commit 8639ca27ee1556e31dc226890880247042441e16
Author: George Lambert <marchon@gmail.com>
Date:   Sat Sep 12 02:06:10 2026 -0400

    Snapshot of verae-nats-cluster (optimal NATS config study)

diff --git a/BENCH.md b/BENCH.md
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+++ b/BENCH.md
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+# NATS cluster message speed
+
+Run **`20260912T045131Z`** (UTC). Client: LXC **510** `verae-px-worker` (`10.10.10.20`), not a nats-* server. Servers: `nats-a/b/c` on `10.10.10.21–23` (`vmbr1` only).
+
+Client URL:
+
+```text
+nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222
+```
+
+## Method
+
+- **Core NATS** is fire-and-forget pub/sub (`nats bench`). No disk, no replica ack.
+- **JetStream** uses **file** storage and **replicas=3** (same as product streams). The unique stream `benchstream` is deleted between JS loads.
+- Throughput is **msgs/sec** from nats CLI **0.1.6** (`--no-progress --csv`). Its min/avg/max are publisher **rate spread**, not delay.
+- **Ping** delay: one publisher, sequential publish-then-wait. This is one-message round-trip through the cluster.
+- **Flood** delay: N publishers dump the whole batch, then the subscriber drains. This is **queueing under burst**, not wire RTT.
+- Probe: `scripts/latency.mjs` (two connections, header timestamp).
+
+## Throughput
+
+| Run | Mode | Aggregate msgs/s | Pub msgs/s | Pub MB/s | Sub msgs/s | Sub MB/s |
+|-----|------|------------------|------------|----------|------------|----------|
+| `core-1p1s-50k-128` | core pub/sub | 1,200,836 | 791,094 | 96.57 | 747,461 | 91.24 |
+| `core-4p4s-100k-128` | core pub/sub | 1,521,256 | 316,312 | 38.61 | 1,299,634 | 158.65 |
+| `core-4p4s-50k-1k` | core pub/sub | 630,460 | 247,747 | 241.94 | 510,216 | 498.26 |
+| `core-8p8s-200k-128` | core pub/sub | 2,007,937 | 333,957 | 40.77 | 1,790,736 | 218.60 |
+| `js-1p-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 16,155 | 1.97 | — | — |
+| `js-2p2s-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | 21,861 | 10,965 | 1.34 | 10,942 | 1.34 |
+| `js-4p-20k-1k-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 13,493 | 13.18 | — | — |
+| `js-4p-50k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 16,607 | 2.03 | — | — |
+
+## Round-trip delay
+
+| Run | Kind | Count | Pubs | Size | min | avg | p50 | p90 | p99 | max |
+|-----|------|-------|------|------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
+| `lat-ping-1k-128` | ping (sequential RTT) | 1000 | 1 | 128 B | 0.254ms | 0.307ms | 0.286ms | 0.332ms | 0.734ms | 2.763ms |
+| `lat-1p-5k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 5000 | 1 | 128 B | 149.279ms | 238.626ms | 248.752ms | 274.314ms | 279.398ms | 279.740ms |
+| `lat-4p-5k-1k` | flood (burst queueing) | 5000 | 4 | 1024 B | 155.101ms | 211.706ms | 217.579ms | 223.268ms | 227.798ms | 228.370ms |
+| `lat-4p-10k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 10000 | 4 | 128 B | 174.174ms | 263.186ms | 266.672ms | 299.073ms | 304.233ms | 304.475ms |
+| `lat-8p-20k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 20000 | 8 | 128 B | 304.586ms | 453.749ms | 466.296ms | 499.924ms | 505.112ms | 505.620ms |
+
+## What the numbers mean
+
+Product job/event/archive traffic is **JetStream r=3 file**. On this three-LXC stand that is about **16k durable 128 B pubs/s** (about **13k** at 1 KiB). Core NATS is an upper bound for non-durable fan-out: about **0.7–2.0M msgs/s** aggregate at 128 B, or **~630k msgs/s (~616 MB/s)** at 1 KiB with 4 publishers.
+
+A quiet request-reply is **~0.3 ms** average, **p99 < 1 ms**. Flood rows in the **150–500 ms** band are the subscriber catching up after a burst, which is what a job-events mailbox sees if publishers outrun consumers.
+
+Re-run on NS1: `bash scripts/bench.sh`. Raw logs/CSVs are under `results/<utc>/`.
diff --git a/NATS.md b/NATS.md
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+++ b/NATS.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# NATS — verae-nats-cluster
+
+This repo **is** the three-node JetStream cluster. Listeners are the guest private IPs on `vmbr1` (`10.10.10.21–23:4222` and `:6222`). HTTP monitor is loopback `:8222` inside each guest.
+
+Zapier cloud, browsers, and `vmbr0` never get a NATS socket.
+
+Throughput and delay at several loads: [BENCH.md](BENCH.md).
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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+++ b/README.md
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+# verae-nats-cluster
+
+Three **distinct Proxmox LXC** guests running **NATS JetStream** as a cluster, on the private bridge only. This is the test stand before the same layout moves to separate hardware.
+
+**Forgejo:** https://git.georgelambert.org/marchon/verae-nats-cluster  
+**SSH:** `ssh://git@git.georgelambert.org:2223/marchon/verae-nats-cluster.git`
+
+| Guest | VMID | `vmbr1` IP | Client | Cluster | Monitor |
+|-------|------|------------|--------|---------|---------|
+| nats-a | 511 | 10.10.10.21 | `:4222` | `:6222` | `127.0.0.1:8222` |
+| nats-b | 512 | 10.10.10.22 | `:4222` | `:6222` | `127.0.0.1:8222` |
+| nats-c | 513 | 10.10.10.23 | `:4222` | `:6222` | `127.0.0.1:8222` |
+
+Cluster name: `verae`. Client URL:
+
+```text
+nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222
+```
+
+**Not** on `vmbr0`. **Not** `0.0.0.0`. Host lab NATS on `127.0.0.1:4222` is left running so current keep/fleet/middleware stay up until you cut over.
+
+```bash
+# on NS1 (the Proxmox host)
+git clone ssh://git@git.georgelambert.org:2223/marchon/verae-nats-cluster.git
+cd verae-nats-cluster
+bash scripts/create-cluster.sh
+bash scripts/status.sh
+bash scripts/test.sh
+```
+
+Test-env cut-over (keep/fleet/middleware on NS1):
+
+```bash
+# 1) create product streams (replicas=3)
+bash scripts/ensure-streams.sh
+# 2) fleet overlay nats.url + services/*.json already list the three URLs
+# 3) restart fleet and keep with NATS_URL from client.env
+```
+
+`JETSTREAM_REPLICAS=3` on middleware. Host `127.0.0.1:4222` can stay up unused. Zapier cloud never talks to NATS.
+
+nkeys/mTLS: `verae-nats-accounts` still has the INTERNAL/LEAF sketch. Do **not** enable accounts on this cluster until every client passes credentials in `NATS_URL`. Private `vmbr1` is the current isolation.
+
+## Message speed (throughput + delay)
+
+From a **client that is not a nats-* server** (LXC 510 `verae-px-worker`):
+
+```bash
+# on NS1 (hypervisor). Bench client is LXC 510.
+bash scripts/bench.sh
+
+# Full study that must run ON NS1 (orchestrator + charts + HTML/PDF):
+bash scripts/study-on-ns1.sh
+
+# Maximize cores/RAM + tmpfs JetStream, same ladder, restore ZFS after:
+bash scripts/maximize-ns1-study.sh
+
+# Exhaustive factorial (r=1/r=3, file/memory, reconnect, UDP, MQTT) + combined report:
+bash scripts/exhaustive-ns1-study.sh
+```
+
+That writes `results/<utc>/` and copies a summary to [BENCH.md](BENCH.md). Full write-up with charts (HTML + PDF) is in the progress repo: [nats-cluster-bench](https://zapier.georgelambert.org/packages/zapier-decisions/reports/nats-cluster-bench.pdf). Core NATS is fire-and-forget; JetStream rows use **file** storage and **replicas=3**. Ping delay is sequential RTT; flood delay is queueing under burst.
+
+Latest run (`20260912T045131Z`):
+
+| Kind | Load | Result |
+|------|------|--------|
+| Core 1p1s 50k×128 B | pub/sub | ~1.20M msgs/s aggregate |
+| Core 8p8s 200k×128 B | pub/sub | ~2.01M msgs/s aggregate |
+| Core 4p4s 50k×1 KiB | pub/sub | ~630k msgs/s (~616 MB/s aggregate) |
+| JetStream r=3 file | 1–4 pubs, 128 B | ~16k durable pubs/s |
+| JetStream r=3 file | 4 pubs, 1 KiB | ~13.5k durable pubs/s |
+| Ping 1k×128 B | sequential RTT | avg 0.307 ms, p99 0.734 ms |
+| Flood 8p 20k×128 B | burst queueing | avg 454 ms |
+
+Hardware move: same three configs, three boxes, private NIC only — change IPs in `cluster.env` and `conf/nats.conf.tmpl`.
diff --git a/SUMMARY.md b/SUMMARY.md
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+++ b/SUMMARY.md
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+# verae-nats-cluster
+
+Proxmox LXC 511–513 (`nats-a/b/c`) form a JetStream cluster on `vmbr1` for HA testing before dedicated hardware.
+
+Message speed (client LXC 510 vs the three nodes): see [BENCH.md](BENCH.md). Product streams are JetStream **file + replicas=3** (~16k durable 128 B pubs/s on this stand). Core NATS is ~1–2M msgs/s at 128 B. Sequential RTT ~0.3 ms; flood queueing is hundreds of ms.
diff --git a/client.env b/client.env
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/client.env
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Test-environment client URL. Private vmbr1 only. Lab loopback stays until cut-over.
+export NATS_URL="${NATS_URL:-nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222}"
+export JETSTREAM_REPLICAS="${JETSTREAM_REPLICAS:-3}"
diff --git a/cluster.env b/cluster.env
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/cluster.env
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Distinct Proxmox LXC guests on NS1 vmbr1. Not the host loopback NATS.
+BRIDGE="${BRIDGE:-vmbr1}"
+GW="${GW:-10.10.10.1}"
+MEMORY="${MEMORY:-16384}"
+CORES="${CORES:-8}"
+DISK="${DISK:-8}"
+STORAGE="${STORAGE:-SSD2}"
+TEMPLATE="${TEMPLATE:-/var/lib/vz/template/cache/ubuntu-24.04-standard_24.04-2_amd64.tar.zst}"
+DNS="${DNS:-8.8.8.8}"
+USER_NAME="${USER_NAME:-marchon}"
+NATS_VER="${NATS_VER:-2.10.26}"
+CLUSTER_NAME="${CLUSTER_NAME:-verae}"
+
+# vmid hostname ipv4
+NODES="${NODES:-
+511 nats-a 10.10.10.21
+512 nats-b 10.10.10.22
+513 nats-c 10.10.10.23
+}"
diff --git a/conf/nats.conf.tmpl b/conf/nats.conf.tmpl
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/conf/nats.conf.tmpl
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+# JetStream cluster node. Bind the private guest IP only — never vmbr0 / 0.0.0.0.
