AMMONIA_BUILDER: std::sync::LazyLock<ammonia::Builder> = std::sync::LazyLock::new(|| {
     let mut builder = ammonia::Builder::default();
     builder
         .rm_tags(["img", "details", "summary"])
@@ -25,8 +25,12 @@ pub fn clean_comment_html(input: &str) -> String {
         .add_tag_attributes("a", &["class", "aria-hidden", "aria-label"])
         .add_tag_attributes("span", &["class"])
         .link_rel(Some("nofollow noopener"));
+    builder
+});
 
-    builder.clean(input).to_string()
+#[cfg(feature = "server")]
+pub fn clean_comment_html(input: &str) -> String {
+    COMMENT_AMMONIA_BUILDER.clean(input).to_string()
 }
 
 #[cfg(feature = "server")]
diff --git a/src/api/markdown.rs b/src/api/markdown.rs
index 76139f3..b20c7c2 100644
--- a/src/api/markdown.rs
+++ b/src/api/markdown.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #![allow(clippy::unused_unit, deprecated, unused_imports)]
 
 #[cfg(feature = "server")]
-pub fn clean_html(input: &str) -> String {
+static AMMONIA_BUILDER: std::sync::LazyLock<ammonia::Builder> = std::sync::LazyLock::new(|| {
     let mut builder = ammonia::Builder::default();
     builder
         .add_generic_attributes(&[
@@ -24,8 +24,12 @@ pub fn clean_html(input: &str) -> String {
         .add_tag_attributes("h4", &["id", "class"])
         .add_tag_attributes("h5", &["id", "class"])
         .add_tag_attributes("h6", &["id", "class"]);
+    builder
+});
 
-    builder.clean(input).to_string()
+#[cfg(feature = "server")]
+pub fn clean_html(input: &str) -> String {
+    AMMONIA_BUILDER.clean(input).to_string()
 }
 
 #[derive(Debug, Clone)]
diff --git a/src/db/pool.rs b/src/db/pool.rs
index 804ed31..8cf460a 100644
--- a/src/db/pool.rs
+++ b/src/db/pool.rs
@@ -16,7 +16,10 @@ pub static DB_POOL: LazyLock<Pool> = LazyLock::new(|| {
     let mgr = Manager::from_config(pg_cfg, NoTls, mgr_cfg);
 
     Pool::builder(mgr)
-        .max_size(10)
+        .max_size(std::env::var("DB_POOL_SIZE")
+            .ok()
+            .and_then(|s| s.parse().ok())
+            .unwrap_or(20))
         .build()
         .expect("Failed to create database connection pool")
 });
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 4244821..e206be9 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ fn main() {
 
         dioxus::server::serve(|| async move {
             use dioxus::server::{axum, DioxusRouterExt, ServeConfig};
-            use tower_http::trace::TraceLayer;
 
             tokio::spawn(async {
                 tasks::ip_purge::run_purge().await;
@@ -46,7 +45,12 @@ fn main() {
 
             let config = ServeConfig::builder().incremental(
                 dioxus::server::IncrementalRendererConfig::default()
-                    .invalidate_after(std::time::Duration::from_secs(300)),
+                    .invalidate_after(std::time::Duration::from_secs(
+                        std::env::var("SSR_CACHE_SECS")
+                            .ok()
+                            .and_then(|s| s.parse().ok())
+                            .unwrap_or(3600),
+                    )),
             );
             let api_routes = axum::Router::new().route(
                 "/api/upload",
@@ -64,8 +68,7 @@ fn main() {
 
             let router = api_routes
                 .merge(static_routes)
-                .merge(dioxus_app)
-                .layer(TraceLayer::new_for_http());
+                .merge(dioxus_app);
 
             Ok(router)
         });