From 5cdcf2415dc12ae1e693fafe89abf66c3f8e71be Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Nick Koston" <nick@koston.org>
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2025 22:46:40 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] Optimize Application area_ from std::string to const char*
 (#9085)

---
 esphome/components/mqtt/mqtt_component.cpp | 2 +-
 esphome/core/application.h                 | 8 ++++----
 2 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/esphome/components/mqtt/mqtt_component.cpp b/esphome/components/mqtt/mqtt_component.cpp
index 456ae25e65..eee5644c9d 100644
--- a/esphome/components/mqtt/mqtt_component.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/mqtt/mqtt_component.cpp
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ bool MQTTComponent::send_discovery_() {
         if (node_friendly_name.empty()) {
           node_friendly_name = node_name;
         }
-        const std::string &node_area = App.get_area();
+        std::string node_area = App.get_area();
 
         JsonObject device_info = root.createNestedObject(MQTT_DEVICE);
         const auto mac = get_mac_address();
diff --git a/esphome/core/application.h b/esphome/core/application.h
index d9ef4fe036..f04ea05d8e 100644
--- a/esphome/core/application.h
+++ b/esphome/core/application.h
@@ -87,8 +87,8 @@ static const uint32_t TEARDOWN_TIMEOUT_REBOOT_MS = 1000;  // 1 second for quick
 
 class Application {
  public:
-  void pre_setup(const std::string &name, const std::string &friendly_name, const std::string &area,
-                 const char *comment, const char *compilation_time, bool name_add_mac_suffix) {
+  void pre_setup(const std::string &name, const std::string &friendly_name, const char *area, const char *comment,
+                 const char *compilation_time, bool name_add_mac_suffix) {
     arch_init();
     this->name_add_mac_suffix_ = name_add_mac_suffix;
     if (name_add_mac_suffix) {
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ class Application {
   const std::string &get_friendly_name() const { return this->friendly_name_; }
 
   /// Get the area of this Application set by pre_setup().
-  const std::string &get_area() const { return this->area_; }
+  std::string get_area() const { return this->area_ == nullptr ? "" : this->area_; }
 
   /// Get the comment of this Application set by pre_setup().
   std::string get_comment() const { return this->comment_; }
@@ -646,7 +646,7 @@ class Application {
 
   std::string name_;
   std::string friendly_name_;
-  std::string area_;
+  const char *area_{nullptr};
   const char *comment_{nullptr};
   const char *compilation_time_{nullptr};
   bool name_add_mac_suffix_;