# atomvm-cbor 0.3.0 validation report

This report records the host release gate, the controlled same-device
`0.2.0` to `0.3.0` comparison collected on 2026-08-23, and the retained
functional and bounded-soak evidence for the public 0.3.0 release.

## Release identity

- Baseline: public annotated tag `0.2.0`, commit
  `50cae38fc0d846e41fe61c9d5d80229c6cff91f2`.
- Candidate: public annotated tag `0.3.0`, commit
  `06333306be6d0f83d9b0b257afdc29f82bcd22ea`.
- Exact-tag release gate: run
  [`32647464389`](https://github.com/Atelje-Vagabond/atomvm-cbor/actions/runs/32647464389),
  performance job
  [`97214051323`](https://github.com/Atelje-Vagabond/atomvm-cbor/actions/runs/32647464389/job/97214051323).
- Performance artifact identity:
  `0.2.0-50cae38fc0d8--0.3.0-06333306be6d`.

## Provenance and methodology

### Host

- Dell hardware runner, Intel Pentium Silver J5005, Linux x86_64.
- Erlang/OTP 29, one normal scheduler, one dirty CPU scheduler, and one dirty
  I/O scheduler in the workflow's digest-pinned Erlang container.
- Five alternating fresh-VM baseline/candidate pairs. Each workload uses 31
  samples after 1,000 warmups; the table reports the median of the five
  run-level medians and the median of the five run-level p95 values.
- Lower latency is better. The fail-closed limit remains 5% for both median
  and p95 on workloads present in both releases.

### Attached devices

- Both releases were built from the exact public tags above.
- AtomVM 0.6.6 source commit:
  `ff993a80963298b532c1e573f883951ecaac9fef`.
- ESP32-S3 firmware used ESP-IDF v5.4.3. Both ESP32-S3 CPUs ran at 240 MHz;
  flash and PSRAM ran at 80 MHz.
- RP2040 firmware used the AtomVM Pico SDK fork at
  `1d68df97567bcadb89eaf18d4caead0d45151cb8`, with mbedTLS at
  `a77287f8fa6b76f74984121fdafc8563147435c8` and TinyUSB at
  `86c416d4c0fb38432460b3e11b08b9de76941bf5`. Its system clock was
  explicitly configured to 133 MHz with a 1596 MHz PLL VCO and 6/2 post
  dividers.
- These are the manufacturers' supported upper CPU clock limits, not
  overclocks: the
  [ESP32-S3 datasheet](https://documentation.espressif.com/esp32_s3_datasheet_en.pdf)
  specifies up to 240 MHz and the
  [RP2040 specification](https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/rp2040/specifications/)
  specifies up to 133 MHz.
- The same benchmark source was used by both releases. Harness SHA-256:
  `9ff77b1a96b155ebf6006b9929b2054c3adf3a7b032a913a8f1b39d8bc0e82e6`.
- Pack SHA-256 identities:
  - `0.2.0`: `017c7c63f812e470b863f8459b2b4c484eee892baf7fd4a19d60aee5d90a659a`
  - `0.3.0`: `1dc94835d9023d721b1c741d2ac78a2c866da7eda42e43bd5ae835f3173f10f1`
- Each device completed five paired captures. Order alternated
  baseline/candidate, candidate/baseline, baseline/candidate,
  candidate/baseline, baseline/candidate to reduce order and thermal bias.
- Common and partial workloads use 50 timed iterations after warmup;
  descriptor accessors use 250 timed iterations after warmup. Values are
  microseconds per call.
- All 30 captures contain one begin marker, 14 benchmark rows, and one end
  marker. None contains a watchdog, panic, abort, backtrace, out-of-memory, or
  OOM marker.

Raw serial captures, build logs, toolchain revisions, pack files, firmware,
and hashes are retained in the operator evidence directory on the Dell
hardware host. The exact clock inputs are committed under
[`hardware/benchmark`](https://github.com/Atelje-Vagabond/atomvm-cbor/tree/0.3.0/hardware/benchmark).

