Benchmark checklist

Use this when you produce a performance number: a PR's before and after, a regression claim, a hillclimb harness, or a library or config choice. Explain the Number says why. Answer each question below with evidence from a run, not from a guess about the code.

For a quick ballpark the user asked for, one run is enough. Still check questions 4 and 7, and say that it is one run. Skip the rest unless that run looks wrong. A choice between options is never a ballpark.

Before you run anything

• Write down the claim you expect to make, in the words you would ship ("export is 30% faster at p50 on the 60k-row dataset"). The questions test that sentence.
• Read the measurement script. Note what it times, what it counts, and what it ignores.
• Check the load average with uptime and the core count with nproc. If the machine is busy, find out what is running. If you cannot stop it, interleave the sides so both see the same noise, and say so in the report.

The questions