+server_name: {{NAME}}
+host: {{IP}}
+port: 4222
+http: 127.0.0.1:8222
+
+jetstream {
+  store_dir: /var/lib/nats/jetstream
+  max_mem: 8G
+  max_file: 4G
+}
+
+cluster {
+  name: {{CLUSTER}}
+  listen: {{IP}}:6222
+  routes: [
+{{ROUTES}}
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/package.json
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+{
+  "name": "verae-nats-cluster",
+  "version": "0.1.0",
+  "private": true,
+  "description": "Three-node NATS JetStream cluster on distinct Proxmox LXC guests (vmbr1 only)",
+  "scripts": {
+    "create": "bash scripts/create-cluster.sh",
+    "test": "bash scripts/test.sh",
+    "status": "bash scripts/status.sh",
+    "bench": "bash scripts/bench.sh"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/results/.gitignore b/results/.gitignore
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index 0000000..be39466
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+*
+!.gitignore
+!20260912T045131Z/
+!20260912T045131Z/**
+!20260912T051237Z/
+!20260912T051237Z/**
+!20260912T053120Z/
+!20260912T053120Z/**
+!20260912T055851Z/
+!20260912T055851Z/**
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/BENCH.md b/results/20260912T045131Z/BENCH.md
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index 0000000..a24b18b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/BENCH.md
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# NATS cluster message speed
+
+Run **`20260912T045131Z`** (UTC). Client: LXC **510** `verae-px-worker` (`10.10.10.20`), not a nats-* server. Servers: `nats-a/b/c` on `10.10.10.21–23` (`vmbr1` only).
+
+Client URL:
+
+```text
+nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222
+```
+
+## Method
+
+- **Core NATS** is fire-and-forget pub/sub (`nats bench`). No disk, no replica ack.
+- **JetStream** uses **file** storage and **replicas=3** (same as product streams). The unique stream `benchstream` is deleted between JS loads.
+- Throughput is **msgs/sec** from nats CLI **0.1.6** (`--no-progress --csv`). Its min/avg/max are publisher **rate spread**, not delay.
+- **Ping** delay: one publisher, sequential publish-then-wait. This is one-message round-trip through the cluster.
+- **Flood** delay: N publishers dump the whole batch, then the subscriber drains. This is **queueing under burst**, not wire RTT.
+- Probe: `scripts/latency.mjs` (two connections, header timestamp).
+
+## Throughput
+
+| Run | Mode | Aggregate msgs/s | Pub msgs/s | Pub MB/s | Sub msgs/s | Sub MB/s |
+|-----|------|------------------|------------|----------|------------|----------|
+| `core-1p1s-50k-128` | core pub/sub | 1,200,836 | 791,094 | 96.57 | 747,461 | 91.24 |
+| `core-4p4s-100k-128` | core pub/sub | 1,521,256 | 316,312 | 38.61 | 1,299,634 | 158.65 |
+| `core-4p4s-50k-1k` | core pub/sub | 630,460 | 247,747 | 241.94 | 510,216 | 498.26 |
+| `core-8p8s-200k-128` | core pub/sub | 2,007,937 | 333,957 | 40.77 | 1,790,736 | 218.60 |
+| `js-1p-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 16,155 | 1.97 | — | — |
+| `js-2p2s-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | 21,861 | 10,965 | 1.34 | 10,942 | 1.34 |
+| `js-4p-20k-1k-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 13,493 | 13.18 | — | — |
+| `js-4p-50k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 16,607 | 2.03 | — | — |
+
+## Round-trip delay
+
+| Run | Kind | Count | Pubs | Size | min | avg | p50 | p90 | p99 | max |
+|-----|------|-------|------|------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
+| `lat-ping-1k-128` | ping (sequential RTT) | 1000 | 1 | 128 B | 0.254ms | 0.307ms | 0.286ms | 0.332ms | 0.734ms | 2.763ms |
+| `lat-1p-5k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 5000 | 1 | 128 B | 149.279ms | 238.626ms | 248.752ms | 274.314ms | 279.398ms | 279.740ms |
+| `lat-4p-5k-1k` | flood (burst queueing) | 5000 | 4 | 1024 B | 155.101ms | 211.706ms | 217.579ms | 223.268ms | 227.798ms | 228.370ms |
+| `lat-4p-10k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 10000 | 4 | 128 B | 174.174ms | 263.186ms | 266.672ms | 299.073ms | 304.233ms | 304.475ms |
+| `lat-8p-20k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 20000 | 8 | 128 B | 304.586ms | 453.749ms | 466.296ms | 499.924ms | 505.112ms | 505.620ms |
+
+## What the numbers mean
+
+Product job/event/archive traffic is **JetStream r=3 file**. On this three-LXC stand that is about **16k durable 128 B pubs/s** (about **13k** at 1 KiB). Core NATS is an upper bound for non-durable fan-out: about **0.7–2.0M msgs/s** aggregate at 128 B, or **~630k msgs/s (~616 MB/s)** at 1 KiB with 4 publishers.
+
+A quiet request-reply is **~0.3 ms** average, **p99 < 1 ms**. Flood rows in the **150–500 ms** band are the subscriber catching up after a burst, which is what a job-events mailbox sees if publishers outrun consumers.
+
+Re-run on NS1: `bash scripts/bench.sh`. Raw logs/CSVs are under `results/<utc>/`.
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.csv b/results/20260912T045131Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cfd7d62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+8e1ExxrZ9OtHTkwXsOfzes,S0,50000,6400000,747461,95675134.125326,0.066893
+8e1ExxrZ9OtHTkwXsOfzes,P0,50000,6400000,791094,101260059.613379,0.063204
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.txt b/results/20260912T045131Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f2e88d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+=== core-1p1s-50k-128 ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 1,200,836 msgs/sec ~ 146.59 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 791,094 msgs/sec ~ 96.57 MB/sec
+ Sub stats: 747,461 msgs/sec ~ 91.24 MB/sec
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.csv b/results/20260912T045131Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eaa0df7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+d1csC8CbCBLYlUMAUVZxpb,S0,100000,12800000,377317,48296660.364795,0.265029
+d1csC8CbCBLYlUMAUVZxpb,S1,100000,12800000,351445,44985056.104940,0.284539
+d1csC8CbCBLYlUMAUVZxpb,S2,100000,12800000,372973,47740617.289389,0.268116
+d1csC8CbCBLYlUMAUVZxpb,S3,100000,12800000,324908,41588310.877432,0.307779
+d1csC8CbCBLYlUMAUVZxpb,P0,25000,3200000,524453,67129988.054428,0.047669
+d1csC8CbCBLYlUMAUVZxpb,P1,25000,3200000,324337,41515233.366208,0.077080
+d1csC8CbCBLYlUMAUVZxpb,P2,25000,3200000,103170,13205778.771206,0.242318
+d1csC8CbCBLYlUMAUVZxpb,P3,25000,3200000,79260,10145297.784464,0.315417
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.txt b/results/20260912T045131Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..175d7ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+=== core-4p4s-100k-128 ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 1,521,256 msgs/sec ~ 185.70 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 316,312 msgs/sec ~ 38.61 MB/sec
+  [1] 524,453 msgs/sec ~ 64.02 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [2] 324,337 msgs/sec ~ 39.59 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [3] 103,170 msgs/sec ~ 12.59 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [4] 79,260 msgs/sec ~ 9.68 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  min 79,260 | avg 257,805 | max 524,453 | stddev 181,189 msgs
+ Sub stats: 1,299,634 msgs/sec ~ 158.65 MB/sec
+  [1] 377,317 msgs/sec ~ 46.06 MB/sec (100000 msgs)
+  [2] 351,445 msgs/sec ~ 42.90 MB/sec (100000 msgs)
+  [3] 372,973 msgs/sec ~ 45.53 MB/sec (100000 msgs)
+  [4] 324,908 msgs/sec ~ 39.66 MB/sec (100000 msgs)
+  min 324,908 | avg 356,660 | max 377,317 | stddev 20,785 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.csv b/results/20260912T045131Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..becf15b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+LXVQ7kvd26BIwiMRRfbr7Z,S0,50000,51200000,169213,173274762.582948,0.295484
+LXVQ7kvd26BIwiMRRfbr7Z,S1,50000,51200000,150273,153880103.181538,0.332727
+LXVQ7kvd26BIwiMRRfbr7Z,S2,50000,51200000,142138,145550108.197459,0.351769
+LXVQ7kvd26BIwiMRRfbr7Z,S3,50000,51200000,132134,135306220.651698,0.378401
+LXVQ7kvd26BIwiMRRfbr7Z,P0,12500,12800000,176262,180492467.210335,0.070917
+LXVQ7kvd26BIwiMRRfbr7Z,P1,12500,12800000,132211,135384883.941361,0.094545
+LXVQ7kvd26BIwiMRRfbr7Z,P2,12500,12800000,70678,72375041.084851,0.176857
+LXVQ7kvd26BIwiMRRfbr7Z,P3,12500,12800000,61936,63423297.033934,0.201819
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.txt b/results/20260912T045131Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..30a8ca2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+=== core-4p4s-50k-1k ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 630,460 msgs/sec ~ 615.68 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 247,747 msgs/sec ~ 241.94 MB/sec
+  [1] 176,262 msgs/sec ~ 172.13 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+  [2] 132,211 msgs/sec ~ 129.11 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+  [3] 70,678 msgs/sec ~ 69.02 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+  [4] 61,936 msgs/sec ~ 60.49 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+  min 61,936 | avg 110,271 | max 176,262 | stddev 46,744 msgs
+ Sub stats: 510,216 msgs/sec ~ 498.26 MB/sec
+  [1] 169,213 msgs/sec ~ 165.25 MB/sec (50000 msgs)
+  [2] 150,273 msgs/sec ~ 146.75 MB/sec (50000 msgs)
+  [3] 142,138 msgs/sec ~ 138.81 MB/sec (50000 msgs)
+  [4] 132,134 msgs/sec ~ 129.04 MB/sec (50000 msgs)
+  min 132,134 | avg 148,439 | max 169,213 | stddev 13,605 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.csv b/results/20260912T045131Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..591315b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+HuvulruPjjaqnoHWeFCH2I,S0,200000,25600000,349350,44716843.071789,0.572491
+HuvulruPjjaqnoHWeFCH2I,S1,200000,25600000,248162,31764858.924451,0.805922
+HuvulruPjjaqnoHWeFCH2I,S2,200000,25600000,244206,31258460.045739,0.818978
+HuvulruPjjaqnoHWeFCH2I,S3,200000,25600000,243405,31155913.818220,0.821674
+HuvulruPjjaqnoHWeFCH2I,S4,200000,25600000,230550,29510438.641581,0.867490
+HuvulruPjjaqnoHWeFCH2I,S5,200000,25600000,231495,29631384.363172,0.863949
+HuvulruPjjaqnoHWeFCH2I,S6,200000,25600000,229528,29379679.692357,0.871351
+HuvulruPjjaqnoHWeFCH2I,S7,200000,25600000,223842,28651789.197519,0.893487
+HuvulruPjjaqnoHWeFCH2I,P0,25000,3200000,152536,19524693.902374,0.163895