## Host results

| Workload | 0.2.0 median ns | 0.3.0 median ns | Change | 0.2.0 p95 ns | 0.3.0 p95 ns | Change | Gate |
| :--- | ---: | ---: | :--- | ---: | ---: | :--- | :--- |
| `scalar_decode` | 357 | 352 | 1.40% faster | 363 | 357 | 1.65% faster | PASS |
| `scalar_encode` | 159 | 156 | 1.89% faster | 164 | 162 | 1.22% faster | PASS |
| `string_decode_64` | 1089 | 1120 | 2.85% slower | 1107 | 1139 | 2.89% slower | PASS |
| `string_encode_64` | 800 | 790 | 1.25% faster | 816 | 803 | 1.59% faster | PASS |
| `nested_decode` | 2705 | 2751 | 1.70% slower | 2737 | 2795 | 2.12% slower | PASS |
| `nested_encode` | 6292 | 6262 | 0.48% faster | 6339 | 6316 | 0.36% faster | PASS |
| `sequence_decode_32` | 4270 | 4238 | 0.75% faster | 4327 | 4310 | 0.39% faster | PASS |
| `partial_decode_nested` | 3227 | 3272 | 1.39% slower | 3271 | 3319 | 1.47% slower | PASS |
| `deterministic_map_encode` | 9261 | 9350 | 0.96% slower | 9331 | 9433 | 1.09% slower | PASS |
| `deterministic_map_decode` | 5006 | 5047 | 0.82% slower | 5073 | 5100 | 0.53% slower | PASS |
| `malformed_declared_array` | 506 | 489 | 3.36% faster | 515 | 500 | 2.91% faster | PASS |

Overall host regression gate: **PASS**. Every directly comparable median and
p95 remained within the unchanged 5% limit.

### New 0.3.0 host workloads

These APIs do not exist in 0.2.0. Their baseline is therefore `N/A`; no
percentage change is invented.

| Workload | 0.2.0 | 0.3.0 median ns | 0.3.0 p95 ns |
| :--- | :---: | ---: | ---: |
| `encode_with_size_nested` | N/A | 6359 | 6408 |
| `encode_sequence_32` | N/A | 6251 | 6328 |
| `sequence_fold_32` | N/A | 7966 | 8034 |
| `validate_all_nested` | N/A | 3186 | 3217 |
| `partial_map_fold` | N/A | 5105 | 5183 |
| `partial_array_fold` | N/A | 4189 | 4233 |
| `partial_select` | N/A | 6253 | 6309 |
| `partial_map_find` | N/A | 6545 | 6627 |
| `partial_array_nth` | N/A | 4139 | 4200 |

## Attached-device results

Each row below compares the exact public tags on the same named physical
device, firmware image, runtime, clock configuration, benchmark harness, and
payload.

<!-- release-evidence:report-identities:start -->
| Board | Exact physical identity | CPU | Flash / PSRAM |
| :--- | :--- | ---: | :--- |
| ESP32-S3 N16R8 | QFN56 rev 0.2, MAC `1c:db:d4:5b:f5:d0`, native USB identifier `1C:DB:D4:5B:F5:D0` | 240 MHz | 16 MiB DIO flash / 8 MiB octal PSRAM, both 80 MHz |
| WaveShare N32R16V | ESP32-S3-DEV-KIT-N32R16V, MAC `90:e5:b1:d8:48:b0`, CH340 UART serial `5B61092782` | 240 MHz | 32 MiB OPI/DTR flash / 16 MiB octal PSRAM, both 80 MHz |
| RP2040 E462… | RP2040 B2, BOOTSEL serial `E0C9125B0D9B`, flash ID `E46254C5C32D122C` | 133 MHz | 16 MiB flash / 264 KiB SRAM |
<!-- release-evidence:report-identities:end -->

