diff --git a/internal/pkg/pipeline/pipeline.go b/internal/pkg/pipeline/pipeline.go
index 4665c06..8fba732 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/pipeline/pipeline.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/pipeline/pipeline.go
@@ -196,9 +196,11 @@ func (p *Pipeline) distributeToChannels(input <-chan *record.Record, outputs []c
 	}()
 
 	for rec := range input {
+		// Send clones to all channels to avoid data races
+		// and ensure GC can clean up records after processing
 		for _, ch := range outputs {
 			if ch != nil {
-				ch <- rec
+				ch <- rec.Clone()
 			}
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/internal/pkg/pipeline/record/record.go b/internal/pkg/pipeline/record/record.go
index 0f406bb..525aa7d 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/pipeline/record/record.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/pipeline/record/record.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package record
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
+	"maps"
 )
 
 type Record struct {
@@ -28,3 +29,27 @@ func (r *Record) Bytes() []byte {
 	return data
 
 }
+
+// Clone creates a deep copy of the record to prevent shared references across parallel pipeline branches.
+func (r *Record) Clone() *Record {
+	if r == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	newRec := &Record{
+		ID:     r.ID,
+		Origin: r.Origin,
+	}
+
+	if r.Data != nil {
+		newRec.Data = make([]byte, len(r.Data))
+		copy(newRec.Data, r.Data)
+	}
+
+	if r.Meta != nil {
+		newRec.Meta = make(map[string]string, len(r.Meta))
+		maps.Copy(newRec.Meta, r.Meta)
+	}
+
+	return newRec
+}
diff --git a/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/converter/sst.go b/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/converter/sst.go
index 5cc2af4..c24ddaf 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/converter/sst.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/converter/sst.go
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 package converter
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"errors"
 	"os"
 	"sort"
-	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/pebble"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/pebble/objstorage/objstorageprovider"
@@ -19,17 +19,20 @@ const (
 )
 
 func (c *sst) convert(data []byte, d string) ([]converterOutput, error) {
-	lines := strings.Split(string(data), "\n")
+	delimBytes := []byte(d)
+	newline := []byte("\n")
+	lines := bytes.Split(data, newline)
 	values := map[string]string{}
 	for _, line := range lines {
-		if line == "" {
+		if len(line) == 0 {
 			continue
 		}
-		kv := strings.SplitN(line, d, 2)
+		kv := bytes.SplitN(line, delimBytes, 2)
 		if len(kv) != 2 {
-			return nil, errors.New("invalid input for sst converter: expected 'key" + d + "value' format (got: " + line + ")")
+			return nil, errors.New("invalid input for sst converter: expected 'key" + d + "value' format (got: " + string(line) + ")")
 		}
-		values[kv[0]] = kv[1]
+
+		values[string(kv[0])] = string(kv[1])
 	}
 
 	fileName, err := c.createSST(values)
@@ -37,7 +40,7 @@ func (c *sst) convert(data []byte, d string) ([]converterOutput, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	defer os.Remove(fileName)
-	
+
 	sstData, err := os.ReadFile(fileName)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
diff --git a/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/join/join.go b/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/join/join.go
index 994f2e2..5146f04 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/join/join.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/join/join.go
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 package join
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
-	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/patterninc/caterpillar/internal/pkg/duration"
@@ -88,21 +88,25 @@ func (j *join) Run(ctx context.Context, input <-chan *record.Record, output chan
 func (j *join) flushBuffer(output chan<- *record.Record) {
 	if len(j.buffer) > 0 {
 		j.sendJoinedRecords(output)
+		// clear the buffer, explicitly nil out the elements to help GC
+		for i := range j.buffer {
+			j.buffer[i] = nil
+		}
 		j.buffer = j.buffer[:0]
 	}
 }
 
 func (j *join) sendJoinedRecords(output chan<- *record.Record) {
 
-	// Join all data with the specified delimiter
-	var joinedData strings.Builder
+	var joinedData bytes.Buffer
+	delimBytes := []byte(j.Delimiter)
 	for i, r := range j.buffer {
 		if i > 0 {
-			joinedData.WriteString(j.Delimiter)
+			joinedData.Write(delimBytes)
 		}
 		joinedData.Write(r.Data)
 	}
 