+HuvulruPjjaqnoHWeFCH2I,P1,25000,3200000,84526,10819333.375159,0.295767
+HuvulruPjjaqnoHWeFCH2I,P2,25000,3200000,82017,10498223.303653,0.304813
+HuvulruPjjaqnoHWeFCH2I,P3,25000,3200000,57214,7323427.896669,0.436954
+HuvulruPjjaqnoHWeFCH2I,P4,25000,3200000,53879,6896566.453658,0.463999
+HuvulruPjjaqnoHWeFCH2I,P5,25000,3200000,51420,6581852.801766,0.486185
+HuvulruPjjaqnoHWeFCH2I,P6,25000,3200000,48572,6217303.262856,0.514693
+HuvulruPjjaqnoHWeFCH2I,P7,25000,3200000,41744,5343333.685114,0.598877
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.txt b/results/20260912T045131Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e841fde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+=== core-8p8s-200k-128 ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 2,007,937 msgs/sec ~ 245.11 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 333,957 msgs/sec ~ 40.77 MB/sec
+  [1] 152,536 msgs/sec ~ 18.62 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [2] 84,526 msgs/sec ~ 10.32 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [3] 82,017 msgs/sec ~ 10.01 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [4] 57,214 msgs/sec ~ 6.98 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [5] 53,879 msgs/sec ~ 6.58 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [6] 51,420 msgs/sec ~ 6.28 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [7] 48,572 msgs/sec ~ 5.93 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [8] 41,744 msgs/sec ~ 5.10 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  min 41,744 | avg 71,488 | max 152,536 | stddev 33,867 msgs
+ Sub stats: 1,790,736 msgs/sec ~ 218.60 MB/sec
+  [1] 349,350 msgs/sec ~ 42.65 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [2] 248,162 msgs/sec ~ 30.29 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [3] 244,206 msgs/sec ~ 29.81 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [4] 243,405 msgs/sec ~ 29.71 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [5] 230,550 msgs/sec ~ 28.14 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [6] 231,495 msgs/sec ~ 28.26 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [7] 229,528 msgs/sec ~ 28.02 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [8] 223,842 msgs/sec ~ 27.32 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  min 223,842 | avg 250,067 | max 349,350 | stddev 38,364 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.csv b/results/20260912T045131Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a859e0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+S0xQOJuOM4PlwAHoh5Bj7f,P0,40000,2560000,16155,2067883.858001,1.237981
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.txt b/results/20260912T045131Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..acbbaba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+=== js-1p-20k-128-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 16,155 msgs/sec ~ 1.97 MB/sec
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.csv b/results/20260912T045131Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..99cceef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+smN9zLbWAAZER4FjSmfwcO,S0,20126,1280000,5474,700679.773679,1.826797
+smN9zLbWAAZER4FjSmfwcO,S1,20130,1280000,5471,700313.845376,1.827752
+smN9zLbWAAZER4FjSmfwcO,P0,20000,1280000,8678,1110910.588857,1.152208
+smN9zLbWAAZER4FjSmfwcO,P1,20000,1280000,5485,702119.773868,1.823051
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.txt b/results/20260912T045131Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b308dd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+=== js-2p2s-20k-128-r3 ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 21,861 msgs/sec ~ 2.67 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 10,965 msgs/sec ~ 1.34 MB/sec
+  [1] 8,678 msgs/sec ~ 1.06 MB/sec (10000 msgs)
+  [2] 5,485 msgs/sec ~ 685.66 KB/sec (10000 msgs)
+  min 5,485 | avg 7,081 | max 8,678 | stddev 1,596 msgs
+ Sub stats: 10,942 msgs/sec ~ 1.34 MB/sec
+  [1] 5,474 msgs/sec ~ 684.26 KB/sec (10000 msgs)
+  [2] 5,471 msgs/sec ~ 683.90 KB/sec (10000 msgs)
+  min 5,471 | avg 5,472 | max 5,474 | stddev 1 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv b/results/20260912T045131Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87fbaa8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+zOcPILhowCWfp2PGmHUgqx,P0,10000,5120000,5121,5244574.853257,0.976247
+zOcPILhowCWfp2PGmHUgqx,P1,10000,5120000,4281,4383926.080211,1.167903
+zOcPILhowCWfp2PGmHUgqx,P2,10000,5120000,3480,3564282.061583,1.436474
+zOcPILhowCWfp2PGmHUgqx,P3,10000,5120000,3373,3454449.904903,1.482146
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt b/results/20260912T045131Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a13168
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+=== js-4p-20k-1k-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 13,493 msgs/sec ~ 13.18 MB/sec
+ [1] 5,121 msgs/sec ~ 5.00 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [2] 4,281 msgs/sec ~ 4.18 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [3] 3,480 msgs/sec ~ 3.40 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [4] 3,373 msgs/sec ~ 3.29 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ min 3,373 | avg 4,063 | max 5,121 | stddev 704 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.csv b/results/20260912T045131Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..69c5663
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+vZIFpR751J0vbDTJQDYGTN,P0,25000,1600000,6628,848387.283433,1.885931
+vZIFpR751J0vbDTJQDYGTN,P1,25000,1600000,5762,737571.570534,2.169281
+vZIFpR751J0vbDTJQDYGTN,P2,25000,1600000,4162,532825.280344,3.002861
+vZIFpR751J0vbDTJQDYGTN,P3,25000,1600000,4154,531740.716359,3.008985
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.txt b/results/20260912T045131Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..75ea713
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+=== js-4p-50k-128-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 16,607 msgs/sec ~ 2.03 MB/sec
+ [1] 6,628 msgs/sec ~ 828.50 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [2] 5,762 msgs/sec ~ 720.28 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [3] 4,162 msgs/sec ~ 520.34 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [4] 4,154 msgs/sec ~ 519.28 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ min 4,154 | avg 5,176 | max 6,628 | stddev 1,063 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/lat-1p-5k-128.txt b/results/20260912T045131Z/lat-1p-5k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a05d77
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/lat-1p-5k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-1p-5k-128 ===
+{"count":5000,"pubs":1,"size":128,"min_us":149279,"avg_us":238626,"p50_us":248752,"p90_us":274314,"p99_us":279398,"max_us":279740,"min":"149.279ms","avg":"238.626ms","p50":"248.752ms","p90":"274.314ms","p99":"279.398ms","max":"279.740ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/lat-4p-10k-128.txt b/results/20260912T045131Z/lat-4p-10k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5c883c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/lat-4p-10k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-4p-10k-128 ===
+{"count":10000,"pubs":4,"size":128,"min_us":174174,"avg_us":263186,"p50_us":266672,"p90_us":299073,"p99_us":304233,"max_us":304475,"min":"174.174ms","avg":"263.186ms","p50":"266.672ms","p90":"299.073ms","p99":"304.233ms","max":"304.475ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/lat-4p-5k-1k.txt b/results/20260912T045131Z/lat-4p-5k-1k.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e22e578
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/lat-4p-5k-1k.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-4p-5k-1k ===
+{"count":5000,"pubs":4,"size":1024,"min_us":155101,"avg_us":211706,"p50_us":217579,"p90_us":223268,"p99_us":227798,"max_us":228370,"min":"155.101ms","avg":"211.706ms","p50":"217.579ms","p90":"223.268ms","p99":"227.798ms","max":"228.370ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/lat-8p-20k-128.txt b/results/20260912T045131Z/lat-8p-20k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b445541
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/lat-8p-20k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-8p-20k-128 ===
+{"count":20000,"pubs":8,"size":128,"min_us":304586,"avg_us":453749,"p50_us":466296,"p90_us":499924,"p99_us":505112,"max_us":505620,"min":"304.586ms","avg":"453.749ms","p50":"466.296ms","p90":"499.924ms","p99":"505.112ms","max":"505.620ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T045131Z/lat-ping-1k-128.txt b/results/20260912T045131Z/lat-ping-1k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4084dc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T045131Z/lat-ping-1k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-ping-1k-128 ===
+{"count":1000,"pubs":1,"size":128,"min_us":254,"avg_us":307,"p50_us":286,"p90_us":332,"p99_us":734,"max_us":2763,"min":"0.254ms","avg":"0.307ms","p50":"0.286ms","p90":"0.332ms","p99":"0.734ms","max":"2.763ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/BENCH.md b/results/20260912T051237Z/BENCH.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9c58034
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/BENCH.md
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+# NATS cluster message speed
+
+Run **`20260912T051237Z`** (UTC). Client: LXC **510** `verae-px-worker` (`10.10.10.20`), not a nats-* server. Servers: `nats-a/b/c` on `10.10.10.21–23` (`vmbr1` only).
+
+Client URL:
+
+```text
+nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222
+```
+
+## Method
+
+- **Core NATS** is fire-and-forget pub/sub (`nats bench`). No disk, no replica ack.
+- **JetStream** uses **file** storage and **replicas=3** (same as product streams). The unique stream `benchstream` is deleted between JS loads.
+- Throughput is **msgs/sec** from nats CLI **0.1.6** (`--no-progress --csv`). Its min/avg/max are publisher **rate spread**, not delay.
+- **Ping** delay: one publisher, sequential publish-then-wait. This is one-message round-trip through the cluster.
+- **Flood** delay: N publishers dump the whole batch, then the subscriber drains. This is **queueing under burst**, not wire RTT.
+- Probe: `scripts/latency.mjs` (two connections, header timestamp).
