# Benchmark Checklist

Vet a perf measurement (limiter, tuning, limits, errors, repeatability, relevance, and...

- Repository: https://github.com/cursor/plugins (15000 stars)
- Category: Engineering
- License: see repository
- Last updated: 2026-11-01
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add cursor/plugins --skill benchmark-checklist -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add cursor/plugins --skill benchmark-checklist -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add cursor/plugins --skill benchmark-checklist -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add cursor/plugins --skill benchmark-checklist -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add cursor/plugins`

## Description

Vet a perf measurement (limiter, tuning, limits, errors, repeatability, relevance, and whether the work happened) before you report or act on it. Use when you run a benchmark or report a speedup or regression you measured.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# 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. Answer each question with evidence from a run, not 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, counts, and 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

The rest: https://github.com/cursor/plugins/blob/HEAD/harness/pstack/claude-code/skills/benchmark-checklist/SKILL.md