<!-- release-evidence:report-common:start -->
| Function | ESP32-S3 N16R8 0.2.0 µs | 0.3.0 µs | Change | WaveShare N32R16V 0.2.0 µs | 0.3.0 µs | Change | RP2040 E462… 0.2.0 µs | 0.3.0 µs | Change |
| :--- | ---: | ---: | :--- | ---: | ---: | :--- | ---: | ---: | :--- |
| `encode/1` | 8849.46 | 8844.02 | 0.06% faster | 3507.30 | 3508.00 | 0.02% slower | 4824.60 | 4791.26 | 0.69% faster |
| `decode/1` | 10063.52 | 10044.02 | 0.19% faster | 3931.22 | 3935.36 | 0.11% slower | 6082.16 | 6067.22 | 0.25% faster |
| `partial_decode/1` | 15575.38 | 15575.92 | 0.00% slower | 6325.48 | 6327.62 | 0.03% slower | 9261.06 | 9346.80 | 0.93% slower |
| `partial_decode/2` | 15737.26 | 15738.90 | 0.01% slower | 6373.28 | 6373.64 | 0.01% slower | 9275.70 | 9372.16 | 1.04% slower |
| `partial_deep_decode/1` | 12227.04 | 12219.28 | 0.06% faster | 4972.54 | 4985.38 | 0.26% slower | 7742.00 | 7786.84 | 0.58% slower |
| `partial_value_bytes/1` | 1017.20 | 1011.64 | 0.55% faster | 451.96 | 463.16 | 2.48% slower | 557.50 | 555.89 | 0.29% faster |
| `partial_contents/1` | 1260.14 | 1252.28 | 0.62% faster | 511.97 | 522.50 | 2.06% slower | 498.50 | 503.04 | 0.91% slower |
| `partial_skip/1` | 509.06 | 480.23 | 5.66% faster | 227.07 | 232.11 | 2.22% slower | 226.12 | 221.10 | 2.22% faster |
| `partial_type/1` | 510.14 | 479.82 | 5.94% faster | 226.62 | 231.48 | 2.14% slower | 226.05 | 221.50 | 2.01% faster |
| `partial_count/1` | 508.55 | 480.30 | 5.56% faster | 227.51 | 232.16 | 2.04% slower | 228.13 | 221.88 | 2.74% faster |
| `partial_tag/1` | 554.26 | 605.99 | 9.33% slower | 270.87 | 309.82 | 14.38% slower | 250.46 | 262.50 | 4.81% slower |
| `partial_size/1` | 568.37 | 618.16 | 8.76% slower | 285.07 | 323.83 | 13.60% slower | 263.27 | 270.00 | 2.56% slower |
| `partial_offset/1` | 508.95 | 479.53 | 5.78% faster | 227.21 | 231.56 | 1.91% slower | 225.49 | 223.25 | 0.99% faster |
| `partial_length/1` | 511.07 | 477.45 | 6.58% faster | 228.18 | 231.84 | 1.60% slower | 228.41 | 224.42 | 1.75% faster |

Comparable-workload totals:

| Scope | Faster rows | Slower rows | Net average change |
| :--- | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| ESP32-S3 N16R8 | 10 | 4 | -0.92% |
| WaveShare N32R16V | 0 | 14 | +3.06% |
| RP2040 E462… | 8 | 6 | -0.01% |
| All 42 board/workload results | 18 | 24 | +0.71% |

The net average is the unweighted arithmetic mean of the signed per-row changes in this exact comparison matrix. Negative is faster; positive is slower. Current-only workloads with an `N/A` baseline are excluded.
<!-- release-evidence:report-common:end -->

### New 0.3.0 attached-device workloads

These APIs do not exist in 0.2.0, so baseline and percentage remain `N/A`.
Their absolute 0.3.0 results are measured separately on every target.

<!-- release-evidence:report-candidate-only:start -->
| Workload | 0.2.0 baseline | ESP32-S3 N16R8 0.3.0 median µs | WaveShare N32R16V 0.3.0 median µs | RP2040 E462… 0.3.0 median µs |
| :--- | :---: | ---: | ---: | ---: |
| `encode_with_size_nested` | N/A | 8553.46 | 3487.34 | 4817.44 |
| `encode_sequence_32` | N/A | 22377.74 | 8938.22 | 10792.68 |
| `sequence_fold_32` | N/A | 51161.94 | 20206.16 | 27620.30 |
| `validate_all_nested` | N/A | 20292.08 | 7699.96 | 9819.90 |
| `partial_map_fold` | N/A | 33097.00 | 12651.24 | 17685.38 |
| `partial_array_fold` | N/A | 29531.66 | 11219.80 | 15642.32 |
| `partial_select` | N/A | 36947.22 | 14595.60 | 20275.32 |
| `partial_map_find` | N/A | 36417.72 | 14349.28 | 19772.56 |
| `partial_array_nth` | N/A | 27372.00 | 10498.66 | 14340.08 |

Evidence identities:

- Candidate-only harness SHA-256: `299fec5a1782c62e6afd03ab134b8a9711c4dff465cfdf3e054095aaa1234d65`.
- Candidate-only pack SHA-256: `a92c4b93d3ce03f64529c18be63b9b42f1034fc55add0d108df6b51a14b21e59`.
- Evidence bundle: `candidate-api-three-targets-06333306be6d0f83d9b0b257afdc29f82bcd22ea.tar.gz` (SHA-256 `16b762a265d73ea53a9f9491722093222b9df87c0cc62877636acbd21c35e90e`), Dell operator evidence: results/candidate-api/.
- ESP32-S3 N16R8: 5 captures, log-set SHA-256 `8ebad927d7bce1e592a50425205e80bf50355dec469b1d13ac49557b21ed6ab4`; Dell operator evidence: results/candidate-api/esp32-s3-n16r8-candidate-api-run[1-5].log.
- WaveShare N32R16V: 5 captures, log-set SHA-256 `f7d4255126b375f76ff872806b77af8d2c97c9c90c124d0ce8f15a5ebdd799a4`; Dell operator evidence: results/candidate-api/waveshare-n32r16v-candidate-api-run[1-5].log.
- RP2040 E462…: 5 captures, log-set SHA-256 `789e570e4622f75e27da6497d88fc434cfa6ec0415095fdacb71a133f317ce9d`; Dell operator evidence: results/candidate-api/rp2040-candidate-api-run[1-5].log.

Manifest: `docs/benchmarks/data/0.3.0.json` (SHA-256 `d231f731225b34b86fee48db3221341333f17533f662596929bf899b9786bfa6`).
<!-- release-evidence:report-candidate-only:end -->

### Interpretation

- Core `encode/1` and `decode/1` latency is effectively flat on all three
  devices; every change is below 1%.
- The partial decode paths remain within 1.04%.
- `partial_tag/1` and `partial_size/1` are reproducible target-specific
  regressions and are reported rather than hidden. Across five runs,
  `partial_tag/1` moved from 553.46-556.57 to 604.18-606.70 µs on ESP32-S3
  N16R8, from 270.78-271.37 to 309.77-309.83 µs on WaveShare, and from
  249.88-250.56 to 261.84-262.64 µs on RP2040. `partial_size/1` shows the same
  stable direction: 561.07-569.02 to 617.77-619.63 µs, 284.64-285.34 to
  323.63-323.95 µs, and 262.84-263.87 to 269.59-270.51 µs respectively.
- These accessor measurements are sub-millisecond operations and are not part
  of the host release threshold. The exact public-tag host gate passed all
  comparable workloads under the unchanged 5% median/p95 limit.
- Absolute timings must not be compared across boards: flash mode, external
  memory, cache behavior, and the AtomVM port all affect throughput.

## Retained functional and bounded-soak evidence

The existing 14-row exact-tag comparison was not replayed to regenerate this
report. The separate candidate-only captures above measured only the nine
0.3.0 APIs that the common harness did not cover.

The retained 0.3.0 release-candidate hardware validation is run
`32586422115` at commit `12903636339edb1172167d3905907ff583ffd7d2`. It completed the AtomVM
target suite, benchmark, and 40-round retained-growth soak on the WaveShare
N32R16V and RP2040 without watchdog, panic, abort, backtrace, or out-of-memory
markers. Because that retained run did not cover the separate ESP32-S3 N16R8,
the missing functional suite and 40-round soak were captured on that exact
device from public tag commit `06333306be6d0f83d9b0b257afdc29f82bcd22ea`.

<!-- release-evidence:report-soak:start -->
| Board | First/late heap maximum | First/late memory maximum | Rounds | Result |
| :--- | ---: | ---: | ---: | :--- |
| ESP32-S3 N16R8 | 63 / 63 words | 492 / 492 bytes | 40 | pass |
| WaveShare N32R16V | 63 / 63 words | 492 / 492 bytes | 40 | pass |
| RP2040 E462… | 63 / 63 words | 484 / 484 bytes | 40 | pass |

Evidence identities:

- ESP32-S3 N16R8: [Dell exact-tag supplemental functional/soak capture, 2026-08-23](https://github.com/Atelje-Vagabond/atomvm-cbor/pull/12), source `06333306be6d0f83d9b0b257afdc29f82bcd22ea`, `esp32-s3-n16r8-functional-soak-06333306be6d0f83d9b0b257afdc29f82bcd22ea.tar.gz` (SHA-256 `7e138061ae7dcf7452bfd5e2410731d300516a0c85d0356f051fc48212449ac7`).
- WaveShare N32R16V: [retained release-candidate run 32586422115, ESP job 97064781219](https://github.com/Atelje-Vagabond/atomvm-cbor/pull/12), source `12903636339edb1172167d3905907ff583ffd7d2`, `esp32-s3-hardware-results-12903636339edb1172167d3905907ff583ffd7d2.tar.gz` (SHA-256 `51203bb68c0fd89f9b9ff909e6fa97b96a906b0db74dfb5a16311cab49ed1572`).
- RP2040 E462…: [retained release-candidate run 32586422115, RP2040 job 97064781214](https://github.com/Atelje-Vagabond/atomvm-cbor/pull/12), source `12903636339edb1172167d3905907ff583ffd7d2`, `rp2040-hardware-results-12903636339edb1172167d3905907ff583ffd7d2.tar.gz` (SHA-256 `0bd6594e9012bc967985fcf7fdd35f7ea4e5a470c928f29e3866896a98fcb238`).
<!-- release-evidence:report-soak:end -->

The retained WaveShare archive uses the workflow's generic `esp32-s3` platform name; its
discovery log records UART serial `5B61092782`, binding it to the WaveShare
N32R16V. These are bounded measurements on named devices, not universal
latency or leak-free guarantees.

The historical 160 MHz evidence, maximum-bound measurements, and capacity
limits remain unchanged in the
[`0.2.0` report](0.2.0.md). They are not relabelled as 240 MHz evidence.

## Build and evidence identities

| Item | SHA-256 |
| :--- | :--- |
| ESP32-S3 N16R8 clock configuration | `95352d7732c317d2ba10e27ab50a7f041c705cd5804ea19ce70b98a74901d6c1` |
| WaveShare N32R16V clock configuration | `6ad001f7ceef09509656110088a4302af46f4eda5f1096411929b4b9a2942d43` |
| RP2040 133 MHz CMake configuration | `2bb06526cd054769b4b65fae746c5c802ce31ce0596c20d2952e1cc00c99ba10` |
| ESP32-S3 N16R8 bootloader | `321f9d9f435608c0fad3f4ebc55792375dda60bd9e8191f3916a070741efec5b` |
| ESP32-S3 N16R8 AtomVM image | `a034900e66ef6da9aa2fc18665f2cfa98eda60c84fb9e4214dd67864b73f9b0f` |
| WaveShare N32R16V bootloader | `e56a7e655af7866af85fd28c4d6ef32e57184a6814b587368b6ec729bbeed77e` |
| WaveShare N32R16V AtomVM image | `067fc155a8eb8691bb6a0086aa3f978089a37a82a7f48444a8f855498e9a553b` |
| Shared ESP32 partition table | `607f264e82a8d7cd81e27377548ad036081a5e483b3ac020062a7186b1191378` |
| RP2040 AtomVM UF2 | `98cbf02970d80f47b9bc229fffa99c8a8520ab032cef5794a6b8916e88a66269` |
| RP2040 AtomVM binary | `8f4003e4bbf0af28bf8435e5ce37c3775e745222b3594f09d2c9dd5d21fa0c68` |

## Reproduction policy

The canonical host comparison remains:

```bash
BENCHMARK_RUNS=5 BENCHMARK_NOISE_TOLERANCE_PERCENT=5 \
  bash scripts/benchmark-remediation.sh
```

Release evidence documentation is generated from the fail-closed structured
manifest at `docs/benchmarks/data/0.3.0.json`:

```bash
python3 scripts/release-evidence.py --write
python3 scripts/release-evidence.py
```

The first command regenerates the checked blocks in this report, the release
notes, and the README. The second is check-only and is also called by
`scripts/check-release-metadata.sh`. It rejects a missing target, workload,
five-run candidate-only result, evidence hash, or 40-round functional/soak row.

For hardware, use the committed board-specific clock configuration, exact
public tag packs, AtomVM/toolchain revisions, paired order, warmup, and
iteration counts recorded above. Do not compare captures made on different
physical devices or silently substitute historical clock settings. Existing
valid release evidence is processed into the report; benchmarks are not
repeated merely to regenerate documentation.