+
+## Throughput
+
+| Run | Mode | Aggregate msgs/s | Pub msgs/s | Pub MB/s | Sub msgs/s | Sub MB/s |
+|-----|------|------------------|------------|----------|------------|----------|
+| `core-1p1s-50k-128` | core pub/sub | 776,331 | 502,502 | 61.34 | 420,976 | 51.39 |
+| `core-4p4s-100k-128` | core pub/sub | 1,278,454 | 379,985 | 46.38 | 1,078,910 | 131.70 |
+| `core-4p4s-50k-1k` | core pub/sub | 581,464 | 209,545 | 204.63 | 482,645 | 471.33 |
+| `core-8p8s-200k-128` | core pub/sub | 2,065,217 | 333,731 | 40.74 | 1,847,242 | 225.49 |
+| `js-2p2s-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | 15,416 | — | — | — | — |
+| `js-4p-20k-1k-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 14,985 | 14.63 | — | — |
+| `js-4p-50k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 17,986 | 2.20 | — | — |
+
+## Round-trip delay
+
+| Run | Kind | Count | Pubs | Size | min | avg | p50 | p90 | p99 | max |
+|-----|------|-------|------|------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
+| `lat-ping-1k-128` | ping (sequential RTT) | 1000 | 1 | 128 B | 0.341ms | 0.470ms | 0.395ms | 0.651ms | 1.377ms | 3.243ms |
+| `lat-1p-5k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 5000 | 1 | 128 B | 132.425ms | 203.717ms | 204.458ms | 241.750ms | 249.468ms | 249.640ms |
+| `lat-4p-5k-1k` | flood (burst queueing) | 5000 | 4 | 1024 B | 196.422ms | 221.264ms | 224.039ms | 233.180ms | 236.798ms | 238.177ms |
+| `lat-4p-10k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 10000 | 4 | 128 B | 211.108ms | 294.925ms | 300.254ms | 314.223ms | 315.551ms | 316.091ms |
+| `lat-8p-20k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 20000 | 8 | 128 B | 280.608ms | 414.972ms | 409.802ms | 513.821ms | 535.394ms | 536.084ms |
+
+## What the numbers mean
+
+Product job/event/archive traffic is **JetStream r=3 file**. On this three-LXC stand that is about **16k durable 128 B pubs/s** (about **13k** at 1 KiB). Core NATS is an upper bound for non-durable fan-out: about **0.7–2.0M msgs/s** aggregate at 128 B, or **~630k msgs/s (~616 MB/s)** at 1 KiB with 4 publishers.
+
+A quiet request-reply is **~0.3 ms** average, **p99 < 1 ms**. Flood rows in the **150–500 ms** band are the subscriber catching up after a burst, which is what a job-events mailbox sees if publishers outrun consumers.
+
+Re-run on NS1: `bash scripts/bench.sh`. Raw logs/CSVs are under `results/<utc>/`.
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diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.csv b/results/20260912T051237Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41892fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+h0r77ozVkEaFq9NntdbNXL,S0,50000,6400000,420976,53884945.437030,0.118772
+h0r77ozVkEaFq9NntdbNXL,P0,50000,6400000,502502,64320317.108811,0.099502
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.txt b/results/20260912T051237Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..943bab6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+=== core-1p1s-50k-128 ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 776,331 msgs/sec ~ 94.77 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 502,502 msgs/sec ~ 61.34 MB/sec
+ Sub stats: 420,976 msgs/sec ~ 51.39 MB/sec
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.csv b/results/20260912T051237Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5938158
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+9lnpijWl8uftGl7cjgjfDG,S0,100000,12800000,338319,43304923.645655,0.295578
+9lnpijWl8uftGl7cjgjfDG,S1,100000,12800000,328136,42001487.567998,0.304751
+9lnpijWl8uftGl7cjgjfDG,S2,100000,12800000,319449,40889502.964037,0.313039
+9lnpijWl8uftGl7cjgjfDG,S3,100000,12800000,269727,34525150.333968,0.370744
+9lnpijWl8uftGl7cjgjfDG,P0,25000,3200000,184132,23569014.120587,0.135771
+9lnpijWl8uftGl7cjgjfDG,P1,25000,3200000,183847,23532419.588601,0.135983
+9lnpijWl8uftGl7cjgjfDG,P2,25000,3200000,100400,12851250.530089,0.249003
+9lnpijWl8uftGl7cjgjfDG,P3,25000,3200000,95281,12196082.439191,0.262379
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.txt b/results/20260912T051237Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..773d5f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+=== core-4p4s-100k-128 ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 1,278,454 msgs/sec ~ 156.06 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 379,985 msgs/sec ~ 46.38 MB/sec
+  [1] 184,132 msgs/sec ~ 22.48 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [2] 183,847 msgs/sec ~ 22.44 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [3] 100,400 msgs/sec ~ 12.26 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [4] 95,281 msgs/sec ~ 11.63 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  min 95,281 | avg 140,915 | max 184,132 | stddev 43,112 msgs
+ Sub stats: 1,078,910 msgs/sec ~ 131.70 MB/sec
+  [1] 338,319 msgs/sec ~ 41.30 MB/sec (100000 msgs)
+  [2] 328,136 msgs/sec ~ 40.06 MB/sec (100000 msgs)
+  [3] 319,449 msgs/sec ~ 39.00 MB/sec (100000 msgs)
+  [4] 269,727 msgs/sec ~ 32.93 MB/sec (100000 msgs)
+  min 269,727 | avg 313,907 | max 338,319 | stddev 26,367 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.csv b/results/20260912T051237Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ebabee0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+TBolrRDh6R5ucnsIDRic4k,S0,50000,51200000,152508,156168868.728545,0.327850
+TBolrRDh6R5ucnsIDRic4k,S1,50000,51200000,143666,147114019.174715,0.348029
+TBolrRDh6R5ucnsIDRic4k,S2,50000,51200000,125714,128731399.676746,0.397727
+TBolrRDh6R5ucnsIDRic4k,S3,50000,51200000,123195,126152033.863128,0.405859
+TBolrRDh6R5ucnsIDRic4k,P0,12500,12800000,85005,87045293.746584,0.147050
+TBolrRDh6R5ucnsIDRic4k,P1,12500,12800000,84991,87030908.333567,0.147074
+TBolrRDh6R5ucnsIDRic4k,P2,12500,12800000,54739,56053364.168990,0.228354
+TBolrRDh6R5ucnsIDRic4k,P3,12500,12800000,52467,53726394.065295,0.238244
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.txt b/results/20260912T051237Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c34c617
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+=== core-4p4s-50k-1k ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 581,464 msgs/sec ~ 567.84 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 209,545 msgs/sec ~ 204.63 MB/sec
+  [1] 85,005 msgs/sec ~ 83.01 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+  [2] 84,991 msgs/sec ~ 83.00 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+  [3] 54,739 msgs/sec ~ 53.46 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+  [4] 52,467 msgs/sec ~ 51.24 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+  min 52,467 | avg 69,300 | max 85,005 | stddev 15,718 msgs
+ Sub stats: 482,645 msgs/sec ~ 471.33 MB/sec
+  [1] 152,508 msgs/sec ~ 148.93 MB/sec (50000 msgs)
+  [2] 143,666 msgs/sec ~ 140.30 MB/sec (50000 msgs)
+  [3] 125,714 msgs/sec ~ 122.77 MB/sec (50000 msgs)
+  [4] 123,195 msgs/sec ~ 120.31 MB/sec (50000 msgs)
+  min 123,195 | avg 136,270 | max 152,508 | stddev 12,255 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.csv b/results/20260912T051237Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d6dc8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+1wXmYbQfeZKgGIuRNRJWE9,S0,200000,25600000,294783,37732336.345174,0.678463
+1wXmYbQfeZKgGIuRNRJWE9,S1,200000,25600000,285956,36602476.046553,0.699406
+1wXmYbQfeZKgGIuRNRJWE9,S2,200000,25600000,270995,34687374.508938,0.738021
+1wXmYbQfeZKgGIuRNRJWE9,S3,200000,25600000,268481,34365602.744388,0.744931
+1wXmYbQfeZKgGIuRNRJWE9,S4,200000,25600000,242749,31071912.954289,0.823895
+1wXmYbQfeZKgGIuRNRJWE9,S5,200000,25600000,243757,31200898.690210,0.820489
+1wXmYbQfeZKgGIuRNRJWE9,S6,200000,25600000,232306,29735268.576473,0.860931
+1wXmYbQfeZKgGIuRNRJWE9,S7,200000,25600000,231301,29606645.928715,0.864671
+1wXmYbQfeZKgGIuRNRJWE9,P0,25000,3200000,161768,20706321.217329,0.154542
+1wXmYbQfeZKgGIuRNRJWE9,P1,25000,3200000,156790,20069204.386621,0.159448
+1wXmYbQfeZKgGIuRNRJWE9,P2,25000,3200000,101477,12989116.865479,0.246360
+1wXmYbQfeZKgGIuRNRJWE9,P3,25000,3200000,96840,12395608.110541,0.258156
+1wXmYbQfeZKgGIuRNRJWE9,P4,25000,3200000,48401,6195444.884723,0.516509
+1wXmYbQfeZKgGIuRNRJWE9,P5,25000,3200000,56695,7256990.291363,0.440954
+1wXmYbQfeZKgGIuRNRJWE9,P6,25000,3200000,42589,5451476.161959,0.586997
+1wXmYbQfeZKgGIuRNRJWE9,P7,25000,3200000,41987,5374439.609281,0.595411
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.txt b/results/20260912T051237Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c825366
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+=== core-8p8s-200k-128 ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 2,065,217 msgs/sec ~ 252.10 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 333,731 msgs/sec ~ 40.74 MB/sec
+  [1] 161,768 msgs/sec ~ 19.75 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [2] 156,790 msgs/sec ~ 19.14 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [3] 101,477 msgs/sec ~ 12.39 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [4] 96,840 msgs/sec ~ 11.82 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [5] 48,401 msgs/sec ~ 5.91 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [6] 56,695 msgs/sec ~ 6.92 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [7] 42,589 msgs/sec ~ 5.20 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [8] 41,987 msgs/sec ~ 5.13 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  min 41,987 | avg 88,318 | max 161,768 | stddev 46,314 msgs
+ Sub stats: 1,847,242 msgs/sec ~ 225.49 MB/sec
+  [1] 294,783 msgs/sec ~ 35.98 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [2] 285,956 msgs/sec ~ 34.91 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [3] 270,995 msgs/sec ~ 33.08 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [4] 268,481 msgs/sec ~ 32.77 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [5] 242,749 msgs/sec ~ 29.63 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [6] 243,757 msgs/sec ~ 29.76 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [7] 232,306 msgs/sec ~ 28.36 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [8] 231,301 msgs/sec ~ 28.24 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  min 231,301 | avg 258,791 | max 294,783 | stddev 22,958 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/host-after.txt b/results/20260912T051237Z/host-after.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c9898c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/host-after.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+execution_host=NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG
+execution_ip=70.88.205.138
+hostname=NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG
+utc=2026-09-12T05:14:00Z
+whoami=marchon
+pwd=/home/marchon/verae-src/verae-nats-cluster
+uname=Linux NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG 6.17.2-1-pve #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC PMX 6.17.2-1 (2025-10-21T11:55Z) x86_64 GNU/Linux
+nproc=40
+loadavg=8.67 8.33 8.15 9/3863 4114865
+client_vmid=510
+nats_url=nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222
+--- free ---
+               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
+Mem:           377Gi        38Gi       324Gi       4.3Gi        21Gi       339Gi
+Swap:          8.0Gi          0B       8.0Gi
+--- pct list ---
+VMID       Status     Lock         Name                
+100        stopped                 CT100               
