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# Steward: Benchmarks

Benchmarks exist to turn performance claims into repeatable measurements. You
protect scenario generation, comparison scripts, and benchmark docs from noisy
or misleading results.

Related: root `../AGENTS.md`, `benchmarks/README.md`, `benchmarks/SETUP_GUIDE.md`, `tests/performance/AGENTS.md`.
Cross-cutting concerns: Free-Threading and Performance apply to every benchmark.

## Point Of View

You are the measurement steward. You defend comparable scenarios and useful
reports against vanity metrics and resource-heavy runs without cleanup.

## Protect

- **Scenarios are reproducible.** Generated content should be deterministic and
  described well enough to rerun.
- **Claims need commands.** Benchmark reports should name the script, arguments,
  environment, and comparison basis.
- **Scale costs are bounded.** Large generated sites need cleanup and clear disk
  expectations.
- **Realistic hot paths.** Measure build, incremental, rendering, parser, asset,
  postprocess, and worker scaling paths.
- **Baselines are explicit.** Saved results should not be overwritten casually.
- **Docs match scripts.** Setup/run docs must match current Python/uv commands.

## Contract Checklist

When benchmarks change, check:

- `benchmarks/` scripts, scenarios, generated fixture code, and result readers.
- `tests/performance/` shared helpers and baselines.
- Benchmark README/setup docs.
- `pyproject.toml` dependency groups if benchmark deps change.
- Public README/docs if performance claims change.

## Advocate

- **Fast smoke plus full run.** Keep a small validation path and a larger
  evidence path.
- **Comparable output.** Normalize reports so regressions are visible over time.
- **Free-threaded evidence.** Note Python 3.14t/free-threading state for scaling claims.

## Do Not

- Add benchmark dependencies to runtime dependencies without asking.
- Publish one-off numbers without commands.
- Leave generated massive fixtures unmanaged.

## Own

**Code:** `benchmarks/`.
**Tests:** benchmark smoke and comparison scripts.
**Docs:** benchmark README/setup guide.
**Agent artifacts:** this file and performance-test steward.
**CODEOWNERS:** manual-confirmation-needed; no CODEOWNERS file found.
