Benchmark Chonk V8

Benchmark Chonk under V8 (WASM, the client path)

Runs AztecClientBackend.prove() (real, threaded wasm proving) through bb.js under Node/V8 — the same engine and code path a browser uses (Worker threads + SharedArrayBuffer), but scriptable on a laptop. This complements benchmark-chonk (native + wasmtime); use this one for the client/browser/mobile story and for A/B-ing two commits' wasm.

Why V8/node, not wasmtime: Chrome and Node share the V8 engine, so Node numbers track Android Chrome. wasmtime is a different runtime; for "what will a client see," V8 is the faithful laptop proxy. (iOS uses a different engine — see Caveats.)

A/B model: two commits, one driver

The intended comparison is commit A vs commit B: build each commit's threaded wasm to a barretenberg.wasm.gz, then drive both with a single bb.js via the wasmPath option. This works because the cbind/bbapi ABI is stable across nearby commits — so one dest/node bb.js can load either wasm. (If the two commits diverge in bbapi, build dest/node per commit and run the driver from each.)

Prerequisites

1. Pinned inputs (real tx flows):

   barretenberg/cpp/scripts/chonk_inputs.sh download   # -> barretenberg/cpp/chonk-pinned-flows/<flow>/ivc-inputs.msgpack
   

   The pinned hash is per-commit (barretenberg/cpp/scripts/chonk-inputs.hash); run download from the commit you're proving so the inputs match the VKs (a mismatch fails with "Chonk recursion constraints not supported with MegaBuilder" or similar).

2. bb.js (dest/node) — provides the JS the driver imports, and its threading shim:

   cd barretenberg/ts && ./bootstrap.sh        # builds wasm + dest/node + node_modules (msgpackr, pako)
   

   Only needed once; it drives both A and B wasms via wasmPath.

   • If dest/node already exists but the driver dies with Cannot find package 'msgpackr'/'pako', node_modules was cleaned — just cd barretenberg/ts && yarn install.
   • To rebuild only dest/node (e.g. after a checkout) without the redundant full-wasm build that bootstrap.sh does — you build barretenberg.wasm.gz separately below anyway: cd barretenberg/ts && yarn install && yarn generate && yarn build:esm.

3. A barretenberg.wasm.gz per commit — see next section.

Build each commit's wasm (the A/B inputs)

For each commit, build the threaded wasm in a worktree and stash the gz:

git worktree add /tmp/wt-A <commitA>
( cd /tmp/wt-A/barretenberg/cpp && cmake --preset wasm-threads \
    && cmake --build --preset wasm-threads --target barretenberg.wasm.gz )
cp /tmp/wt-A/barretenberg/cpp/build-wasm-threads/bin/barretenberg.wasm.gz /tmp/wasm-A.wasm.gz
# repeat for <commitB> -> /tmp/wasm-B.wasm.gz

(If A is just your current checkout, build it in place: cd barretenberg/cpp && cmake --build --preset wasm-threads --target barretenberg.wasm.gz and use build-wasm-threads/bin/barretenberg.wasm.gz.)

Single flow (smoke / one-off)

cd barretenberg/ts
VERIFY=1 HARDWARE_CONCURRENCY=8 node scripts/bench_v8_flow.mjs \
  ../cpp/chonk-pinned-flows/ecdsar1+transfer_0_recursions+sponsored_fpc 8 /tmp/wasm-A.wasm.gz
# -> VERIFIED=true / PROVE_MS=<n>   (omit the wasmPath arg to use the packaged dest wasm)

A/B sweep

barretenberg/.claude/skills/benchmark-chonk-v8/bench_v8.sh \
  --hc "4 8" --reps 2 \
  --flows-dir barretenberg/cpp/chonk-pinned-flows \
  --out /tmp/v8ab/results.csv \
  A=/tmp/wasm-A.wasm.gz B=/tmp/wasm-B.wasm.gz
python3 barretenberg/.claude/skills/benchmark-chonk-v8/analyze_v8.py /tmp/v8ab/results.csv --metric prove_ms

Contexts run back-to-back per (flow, hc, rep) to cancel thermal drift; the sweep is resumable (re-run to fill gaps). analyze_v8.py prints per-HC tables with Δ vs the first context and a CV column — trust a delta only when it clears the CV.

HC mapping (important)

HARDWARE_CONCURRENCY=N ⇒ the driver passes threads: N. bb.js creates N-1 Worker threads (the main thread is the Nth), and the wasm's env_hardware_concurrency returns N — so the C++ sees exactly N, matching a native HARDWARE_CONCURRENCY=N run. On a real device, confirm crossOriginIsolated === true or threads silently fall back to 1 and the numbers are meaningless; mobile browsers also cap navigator.hardwareConcurrency.

Metrics

• prove_ms — internal performance.now() around prove(). The primary signal (excludes wasm compile + CRS init).
• wall_ms — whole node process; includes startup/compile.
• peak_mb — peak RSS via /usr/bin/time -l. Noisy and not phone-faithful: it includes V8 + the whole WebAssembly.Memory linear heap. For memory, the host-independent number that predicts the iOS ~1 GB OOM is the wasm linear-heap high-water (wasm.memory.buffer.byteLength), not RSS — instrument that if memory is the question.

On-device (real phone) — when laptop V8 isn't enough

Laptop V8 is a faithful proxy for Android Chrome timing and for the memory footprint (linear heap is host-independent), but not for iOS (JSC engine) or for absolute device speed/thermals. For real device numbers you need a browser on the device — but you do not need a cloud deploy:

• Android: adb reverse tcp:8080 tcp:8080 makes the phone's localhost:8080 hit a local static server on your laptop. localhost is a secure context, so SharedArrayBuffer/threads work with no HTTPS and no deploy — rebuild, refresh. Drive/measure via chrome://inspect (USB) for performance.now() + DevTools memory.
• iOS: needs a real secure origin — use an ephemeral tunnel (cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:8080 or ngrok http 8080) instead of a full deploy. Measure via Safari Web Inspector over USB.
• Serve with COOP/COEP headers (Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy: same-origin, Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy: require-corp) — required for cross-origin isolation.
• Reuse the browser bundle (cd barretenberg/ts && yarn build:browser, wasm inlined) + the existing browser harness (barretenberg/ts/src/index.html, yarn-project/ivc-integration/src/browser_chonk_integration.test.ts) rather than hand-rolling a page. Same AztecClientBackend.prove() API as the node driver, just the browser build.
• Read wasm.memory.buffer.byteLength at peak — the metric that predicts OOM.

Caveats

• Node/V8 ≈ Android Chrome (shared engine); iOS Safari is JSC — different engine, different numbers. Confirm iOS separately on-device.
• Laptop hardware ≠ phone: don't quote prove_ms as a phone time. The memory footprint (wasm linear heap) does transfer; absolute timing does not.
• Drive both A/B wasms with one dest/node only when their bbapi/cbind ABI matches (nearby commits). bb.js providing an extra import the wasm doesn't use is harmless; a wasm needing an import the bb.js lacks fails to instantiate.

Files