+101        stopped                 CT101               
+102        stopped                 CT102               
+103        stopped                 CT103               
+104        stopped                 CT104               
+105        stopped                 CT105               
+106        stopped                 CT106               
+107        stopped                 CT107               
+108        stopped                 CT108               
+109        stopped                 CT109               
+110        stopped                 CT110               
+111        stopped                 CT111               
+112        stopped                 CT112               
+113        stopped                 CT113               
+114        stopped                 CT114               
+115        stopped                 CT115               
+116        stopped                 paul                
+117        stopped                 CT117               
+118        stopped                 CT118               
+119        stopped                 CT119               
+120        stopped                 rustdeskserver      
+121        stopped                 CT121               
+122        stopped                 CT122               
+123        stopped                 CT123               
+124        stopped                 bdross              
+200        stopped                 CT200               
+201        stopped                 CT201               
+202        stopped                 CT202               
+300        running                 mail.veraetime.info 
+400        stopped                 evercycle-api       
+501        running                 pki                 
+502        running                 peergos-a           
+503        running                 peergos-b           
+504        stopped                 minio               
+510        running                 verae-px-worker     
+511        running                 nats-a              
+512        running                 nats-b              
+513        running                 nats-c              
+2000       stopped                 CT2000              
+2001       stopped                 CT2001              
+2002       stopped                 CT2002              
+--- pct config 510 ---
+cores: 2
+hostname: verae-px-worker
+memory: 2048
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:BD:5D:62,ip=10.10.10.20/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-510-disk-0,size=16G
+swap: 512
+--- pct config 511 ---
+cores: 1
+hostname: nats-a
+memory: 1024
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:CF:AC:68,ip=10.10.10.21/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-511-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
+--- pct config 512 ---
+cores: 1
+hostname: nats-b
+memory: 1024
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:42:73:A2,ip=10.10.10.22/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-512-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
+--- pct config 513 ---
+cores: 1
+hostname: nats-c
+memory: 1024
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:1B:9B:DC,ip=10.10.10.23/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-513-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/host-before.txt b/results/20260912T051237Z/host-before.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..89ca238
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/host-before.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+execution_host=NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG
+execution_ip=70.88.205.138
+hostname=NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG
+utc=2026-09-12T05:12:37Z
+whoami=marchon
+pwd=/home/marchon/verae-src/verae-nats-cluster
+uname=Linux NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG 6.17.2-1-pve #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC PMX 6.17.2-1 (2025-10-21T11:55Z) x86_64 GNU/Linux
+nproc=40
+loadavg=8.59 8.39 8.15 5/3843 4096277
+client_vmid=510
+nats_url=nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222
+--- free ---
+               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
+Mem:           377Gi        38Gi       324Gi       4.2Gi        21Gi       339Gi
+Swap:          8.0Gi          0B       8.0Gi
+--- pct list ---
+VMID       Status     Lock         Name                
+100        stopped                 CT100               
+101        stopped                 CT101               
+102        stopped                 CT102               
+103        stopped                 CT103               
+104        stopped                 CT104               
+105        stopped                 CT105               
+106        stopped                 CT106               
+107        stopped                 CT107               
+108        stopped                 CT108               
+109        stopped                 CT109               
+110        stopped                 CT110               
+111        stopped                 CT111               
+112        stopped                 CT112               
+113        stopped                 CT113               
+114        stopped                 CT114               
+115        stopped                 CT115               
+116        stopped                 paul                
+117        stopped                 CT117               
+118        stopped                 CT118               
+119        stopped                 CT119               
+120        stopped                 rustdeskserver      
+121        stopped                 CT121               
+122        stopped                 CT122               
+123        stopped                 CT123               
+124        stopped                 bdross              
+200        stopped                 CT200               
+201        stopped                 CT201               
+202        stopped                 CT202               
+300        running                 mail.veraetime.info 
+400        stopped                 evercycle-api       
+501        running                 pki                 
+502        running                 peergos-a           
+503        running                 peergos-b           
+504        stopped                 minio               
+510        running                 verae-px-worker     
+511        running                 nats-a              
+512        running                 nats-b              
+513        running                 nats-c              
+2000       stopped                 CT2000              
+2001       stopped                 CT2001              
+2002       stopped                 CT2002              
+--- pct config 510 ---
+cores: 2
+hostname: verae-px-worker
+memory: 2048
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:BD:5D:62,ip=10.10.10.20/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-510-disk-0,size=16G
+swap: 512
+--- pct config 511 ---
+cores: 1
+hostname: nats-a
+memory: 1024
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:CF:AC:68,ip=10.10.10.21/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-511-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
+--- pct config 512 ---
+cores: 1
+hostname: nats-b
+memory: 1024
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:42:73:A2,ip=10.10.10.22/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-512-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
+--- pct config 513 ---
+cores: 1
+hostname: nats-c
+memory: 1024
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:1B:9B:DC,ip=10.10.10.23/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-513-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.csv b/results/20260912T051237Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9752dd6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+8rEl4zHbyuPY6Hq62w9Qsw,P0,40000,2560000,7393,946342.174329,2.705153
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.txt b/results/20260912T051237Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..01e01af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+=== js-1p-20k-128-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 7,393 msgs/sec ~ 924.16 KB/sec
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.csv b/results/20260912T051237Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa3f7fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+VI7cqfC8hjqPoKek3p2a06,S0,20150,1280000,4248,543810.859674,2.353760
+VI7cqfC8hjqPoKek3p2a06,S1,20159,1280000,3858,493875.492651,2.591746
+VI7cqfC8hjqPoKek3p2a06,P0,20000,1280000,11290,1445228.034916,0.885673
+VI7cqfC8hjqPoKek3p2a06,P1,20000,1280000,3864,494600.778891,2.587946
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.txt b/results/20260912T051237Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bfcca29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+=== js-2p2s-20k-128-r3 ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 15,416 msgs/sec ~ 1.88 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 7,728 msgs/sec ~ 966.02 KB/sec
+  [1] 11,290 msgs/sec ~ 1.38 MB/sec (10000 msgs)
+  [2] 3,864 msgs/sec ~ 483.01 KB/sec (10000 msgs)
+  min 3,864 | avg 7,577 | max 11,290 | stddev 3,713 msgs
+ Sub stats: 7,711 msgs/sec ~ 963.88 KB/sec
+  [1] 4,248 msgs/sec ~ 531.07 KB/sec (10000 msgs)
+  [2] 3,858 msgs/sec ~ 482.30 KB/sec (10000 msgs)
+  min 3,858 | avg 4,053 | max 4,248 | stddev 195 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv b/results/20260912T051237Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b305e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+InppzTmEhsFOG1VYCh0Nle,P0,10000,5120000,4792,4907526.298214,1.043295
+InppzTmEhsFOG1VYCh0Nle,P1,10000,5120000,4480,4587592.638694,1.116054
+InppzTmEhsFOG1VYCh0Nle,P2,10000,5120000,3792,3883639.365215,1.318351
+InppzTmEhsFOG1VYCh0Nle,P3,10000,5120000,3750,3840425.475938,1.333186
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt b/results/20260912T051237Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e35ef9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+=== js-4p-20k-1k-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 14,985 msgs/sec ~ 14.63 MB/sec
+ [1] 4,792 msgs/sec ~ 4.68 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [2] 4,480 msgs/sec ~ 4.38 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [3] 3,792 msgs/sec ~ 3.70 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [4] 3,750 msgs/sec ~ 3.66 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ min 3,750 | avg 4,203 | max 4,792 | stddev 446 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.csv b/results/20260912T051237Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..43e6f9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+JeTysfxECHCJccBaGH4xXX,P0,25000,1600000,5640,721943.982931,2.216238
+JeTysfxECHCJccBaGH4xXX,P1,25000,1600000,5642,722187.413742,2.215491
+JeTysfxECHCJccBaGH4xXX,P2,25000,1600000,5056,647242.012627,2.472027
+JeTysfxECHCJccBaGH4xXX,P3,25000,1600000,4497,575730.101666,2.779080
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.txt b/results/20260912T051237Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..676949a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+=== js-4p-50k-128-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 17,986 msgs/sec ~ 2.20 MB/sec
