GAE: Slow delayed requests

I have created a search bar on GAE similar to facebook that shows you names and pictures as you type into a search bar. e.g. typing jo would bring up a drop down of "John Smith" and "Michael Jordan". This works really well on the development server, and even works really well in production, when the user searches immediately after loading the page. If I wait on the page, say 30 seconds to a min. Then try and use the search bar, it takes a very long time to show the results. Sometimes as long as 15 seconds, when it used to be immediate. Can someone explain what is go开发者_JS百科ing on here. Is there any way I can keep this request hot? Also, if I search for jo then wait, get the results, delete jo and then type in another search, my results are shown immediately. This makes me think that something is shutting down if not kept active.

My search bar implements the JQuery autocomplete bar and uses Jquery ajax gets to fetch the results.

Check if it actually starts new instances. Go to Dashboard and in Chart section in combo select "Instances" instead of requests / second.

This typically happens because if your application has less traffic, then the GAE "warms up" by starting a new JVM and that takes a few seconds.

More here about the "Loading Request".

The workaround to this is to use the Always On mode for your application. Note that this is a premium feature.