diff --git a/.jules/bolt.md b/.jules/bolt.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e6321f06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.jules/bolt.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+## 2026-08-23 - Optimizing time formatting in high-throughput render paths
+**Learning:** In terminal UIs using React and Ink, formatting timestamps using `String().padStart()` inside the render loop causes significant overhead and unnecessary string allocations, leading to performance degradation in high-throughput message lists.
+**Action:** Replace dynamic padding with a pre-computed string array lookup (`Array.from({length: 60})`) for bounded values like hours, minutes, and seconds (0-59).
diff --git a/bun.lock b/bun.lock
index f1109aa4..d19f7943 100644
--- a/bun.lock
+++ b/bun.lock
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 {
   "lockfileVersion": 1,
-  "configVersion": 1,
   "workspaces": {
     "": {
       "name": "salmon-loop",
diff --git a/src/cli/ui/components/messageList/utils.ts b/src/cli/ui/components/messageList/utils.ts
index ca9a3ed9..e59d523d 100644
--- a/src/cli/ui/components/messageList/utils.ts
+++ b/src/cli/ui/components/messageList/utils.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
+// Pre-computed array lookup for time values (0-59) to avoid string allocations
+// and padStart() overhead during high-throughput React rendering
+const timeLookup = Array.from({ length: 60 }, (_, i) => String(i).padStart(2, '0'));
+
 export function formatTime(timestamp: Date): string {
-  const hours = String(timestamp.getHours()).padStart(2, '0');
-  const minutes = String(timestamp.getMinutes()).padStart(2, '0');
-  const seconds = String(timestamp.getSeconds()).padStart(2, '0');
-  return `${hours}:${minutes}:${seconds}`;
+  return `${timeLookup[timestamp.getHours()] as string}:${timeLookup[timestamp.getMinutes()] as string}:${timeLookup[timestamp.getSeconds()] as string}`;
 }