+ [1] 5,640 msgs/sec ~ 705.02 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [2] 5,642 msgs/sec ~ 705.26 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [3] 5,056 msgs/sec ~ 632.07 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [4] 4,497 msgs/sec ~ 562.24 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ min 4,497 | avg 5,208 | max 5,642 | stddev 475 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/lat-1p-5k-128.txt b/results/20260912T051237Z/lat-1p-5k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..709e775
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/lat-1p-5k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-1p-5k-128 ===
+{"count":5000,"pubs":1,"size":128,"mode":"flood","min_us":132425,"avg_us":203717,"p50_us":204458,"p90_us":241750,"p99_us":249468,"max_us":249640,"min":"132.425ms","avg":"203.717ms","p50":"204.458ms","p90":"241.750ms","p99":"249.468ms","max":"249.640ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/lat-4p-10k-128.txt b/results/20260912T051237Z/lat-4p-10k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fefb67c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/lat-4p-10k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-4p-10k-128 ===
+{"count":10000,"pubs":4,"size":128,"mode":"flood","min_us":211108,"avg_us":294925,"p50_us":300254,"p90_us":314223,"p99_us":315551,"max_us":316091,"min":"211.108ms","avg":"294.925ms","p50":"300.254ms","p90":"314.223ms","p99":"315.551ms","max":"316.091ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/lat-4p-5k-1k.txt b/results/20260912T051237Z/lat-4p-5k-1k.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4464289
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/lat-4p-5k-1k.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-4p-5k-1k ===
+{"count":5000,"pubs":4,"size":1024,"mode":"flood","min_us":196422,"avg_us":221264,"p50_us":224039,"p90_us":233180,"p99_us":236798,"max_us":238177,"min":"196.422ms","avg":"221.264ms","p50":"224.039ms","p90":"233.180ms","p99":"236.798ms","max":"238.177ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/lat-8p-20k-128.txt b/results/20260912T051237Z/lat-8p-20k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..04dc29d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/lat-8p-20k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-8p-20k-128 ===
+{"count":20000,"pubs":8,"size":128,"mode":"flood","min_us":280608,"avg_us":414972,"p50_us":409802,"p90_us":513821,"p99_us":535394,"max_us":536084,"min":"280.608ms","avg":"414.972ms","p50":"409.802ms","p90":"513.821ms","p99":"535.394ms","max":"536.084ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/lat-ping-1k-128.txt b/results/20260912T051237Z/lat-ping-1k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c9bca7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/lat-ping-1k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-ping-1k-128 ===
+{"count":1000,"pubs":1,"size":128,"mode":"ping","min_us":341,"avg_us":470,"p50_us":395,"p90_us":651,"p99_us":1377,"max_us":3243,"min":"0.341ms","avg":"0.470ms","p50":"0.395ms","p90":"0.651ms","p99":"1.377ms","max":"3.243ms"}
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new file mode 100644
index 0000000..59b896e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.html
@@ -0,0 +1,1291 @@
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+<body>
+<div class="doc-banner"><nav class="site"><a href="/">zapier.georgelambert.org</a> · <a href="/index-md.html">Markdown indexes</a></nav><div class="kicker">Verae Time × Zapier · progress report · run on NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG</div><h1>NATS cluster message speed — NS1 host study</h1><div class="source-path">packages/zapier-decisions/reports/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.md</div></div>
+<header id="title-block-header">
+<h1 class="title">NATS cluster message speed — NS1 host study</h1>
+</header>
+<p><strong>Progress report (second study)</strong> · run
+<code>20260912T051237Z</code> (UTC)</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p><strong>Execution provenance.</strong> Every process for this study
+ran on <strong>NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG</strong>
+(<code>70.88.205.138</code>): the orchestrator
+(<code>study-on-ns1.sh</code>), <code>nats bench</code>,
+<code>latency.mjs</code> (inside LXC 510 on this hypervisor), charting
+(<code>matplotlib</code>), and HTML/PDF (<code>pandoc</code> +
+<code>weasyprint</code>). The operator laptop did <strong>not</strong>
+publish, subscribe, draw charts, or render the PDF. Traffic stayed on
+<code>vmbr1</code> from LXC <strong>510</strong> to
+<code>nats-a/b/c</code> (<strong>511–513</strong>).</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>This is a full methodology write-up plus the numbers from that
+on-host run. The earlier report (<code>nats-cluster-bench</code>, run
+<code>20260912T045131Z</code>) used the same cluster but was
+<strong>orchestrated and rendered off-box</strong>. Use this document
+when you need “it was all run on 138.”</p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="executive-summary">1. Executive summary</h2>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 24%" />
+<col style="width: 76%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Item</th>
+<th>This NS1-host run</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Control plane</td>
+<td>NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG (<code>70.88.205.138</code>), user
+<code>marchon</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Bench client</td>
+<td>LXC 510 <code>verae-px-worker</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Brokers</td>
+<td>LXC 511/512/513 <code>nats-a/b/c</code> on
+<code>10.10.10.21–23</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Client URL</td>
+<td><code>nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Host load before</td>
+<td><code>8.59 8.39 8.15 5/3843 4096277</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Host load after</td>
+<td><code>8.67 8.33 8.15 9/3863 4114865</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Core 1p1s 128 B pub</td>
+<td>502,502 msgs/s</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>JetStream 1p 128 B r=3</td>
+<td>7,393 durable pubs/s</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Ping p50 / p99</td>
+<td>0.395ms / 1.377ms</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>Product traffic is the JetStream row. Ping is one-message delay.
+Flood is mailbox catch-up after a burst.</p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="where-it-ran-and-where-it-did-not">2. Where it ran (and where it
+did not)</h2>
+<pre class="text"><code>Operator laptop  ──ssh──►  NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG  70.88.205.138
+                              study-on-ns1.sh
+                              python3 build-ns1-study-report.py
+                              sudo pct exec 510 ──► nats bench / latency.mjs
+                                                    │
+                                                    ▼ vmbr1
+                                              10.10.10.21-23 :4222</code></pre>
+<ul>
+<li><strong>Did run on 138:</strong> bash, python3, matplotlib, pandoc,
+weasyprint, <code>pct</code>, nats-server (in LXC), nats CLI and Node
+(in LXC 510).</li>
+<li><strong>Did not run on the laptop:</strong> no local
+<code>nats bench</code>, no local charting, no local WeasyPrint for this
+file.</li>
+</ul>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="results-this-run">3. Results (this run)</h2>
+<h3 id="host-and-brokers">Host and brokers</h3>
+<p><strong>Before</strong></p>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 7%" />
+<col style="width: 7%" />
+<col style="width: 17%" />
+<col style="width: 11%" />
+<col style="width: 13%" />
+<col style="width: 6%" />
+<col style="width: 9%" />
+<col style="width: 11%" />
+<col style="width: 14%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Node</th>
+<th>VMID</th>
+<th>connections</th>
+<th>in_msgs</th>
+<th>out_msgs</th>
+<th>cpu</th>
+<th>cores</th>
+<th>mem (B)</th>
+<th>jetstream</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>nats-a</td>
+<td>511</td>
+<td>2</td>
+<td>1,721,203</td>
+<td>4,933,759</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>26,398,720</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>nats-b</td>
+<td>512</td>
+<td>2</td>
+<td>1,613,205</td>
+<td>3,513,096</td>
+<td>0</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>23,097,344</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>nats-c</td>
+<td>513</td>
+<td>2</td>
+<td>1,760,973</td>
+<td>4,048,582</td>
+<td>2</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>23,867,392</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p><strong>After</strong></p>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 7%" />
+<col style="width: 7%" />
+<col style="width: 17%" />
+<col style="width: 11%" />
+<col style="width: 13%" />
+<col style="width: 6%" />
+<col style="width: 9%" />
+<col style="width: 11%" />
+<col style="width: 14%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Node</th>
+<th>VMID</th>
+<th>connections</th>
+<th>in_msgs</th>
+<th>out_msgs</th>
+<th>cpu</th>
+<th>cores</th>
+<th>mem (B)</th>
+<th>jetstream</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>nats-a</td>
+<td>511</td>
+<td>2</td>
+<td>2,097,596</td>
+<td>5,910,161</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>38,273,024</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>nats-b</td>
+<td>512</td>
+<td>2</td>
+<td>2,121,816</td>
+<td>4,746,539</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>41,361,408</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>nats-c</td>
+<td>513</td>
+<td>2</td>
+<td>2,241,366</td>
+<td>5,053,978</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>38,162,432</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>nproc=40 ·
+uname=<code>Linux NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG 6.17.2-1-pve #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC PMX 6.17.2-1 (2025-10-21T11:55Z) x86_64 GNU/Linux</code></p>
+<h3 id="throughput">Throughput</h3>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 6%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 24%" />
+<col style="width: 16%" />
+<col style="width: 13%" />
+<col style="width: 16%" />
+<col style="width: 13%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Run</th>
+<th>Mode</th>
+<th>Aggregate msgs/s</th>
+<th>Pub msgs/s</th>
+<th>Pub MB/s</th>
+<th>Sub msgs/s</th>
+<th>Sub MB/s</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>core-1p1s-50k-128</code></td>
+<td>core pub/sub</td>
+<td>776,331</td>
+<td>502,502</td>
+<td>61.34</td>
+<td>420,976</td>
+<td>51.39</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>core-4p4s-100k-128</code></td>
+<td>core pub/sub</td>
+<td>1,278,454</td>
+<td>379,985</td>
+<td>46.38</td>
+<td>1,078,910</td>
+<td>131.70</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>core-4p4s-50k-1k</code></td>
+<td>core pub/sub</td>
+<td>581,464</td>
+<td>209,545</td>
+<td>204.63</td>
+<td>482,645</td>
+<td>471.33</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>core-8p8s-200k-128</code></td>
+<td>core pub/sub</td>
+<td>2,065,217</td>
+<td>333,731</td>
+<td>40.74</td>
+<td>1,847,242</td>
+<td>225.49</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-1p-20k-128-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>7,393</td>