-	j.SendData(nil, []byte(joinedData.String()), output)
-
+	data := bytes.Clone(joinedData.Bytes())
+	j.SendData(nil, data, output)
 }
diff --git a/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/replace/replace.go b/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/replace/replace.go
index bd2dabb..5587a57 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/replace/replace.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/replace/replace.go
@@ -25,13 +25,15 @@ func (r *replace) Run(ctx context.Context, input <-chan *record.Record, output c
 		return err
 	}
 
+	replacementBytes := []byte(r.Replacement)
+
 	if output != nil {
 		for {
 			record, ok := r.GetRecord(input)
 			if !ok {
 				break
 			}
-			r.SendData(record.Meta, []byte(rx.ReplaceAllString(string(record.Data), r.Replacement)), output)
+			r.SendData(record.Meta, rx.ReplaceAll(record.Data, replacementBytes), output)
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/split/split.go b/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/split/split.go
index d29dd87..d53863d 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/split/split.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/split/split.go
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 package split
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"context"
-	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/patterninc/caterpillar/internal/pkg/pipeline/record"
 	"github.com/patterninc/caterpillar/internal/pkg/pipeline/task"
@@ -22,16 +22,21 @@ func New() (task.Task, error) {
 		Delimiter: defaultDelimiter,
 	}, nil
 }
+
 func (s *split) Run(ctx context.Context, input <-chan *record.Record, output chan<- *record.Record) error {
 
+	delimBytes := []byte(s.Delimiter)
+
 	for {
 		r, ok := s.GetRecord(input)
 		if !ok {
 			break
 		}
-		lines := strings.Split(strings.TrimSuffix(string(r.Data), s.Delimiter), s.Delimiter)
+
+		data := bytes.TrimSuffix(r.Data, delimBytes)
+		lines := bytes.Split(data, delimBytes)
 		for _, line := range lines {
-			s.SendData(r.Meta, []byte(line), output)
+			s.SendData(r.Meta, line, output)
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/task.go b/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/task.go
index 781ef07..d6e5f12 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/task.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/pipeline/task/task.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package task
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
@@ -25,6 +26,12 @@ var (
 	ErrPresentInputOutput = fmt.Errorf(`either input or output must be set, not both`)
 )
 
+var byteBufferPool = sync.Pool{
+	New: func() any {
+		return new(bytes.Buffer)
+	},
+}
+
 type Task interface {
 	Run(ctx context.Context, input <-chan *record.Record, output chan<- *record.Record) error
 	GetName() string
@@ -119,13 +126,26 @@ func (b *Base) SendRecord(r *record.Record, output chan<- *record.Record) /* we
 		output <- r
 	}()
 
+	// get a buffer from the pool
+	buf := byteBufferPool.Get().(*bytes.Buffer)
+	defer byteBufferPool.Put(buf)
+	buf.Reset()
+
 	// before we set context, let's serialize the whole record
-	data, err := json.Marshal(r)
-	if err != nil {
-		// TODO: do prom metrics / log event to syslog
+	if err := json.NewEncoder(buf).Encode(r); err != nil {
 		fmt.Println(`ERROR (marshal):`, err)
 		return
 	}
+
+	data := buf.Bytes()
+
+	// get another buffer for the query results
+	ctxBuf := byteBufferPool.Get().(*bytes.Buffer)
+	defer byteBufferPool.Put(ctxBuf)
+	ctxBuf.Reset()
+
+	ctxEncoder := json.NewEncoder(ctxBuf)
+
 	// Set the context values for the record
 	for name, query := range b.Context {
 		queryResult, err := query.Execute(data)
@@ -135,13 +155,18 @@ func (b *Base) SendRecord(r *record.Record, output chan<- *record.Record) /* we
 			return
 		}
 		// now, let's marshal it to json and set in the context...
-		contextValueJson, err := json.Marshal(queryResult)
-		if err != nil {
+		if err := ctxEncoder.Encode(queryResult); err != nil {
 			// TODO: do prom metrics / log event to syslog
 			fmt.Println(`ERROR (result):`, err)
 			return
 		}
-		r.SetMetaValue(name, string(contextValueJson))
+		// Remove trailing newline added by json.Encoder.Encode()
+		value := ctxBuf.String()
+		if len(value) > 0 && value[len(value)-1] == '\n' {
+			value = value[:len(value)-1]
+		}
+		r.SetMetaValue(name, value)
+		ctxBuf.Reset()
 	}
 
 }