Slow load time and delayed chat responses

[ShirleyRex]

Summary
The chat feature often takes a long time to produce a response. This makes the experience feel unreliable and can discourage users from using the tool.

Steps to reproduce

Open assertify.io.

• Navigate to the chat feature.
• Send a short prompt.
• Observe the time it takes for the page to feel ready and for the chat to return a response.

Actual behavior

• Chat responses take a long time to appear.
• There is limited feedback during the wait, so it is not clear if the system is processing, stuck, or failing.

Expected behavior

• Chat should return responses in a more consistent and reasonable timeframe.
• A clear loading state should reassure users while requests are processing.

Acceptance criteria

• Initial load time is improved or measured with a defined target and shows a noticeable reduction.
• Chat response time is improved or measured with a defined target and shows a noticeable reduction.
• A clear loading indicator is shown while waiting for a chat response.
• Basic performance metrics are captured to support future diagnosis and improvements.