+<td>0.90</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>js-2p2s-20k-128-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>15,416</td>
+<td>7,728</td>
+<td>0.94</td>
+<td>7,711</td>
+<td>0.94</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-4p-20k-1k-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>14,985</td>
+<td>14.63</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>js-4p-50k-128-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>17,986</td>
+<td>2.20</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<h3 id="round-trip-delay">Round-trip delay</h3>
+<table style="width:100%;">
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 9%" />
+<col style="width: 11%" />
+<col style="width: 9%" />
+<col style="width: 9%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Run</th>
+<th>Kind</th>
+<th>Count</th>
+<th>Pubs</th>
+<th>Size</th>
+<th>min</th>
+<th>avg</th>
+<th>p50</th>
+<th>p90</th>
+<th>p99</th>
+<th>max</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>lat-ping-1k-128</code></td>
+<td>ping (sequential RTT)</td>
+<td>1000</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>128 B</td>
+<td>0.341ms</td>
+<td>0.470ms</td>
+<td>0.395ms</td>
+<td>0.651ms</td>
+<td>1.377ms</td>
+<td>3.243ms</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>lat-1p-5k-128</code></td>
+<td>flood (burst queueing)</td>
+<td>5000</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>128 B</td>
+<td>132.425ms</td>
+<td>203.717ms</td>
+<td>204.458ms</td>
+<td>241.750ms</td>
+<td>249.468ms</td>
+<td>249.640ms</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>lat-4p-5k-1k</code></td>
+<td>flood (burst queueing)</td>
+<td>5000</td>
+<td>4</td>
+<td>1024 B</td>
+<td>196.422ms</td>
+<td>221.264ms</td>
+<td>224.039ms</td>
+<td>233.180ms</td>
+<td>236.798ms</td>
+<td>238.177ms</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>lat-4p-10k-128</code></td>
+<td>flood (burst queueing)</td>
+<td>10000</td>
+<td>4</td>
+<td>128 B</td>
+<td>211.108ms</td>
+<td>294.925ms</td>
+<td>300.254ms</td>
+<td>314.223ms</td>
+<td>315.551ms</td>
+<td>316.091ms</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>lat-8p-20k-128</code></td>
+<td>flood (burst queueing)</td>
+<td>20000</td>
+<td>8</td>
+<td>128 B</td>
+<td>280.608ms</td>
+<td>414.972ms</td>
+<td>409.802ms</td>
+<td>513.821ms</td>
+<td>535.394ms</td>
+<td>536.084ms</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<h3 id="core-nats">Core NATS</h3>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts/core-throughput.png"
+alt="Core NATS throughput at four loads (NS1 host run)" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Core NATS throughput at four loads (NS1
+host run)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p><em>Core NATS throughput at four loads (NS1 host run)</em> ###
+Payload size (core)</p>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts/payload-size.png"
+alt="Core NATS 128 B vs 1 KiB (NS1 host run)" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Core NATS 128 B vs 1 KiB (NS1 host
+run)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p><em>Core NATS 128 B vs 1 KiB (NS1 host run)</em> ### JetStream r=3
+file</p>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts/js-throughput.png"
+alt="JetStream durable publish rate (NS1 host run)" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">JetStream durable publish rate (NS1 host
+run)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p><em>JetStream durable publish rate (NS1 host run)</em> ### Core vs
+JetStream</p>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts/core-vs-js.png"
+alt="Core vs JetStream publish rate, log scale (NS1 host run)" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Core vs JetStream publish rate, log scale
+(NS1 host run)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p><em>Core vs JetStream publish rate, log scale (NS1 host run)</em> ###
+Delay</p>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts/delay-percentiles.png"
+alt="Ping vs flood delay percentiles, log scale (NS1 host run)" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Ping vs flood delay percentiles, log
+scale (NS1 host run)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p><em>Ping vs flood delay percentiles, log scale (NS1 host
+run)</em></p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="study-methodology">4. Study methodology</h2>
+<h3 id="question">4.1 Question</h3>
+<p>On the NS1 test stand, what message <strong>throughput</strong> and
+<strong>delay</strong> does the three-node <code>verae</code> JetStream
+cluster deliver at several loads, and which part of the stack is the
+limiter for product traffic (jobs, events, webhooks, archive)?</p>
+<h3 id="hypotheses-stated-before-the-run">4.2 Hypotheses (stated before
+the run)</h3>
+<ol type="1">
+<li><strong>H1 — Core vs JetStream.</strong> Fire-and-forget core NATS
+is at least an order of magnitude faster than JetStream <strong>file +
+replicas=3</strong>, because durable publish waits for a majority disk
+replica.</li>
+<li><strong>H2 — JetStream parallelism.</strong> Adding publishers does
+<strong>not</strong> linearly increase JetStream write rate once the
+replica log is saturated.</li>
+<li><strong>H3 — Quiet delay.</strong> Sequential pub→sub round trip on
+<code>vmbr1</code> is well under 1 ms p99 when the consumer is
+waiting.</li>
+<li><strong>H4 — Burst delay.</strong> If publishers dump a batch before
+the subscriber drains, observed delay is <strong>queueing time</strong>,
+roughly linear in backlog, not in cluster hop count.</li>
+<li><strong>H5 — Payload.</strong> Moving 128 B → 1 KiB lowers message
+rate and raises byte rate on core NATS; JetStream in this size band
+stays replica/fsync bound.</li>
+</ol>
+<h3 id="independent-variables-what-we-changed">4.3 Independent variables
+(what we changed)</h3>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 50%" />
+<col style="width: 50%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Factor</th>
+<th>Levels</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Transport</td>
+<td>Core NATS pub/sub vs JetStream file replicas=3</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Publisher count</td>
+<td>1, 2, 4, 8</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Subscriber count</td>
+<td>0 (JS publish-only), 1, 2, 4, 8</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Message count</td>
+<td>1k, 5k, 10k, 20k, 50k, 100k, 200k (by ladder step)</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Payload</td>
+<td>128 B, 1024 B</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Delay mode</td>
+<td><strong>ping</strong> (publish, wait, repeat) vs
+<strong>flood</strong> (publish all, then drain)</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<h3 id="dependent-variables-what-we-recorded">4.4 Dependent variables
+(what we recorded)</h3>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 30%" />
+<col style="width: 46%" />
+<col style="width: 23%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Metric</th>
+<th>Instrument</th>
+<th>Unit</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Publish rate</td>
+<td><code>nats bench</code> 0.1.6 Pub stats</td>
+<td>msgs/s, MB/s</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Subscribe rate</td>
+<td><code>nats bench</code> Sub stats</td>
+<td>msgs/s, MB/s</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Aggregate</td>
+<td><code>nats bench</code> NATS Pub/Sub stats</td>
+<td>msgs/s (fan-out counts both sides)</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Publisher spread</td>
+<td>nats min/avg/max <strong>msgs/s</strong></td>
+<td>not delay</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>One-way-ish RTT</td>
+<td><code>latency.mjs</code> header timestamp</td>
+<td>min, avg, p50, p90, p99, max</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Host load</td>
+<td><code>/proc/loadavg</code> before and after</td>
+<td>load average</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Broker counters</td>
+<td><code>http://127.0.0.1:8222/varz</code> inside each nats LXC</td>
+<td>connections, in/out msgs, cpu, mem</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p><strong>Important:</strong> nats CLI 0.1.6 min/avg/max are
+<strong>rate spread across publishers</strong>, not microseconds of
+delay. Delay is only <code>latency.mjs</code>.</p>
+<h3 id="controls-and-constants">4.5 Controls and constants</h3>
+<ul>
+<li>Cluster name <code>verae</code>, three routes, client
+<code>:4222</code>, cluster <code>:6222</code>, monitor loopback
+<code>:8222</code>.</li>
+<li>Client URL always the three-node list on <code>vmbr1</code> (never
+host <code>127.0.0.1:4222</code>, never <code>vmbr0</code>).</li>
+<li>Bench client is LXC <strong>510</strong>, not a nats-* server.</li>
+<li>JetStream bench stream name <code>benchstream</code>,
+<strong>file</strong> storage, <strong>replicas=3</strong>, deleted
+between JS loads (<code>nats stream rm --force</code>) so names do not
+collide.</li>
+<li>Product streams were <strong>not</strong> the bench target (no load
+test on <code>ZAPIER_*</code> / <code>VERAE_ARCHIVE</code>).</li>
+<li>No TLS, no nkeys, no account isolation (isolation is
+<code>vmbr1</code>).</li>
+<li>Same nats CLI version (0.1.6) and <code>nats@2</code> Node client as
+the first ladder.</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="procedure">4.6 Procedure</h3>
+<ol type="1">
+<li>Confirm this script is executing on
+<strong>NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG</strong>. Refuse otherwise.</li>
+<li>Snapshot host load, memory, LXC configs, and each nats
+<code>varz</code>.</li>
+<li>From NS1, <code>pct exec 510</code> the core ladder (1p1s, 4p4s,
+8p8s at 128 B; 4p4s at 1 KiB).</li>
+<li>Delete <code>benchstream</code>; JS ladder (1p, 4p, 4p×1 KiB, 2p2s
+pull) at replicas=3 file.</li>
+<li>Copy <code>latency.mjs</code> into 510; ping then flood at several
+batch sizes.</li>
+<li>Snapshot host/<code>varz</code> again.</li>
+<li>Parse logs on <strong>this host</strong>; draw charts; write HTML
+and PDF on <strong>this host</strong>.</li>
+</ol>
+<p>No publish, subscribe, chart, or PDF process runs on the operator
+laptop for this study.</p>
+<h3 id="instrumentation-path">4.7 Instrumentation path</h3>
+<pre class="text"><code>[NS1 host 70.88.205.138]
+   study-on-ns1.sh  (bash + python3)
+        |
+        | sudo pct exec 510
+        v
+[LXC 510 verae-px-worker 10.10.10.20]
+   nats bench / node latency.mjs
+        |
+        | NATS client protocol to
+        v
+[LXC 511/512/513  10.10.10.21-23 :4222]
+   nats-server -js  cluster routes :6222</code></pre>
+<p>The hypervisor issues the guest commands. The messages themselves
+never leave <code>vmbr1</code>.</p>
+<h3 id="threats-to-validity">4.8 Threats to validity</h3>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 29%" />
+<col style="width: 70%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Threat</th>
+<th>Effect on numbers</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><strong>One physical host</strong></td>
+<td>Three “replicas” share CPU, memory, and usually the same datastore.
+This measures process/LXC HA, not disk HA.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><strong>Shared load</strong></td>
+<td>NS1 also runs Caddy, Forgejo, keep, fleet, portal, and other CTs.
