This is probably an optimization but I have noticed that writing properties, even if they are unchanged, triggers indexing on the nodes. A simple routine that I added to our system:

    if (!node.hasProperty(propertyName) || !node.getProperty(propertyName).getString().
        equals(value)) {
      node.setProperty(propertyName, value);
    }

improved the throughput of the system significantly. Granted, we are writing the same data over and over again but it seems like modeshape should ignore these no-op mutations. I am also not sure if indexing is incremental within a node (that is, the less properties changed, the less hibernate search needs to do).