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Summary

Documents a rejected optimization attempt for educational purposes.

Attempted buffer reuse optimization in trace_agent v04 serialization. While it reduced total allocated memory by 67.6%, it caused a 6.6% time regression, failing the 5-persona review process.

Target

  • File: lading_payload/src/trace_agent/v04.rs::V04::to_bytes
  • Technique: buffer-reuse

Measurements

Before (Baseline)

  • Time: 13.6 ms ± 1.0 ms
  • Total allocated: 32.55 MiB
  • Allocations: 18,141
  • Peak live: 2.78 MiB

After (Optimized)

  • Time: 14.5 ms ± 0.9 ms (+6.6%) ❌
  • Total allocated: 10.56 MiB (-67.6%) ✓
  • Allocations: 17,921 (-1.2%)
  • Peak live: 2.78 MiB (unchanged)

Review Verdict: REJECTED

Rejected by Skeptic persona due to time regression.

While the optimization achieved a dramatic 67.6% reduction in total allocated memory, it caused an unacceptable 6.6% time regression (13.6ms → 14.5ms).

Lesson Learned

Buffer reuse patterns that work excellently for simple text-based serializers (syslog, dogstatsd, datadog_logs) don't necessarily translate to msgpack serialization with complex nested structures.

The combination of:

  • Msgpack Serializer internal state
  • Binary search sizing loop (lines 511-521)
  • Buffer reuse with .clear()

...created an unexpected performance regression despite dramatically reducing allocations.

This is valuable institutional knowledge - we now know NOT to apply this pattern to trace_agent v04, saving future optimization efforts.

Changes

This PR only updates documentation databases:

  • .claude/skills/lading-optimize-hunt/assets/db.yaml
  • .claude/skills/lading-optimize-hunt/assets/db/trace-agent-v04-buffer-reuse.yaml
  • .claude/skills/lading-optimize-review/assets/db.yaml
  • .claude/skills/lading-optimize-review/assets/db/opt-trace-agent-v04-buffer-reuse.yaml

No production code changes - the rejected optimization was reverted.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Attempted buffer reuse optimization in trace_agent v04 serialization.
While it reduced total allocated memory by 67.6%, it caused a 6.6%
time regression, failing the review process.

Target: lading_payload/src/trace_agent/v04.rs::V04::to_bytes
Technique: buffer-reuse
Status: REJECTED

Measurements:
- Time: +6.6% (13.6 ms -> 14.5 ms) ❌
- Total allocated: -67.6% (32.55 MiB -> 10.56 MiB) ✓
- Allocations: -1.2% (18,141 -> 17,921)

Review verdict: REJECTED by Skeptic persona
Reason: Time regression violates performance improvement requirement

Lesson: Buffer reuse patterns that work for simple serializers don't
necessarily work for msgpack serialization with complex nested structures.
The binary search sizing loop combined with buffer reuse may cause cache
or performance issues.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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