Add Bench Scenario

Add a benchmark scenario

internal/bench/ is remindb's external-facing benchmark — it compares "how many tokens does an agent consume to do X via remindb tools" against "how many would they consume doing X with grep / cat / find". The output is a token-savings table rendered via text/tabwriter. It's invoked from the remindb bench CLI subcommand and exercised end-to-end by scripts/bench-agents.sh.

This is not the Go testing.B benchmark surface — those live as Benchmark* functions inside pkg/*/bench_test.go and have their own discipline.

Where it lands

Two files for a typical scenario, three if it needs CLI flag plumbing.

The scenario function shape

Every scenario implements the same contract: produce one (or more) scenarioResult{name, naiveTok, remindbTok} by measuring two paths to the same answer — the naive path (token count of what an agent would have to read using shell tools) and the remindb path (token count of the tool's response).

Mirror benchTree, benchSearch, or benchFetch in scenarios.go:

func benchExample(ctx context.Context, s *gomcp.ClientSession, srcDir string, budget int) (scenarioResult, error) {
    // Naive path: what the agent would read using shell tools.
    naive := tokens.Estimate(naiveContent(srcDir))

    // remindb path: call the tool and count its response.
    text, err := callTool(ctx, s, "MemoryExample", map[string]any{
        "budget": budget,
    })
    if err != nil {
        return scenarioResult{}, err
    }

    return scenarioResult{
        name:       "example",
        naiveTok:   naive,
        remindbTok: tokens.Estimate(text),
    }, nil
}

A scenario that runs over multiple inputs (like benchSearch over a query list) returns []scenarioResult instead — one row per input, named with the input as suffix ("search:rate-limit").

Three contracts the function must honor:

1. Use tokens.Estimate(string) for both sides. Apples-to-apples comparison only works if the same tokenizer measures both.
2. Compare to a believable naive baseline. "What would the agent actually do without remindb?" — find + cat * for tree (not wc -c), grep + cat <matches> for search (not just grep). The naive must reflect the real alternative.
3. Use callTool(ctx, s, name, args) (the package helper in scenarios.go), not raw s.CallTool. It strips the *mcp.CallToolResult boilerplate and returns the text content directly.

Wiring into Run

bench.go:Run calls each scenario in sequence and appends to results. Add your call in the natural sequence — Tree first (orientation), then Search, then Fetch, then Delta, then your scenario:

r, err = benchExample(ctx, session, stage.srcDir, cfg.Budget)
if err != nil {
    return err
}
results = append(results, r)

Or for a multi-result scenario:

rs, err := benchExample(ctx, session, stage.srcDir, cfg.Budget)
if err != nil {
    return err
}
results = append(results, rs...)

The renderer handles the rest — the table column count and total-row computation are static.

Naming rows

The name field becomes the leftmost column. Use lowercase, hyphenated, prefixed by the tool category if the scenario family has multiple rows:

• tree (single)
• search:rate-limit (one of many search queries)
• fetch (single)
• delta (single)

Stay under ~30 chars; shorten(s, 30) is the existing helper used by benchSearch.

When to add a new flag

Most scenarios reuse cfg.Budget and cfg.Queries. Add a new field to bench.Config only when the scenario needs an input that isn't already there — and even then, default it sensibly so existing bench-agents.sh runs don't break.

Quick reference

1. internal/bench/scenarios.go        (benchXxx function with naive + remindb paths)
2. internal/bench/bench.go            (call site in Run, append to results)
3. (optional) cmd/remindb/...         (new flag on the bench subcommand)
4. go build ./... && ./remindb bench --db <path> --dir <path>
5. scripts/bench-agents.sh            (full suite — confirms the new row appears for every agent)

Common mistakes

• Comparing to a trivial naive baseline. "remindb tree returns 200 tokens, naive ls returns 50 tokens — we're 4x worse" misses the point. The naive is what the agent actually does: find . -type f + reading every file. Use the existing helpers (listDirFiles, countDirTokens, grepDir, sumFileTokens).
• Using a different tokenizer for one side. Both sides must go through tokens.Estimate. Counting bytes, lines, or words on one side breaks the comparison.
• Forgetting tokens.Estimate is over a string, not []byte. Convert byte slices first; mixing produces a confusing compile error since tokens.Estimate is overloaded by neither Go nor remindb.
• Failing the entire bench on one scenario error. The current contract is fail-fast — Run returns the first error. If your scenario has expected partial-failure modes (skipped queries, missing fixtures), handle them inside the scenario and emit a scenarioResult{name: "example:skipped", ...} instead of returning err.
• Running benches against the live DB. stageBench copies the DB and source tree to /tmp before running so the user's real DB isn't touched. If you reach for cfg.DBPath directly inside a scenario, you're operating on the original — pass stage.dbPath instead.
• Not updating bench-agents.sh query lists. New scenarios that take per-agent inputs won't be exercised by the CI-style script unless the per-agent map gets entries. For non-input scenarios (like a new fetch variant), no script change is needed.

Cross-references

• .claude/rules/go-concise.md — error wrapping, named locals (naive, remindbTok)
• .claude/skills/add-mcp-tool/SKILL.md — when adding a tool that should be benchmarked, do that skill first; the bench scenario consumes the tool you wired
• internal/bench/render.go — the table renderer; rarely needs changes but read it once if you're adding a column rather than a row