Optimize routes for large datasets

**Feature request**
It would be great to have serialization for helpers.

**Use case**
Many users need this functionality for production deployments.

**Implementation idea**
Add a new config option `enable_serialization` with default `false`.

Start by locating the helper serialization code and the configuration handling in the Operator repository. Confirm how helpers are currently processed, then verify that an `enable_serialization` option defaults to false and controls serialization for production deployments.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.