Performance Regression Workflow

IMPORTANT: Follow this workflow before merging any feature that touches hot paths in the gossip-rs workspace.

When This Applies

Invoke this skill when modifying:

• Data structures in crates/gossip-stdx/src/ (InlineVec, RingBuffer, ByteSlab)
• Coordination protocol in crates/gossip-coordination/src/
• Contract types in crates/gossip-contracts/src/
• Scanner engine in crates/scanner-engine/src/
• Scanner runtime in crates/gossip-scanner-runtime/src/
• Scanner scheduler in crates/scanner-scheduler/src/
• Git scan pipeline in crates/scanner-git/src/

Workflow Steps

1. Stash Changes and Build Baseline

git stash push -m "feature-name"
RUSTFLAGS="-C target-cpu=native" cargo build --release

2. Run Baseline Benchmarks

Save baselines for all relevant benchmark suites:

# Run all workspace benchmarks
cargo bench --workspace -- --save-baseline before

# Or target specific crates:
cargo bench -p gossip-stdx -- --save-baseline before
cargo bench -p gossip-contracts -- --save-baseline before
cargo bench -p gossip-coordination -- --save-baseline before

3. Restore Changes and Rebuild

git stash pop
RUSTFLAGS="-C target-cpu=native" cargo build --release

4. Run Comparison Benchmarks

# Compare against baseline (all workspace benchmarks)
cargo bench --workspace -- --baseline before

# Or target specific crates:
cargo bench -p gossip-stdx -- --baseline before
cargo bench -p gossip-contracts -- --baseline before
cargo bench -p gossip-coordination -- --baseline before

5. Analyze Results

Look for these patterns in Criterion output:

• Performance has improved — Optimization successful
• Performance has regressed — Changes hurt performance
• No change in performance — Within noise threshold

Available Benchmarks

Crate	Bench File	Measures
gossip-contracts	identity.rs	Identity type construction and derivation
gossip-coordination	coordination.rs	Shard coordination operations
gossip-coordination	sim.rs	Simulation harness benchmarks
gossip-stdx	byte_slab.rs	Byte slab pool allocation
gossip-stdx	inline_vec.rs	InlineVec operations
gossip-stdx	ring_buffer.rs	RingBuffer throughput

Acceptance Criteria

Regression Level	Action
None (<2%)	Ship as-is
Minor (2-5%)	Document reason, acceptable for correctness
Moderate (5-10%)	Requires compelling justification
Major (>10%)	Must investigate and optimize

PR Documentation

Include in PR description:

• Criterion benchmark comparison summary
• Which crates/benchmarks were affected
• Justification for any regression >2%

Output Format

Report results as:

## Performance Regression Results

### Criterion Benchmarks

| Crate | Benchmark | Baseline | After | Delta |
|-------|-----------|----------|-------|-------|
| gossip-stdx | inline_vec/push | X ns | Y ns | +/-Z% |
| gossip-stdx | ring_buffer/enqueue | X ns | Y ns | +/-Z% |
| gossip-stdx | byte_slab/alloc | X ns | Y ns | +/-Z% |
| gossip-contracts | identity/derive | X ns | Y ns | +/-Z% |
| gossip-coordination | coordination/acquire | X ns | Y ns | +/-Z% |

### Verdict

[None/Minor/Moderate/Major] regression - [justification if >2%]

Related Skills

• /bench-compare — Quick before/after benchmark comparison
• /asm-forge — Assembly-guided optimization for hot functions
• /linux-perf-profile — ARM-focused deep drill-down (cache, TLB, lock contention)
• /perf-topdown — Cross-arch TMA classification and branch trace analysis
• /performance-analyzer — Static hotspot analysis for this project's patterns
• /pgo-bolt — Apply PGO+BOLT to production builds before regression testing