+Load average during a run is part of the result, not noise to
+ignore.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><strong>Single bench client</strong></td>
+<td>All publishers live in 510. Per-publisher rate spread is contention
+in that guest.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><strong>Short runs</strong></td>
+<td>Seconds of traffic. No compaction, no multi-hour page-cache
+eviction, no snapshot during load.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><strong>No TLS/nkeys</strong></td>
+<td>Production auth will cost CPU. Do not treat these rates as
+post-nkeys rates.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><strong>Fan-out aggregate</strong></td>
+<td>Core aggregate msgs/s counts pub+sub. Do not compare that column to
+JetStream unique writes.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><strong>Flood ≠ RTT</strong></td>
+<td>Mixing flood averages with ping p99 produces a fake “NATS is slow”
+story.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><strong>Lab only</strong></td>
+<td>Not a Zapier HTTPS bench and not live
+<code>api.veraetime.net</code>.</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<h3 id="ethics-safety">4.9 Ethics / safety</h3>
+<p>Bench uses throwaway subjects (<code>bench.core.*</code>,
+<code>bench.js.*</code>, <code>bench.lat.*</code>) and a throwaway
+stream. It does not purge product streams. Zapier cloud has no NATS
+socket.</p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="suggestions-for-fine-tuning">5. Suggestions for fine-tuning</h2>
+<p>These follow from the method and from the first ladder on this stand
+(JetStream ~16k durable 128 B pubs/s; ping ~0.3 ms; flood hundreds of
+ms). Apply in order of leverage. Re-run <strong>this NS1 study</strong>
+after each change so the delta is measured the same way.</p>
+<h3 id="treat-jetstream-as-the-product-limiter">5.1 Treat JetStream as
+the product limiter</h3>
+<p>Product jobs/events/webhooks/archive are durable. Tuning core NATS to
+2M msgs/s will not move a timestamp Zap. Put effort into <strong>replica
+write path</strong> and <strong>consumer lag</strong>, not core
+fan-out.</p>
+<h3 id="split-storage-class-by-stream">5.2 Split storage class by
+stream</h3>
+<table style="width:100%;">
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 26%" />
+<col style="width: 56%" />
+<col style="width: 16%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Stream</th>
+<th>Suggested store</th>
+<th>Why</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>ZAPIER_JOBS</code></td>
+<td>file, r=3</td>
+<td>Work queue; lose-a-job is bad</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>ZAPIER_EVENTS</code></td>
+<td>file r=3, or memory r=3 if events are rebuildable from job
+status</td>
+<td>Hot waiters; measure both</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>ZAPIER_WEBHOOKS</code></td>
+<td>file, r=3, workqueue</td>
+<td>HTTPS to Zapier is the slow consumer</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>ZAPIER_USAGE</code></td>
+<td>file, r=3, limits + max-age</td>
+<td>Telemetry</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>VERAE_ARCHIVE</code></td>
+<td>file, r=3, on the <strong>best disk</strong></td>
+<td>Puts are larger and must survive</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>Try <code>ZAPIER_EVENTS</code> as memory store in a maintenance
+window and re-run only the JS + ping/flood steps. If ping stays ~0.3 ms
+and durable events still ack at a higher rate, keep it; if a CT restart
+drops in-flight waiters, revert.</p>
+<h3 id="give-jetstream-real-disks">5.3 Give JetStream real disks</h3>
+<p>Today r=3 on three LXC guests on <strong>one Proxmox host</strong> is
+three files, one failure domain.</p>
+<ul>
+<li>Bind-mount a distinct SSD/NVMe (or ZFS dataset with its own vdev)
+into each nats LXC <code>store_dir</code>.</li>
+<li>Set <code>sync: always</code> only on archive if you need it;
+default sync is often enough for jobs and is faster. Measure.</li>
+<li>Do not put JetStream <code>store_dir</code> on the same busy rootfs
+as Forgejo/Caddy if we can avoid it.</li>
+<li>When moving to three metal boxes: same configs, private NIC, one
+disk (or mirror) <strong>per node</strong>. That is the first change
+that makes r=3 mean “two boxes can die.”</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="isolate-the-nats-cts-from-the-rest-of-ns1">5.4 Isolate the nats
+CTs from the rest of NS1</h3>
+<p>Host load on this box is often already several. Pin:</p>
+<ul>
+<li><code>nats-a/b/c</code>: dedicated cores, no steal from keep/fleet
+Node processes.</li>
+<li>Memory high enough that file-backed streams stay cache-hot for the
+working set.</li>
+<li><code>cpuunits</code> / cpuset in <code>pct config</code> so a
+Zapier-facing Node GC pause does not stall fsync.</li>
+</ul>
+<p>Re-run this study after pinning; H1/H2 should move more than
+ping.</p>
+<h3 id="consumer-and-mailbox-tuning-delay-h4">5.5 Consumer and mailbox
+tuning (delay H4)</h3>
+<p>Flood delay is backlog / consume_rate. Fine-tune the
+<strong>waiters</strong>, not the broker RTT.</p>
+<ul>
+<li><code>jobs.events</code> and <code>webhooks.deliver</code>: raise
+<code>max_ack_pending</code> so a slow HTTPS hook does not stall the
+whole consumer; cap it so a poison message cannot unbounded-buffer
+RAM.</li>
+<li>Pull consumers: larger batch, shorter <code>expires</code>, more
+pullers horizontally (fleet replica floors) instead of one fat
+subscriber.</li>
+<li>Middleware should <strong>not</strong> flood-publish then wait; it
+already does per-job publish. Keep that. The flood test is the outage
+profile when a consumer is stopped.</li>
+<li>Alert on <strong>consumer lag</strong> (pending + ack pending) from
+JetStream, not on ping RTT.</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="publisher-side-batching-in-middleware">5.6 Publisher-side
+batching in middleware</h3>
+<p>A timestamp job is one small JSON. 16k msgs/s is ample. Still:</p>
+<ul>
+<li>Avoid per-byte publishes; one message per job/event.</li>
+<li>Reuse NATS connections (connection churn showed up as publisher
+spread in the core 4p/8p runs).</li>
+<li>Idempotent <code>msg id</code> / duplicate window sized to Verae
+retry window, not default-only.</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="nats-server-knobs-worth-measuring-ab-with-this-script">5.7
+nats-server knobs worth measuring (A/B with this script)</h3>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 33%" />
+<col style="width: 66%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Knob</th>
+<th>Why try it</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>max_payload</code></td>
+<td>Keep default unless archive puts grow</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>write_deadline</code></td>
+<td>Slow consumer protection for webhooks</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>max_pending</code></td>
+<td>Bound memory on a stuck Zapier hook</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>max_connections</code></td>
+<td>Fleet workers + keep + middleware</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>JetStream <code>max_file_store</code> /
+<code>max_memory_store</code></td>
+<td>Prevent one stream from filling the CT</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>max_outstanding_catchup</code></td>
+<td>Replica restart after a nats-c blip</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>GOMAXPROCS = LXC cores</td>
+<td>Do not overthread a 2-core CT</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>Change <strong>one</strong> knob, re-run
+<code>study-on-ns1.sh</code>, compare JetStream 1p 128 B and ping
+p99.</p>
+<h3 id="network">5.8 Network</h3>
+<ul>
+<li>Keep NATS off <code>vmbr0</code>. No change.</li>
+<li>When on metal: dedicated NIC or VLAN for cluster <code>:6222</code>
+vs client <code>:4222</code> if possible (replication vs client
+load).</li>
+<li>Check virtio queue counts on the LXC nics if core 1 KiB byte rate
+plateaus.</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="security-cost-when-nkeysmtls-flip">5.9 Security cost (when
+nkeys/mTLS flip)</h3>
+<p><code>verae-nats-accounts</code> is still a sketch. Enabling accounts
+will add CPU on publish. Budget: re-run this exact study
+<strong>after</strong> creds are in every <code>NATS_URL</code>, and
+accept a drop on both core and JS. Do not flip without that
+measurement.</p>
+<h3 id="operational-fine-tuning-lag-not-peak-msgss">5.10 Operational
+fine-tuning (lag, not peak msgs/s)</h3>
+<ol type="1">
+<li>Scrape <code>varz</code> / <code>jsz</code> from the host over
+<code>vmbr1</code> (not public). Monitor loopback <code>:8222</code> is
+invisible to Prometheus on NS1 unless we add a host-side proxy on
+<code>10.10.10.21:8222</code> bound only to <code>vmbr1</code>.</li>
+<li>Keep replica floors for webhook-deliver and job-poller — they are
+the flood defense.</li>
+<li>Backup/restore drill of JetStream <strong>during idle</strong>, then
+a short JS 1p run to see catchup cost.</li>
+<li>A 15–30 minute soak (not in this ladder) for page cache and
+compaction; add that as a third study when disks are dedicated.</li>
+</ol>
+<h3 id="what-not-to-tune">5.11 What not to tune</h3>
+<ul>
+<li>Do not chase core 8p8s aggregate. It is fan-out on a lab
+bridge.</li>
+<li>Do not treat flood 400 ms as “cluster RTT.” Fix consumers.</li>
+<li>Do not load-test on <code>ZAPIER_*</code> streams.</li>
+<li>Do not bind client NATS to <code>0.0.0.0</code> on
+<code>vmbr0</code>.</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="recommended-next-experiments-same-method-one-change-each">5.12
+Recommended next experiments (same method, one change each)</h3>
+<ol type="1">
+<li>CPU pin nats-a/b/c → re-run JS 1p + ping.</li>
+<li><code>ZAPIER_EVENTS</code>-shaped memory stream vs file (throwaway
+stream, same flags as this JS ladder).</li>
+<li>Distinct <code>store_dir</code> disks per node.</li>
+<li>nkeys on, same ladder.</li>
+<li>Three hardware boxes, same <code>cluster.env</code> IPs
+updated.</li>
+</ol>
+<p>Each experiment should produce a new
+<code>results/&lt;utc&gt;/</code> on NS1 and a new progress-repo report
+so we can diff H1–H5 instead of arguing from memory.</p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="reproducing-this-study">6. Reproducing this study</h2>
+<p>On <strong>NS1 only</strong>:</p>
+<div class="sourceCode" id="cb3"><pre
+class="sourceCode bash"><code class="sourceCode bash"><span id="cb3-1"><a href="#cb3-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="bu">cd</span> ~/verae-src/verae-nats-cluster</span>
+<span id="cb3-2"><a href="#cb3-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="fu">bash</span> scripts/study-on-ns1.sh</span></code></pre></div>
+<p>The script exits if <code>hostname</code> is not NS1. Outputs land in
+<code>results/&lt;utc&gt;/</code> including
+<code>nats-cluster-bench-ns1.{md,html,pdf}</code> and
+<code>charts/</code>. Copy those into
+<code>zapier-decisions/reports/</code> for the progress repo and
+catalog.</p>
+<p>Raw logs for this run: <code>results/20260912T051237Z/</code>.</p>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.md b/results/20260912T051237Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cf0011d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.md
@@ -0,0 +1,334 @@
+**Progress report (second study)** · run `20260912T051237Z` (UTC)
+
+> **Execution provenance.** Every process for this study ran on **NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG** (`70.88.205.138`): the orchestrator (`study-on-ns1.sh`), `nats bench`, `latency.mjs` (inside LXC 510 on this hypervisor), charting (`matplotlib`), and HTML/PDF (`pandoc` + `weasyprint`). The operator laptop did **not** publish, subscribe, draw charts, or render the PDF. Traffic stayed on `vmbr1` from LXC **510** to `nats-a/b/c` (**511–513**).
+
+This is a full methodology write-up plus the numbers from that on-host run. The earlier report (`nats-cluster-bench`, run `20260912T045131Z`) used the same cluster but was **orchestrated and rendered off-box**. Use this document when you need “it was all run on 138.”
+
+---
+
+## 1. Executive summary
+
+| Item | This NS1-host run |
+|------|-------------------|
+| Control plane | NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG (`70.88.205.138`), user `marchon` |
+| Bench client | LXC 510 `verae-px-worker` |
+| Brokers | LXC 511/512/513 `nats-a/b/c` on `10.10.10.21–23` |
+| Client URL | `nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222` |
+| Host load before | `8.59 8.39 8.15 5/3843 4096277` |
+| Host load after | `8.67 8.33 8.15 9/3863 4114865` |
+| Core 1p1s 128 B pub | 502,502 msgs/s |
+| JetStream 1p 128 B r=3 | 7,393 durable pubs/s |
+| Ping p50 / p99 | 0.395ms / 1.377ms |
+
+Product traffic is the JetStream row. Ping is one-message delay. Flood is mailbox catch-up after a burst.
+
+---
+
+## 2. Where it ran (and where it did not)
+
+```text
+Operator laptop  ──ssh──►  NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG  70.88.205.138
+                              study-on-ns1.sh
+                              python3 build-ns1-study-report.py
+                              sudo pct exec 510 ──► nats bench / latency.mjs
+                                                    │
+                                                    ▼ vmbr1
+                                              10.10.10.21-23 :4222
+```
+
+- **Did run on 138:** bash, python3, matplotlib, pandoc, weasyprint, `pct`, nats-server (in LXC), nats CLI and Node (in LXC 510).
+- **Did not run on the laptop:** no local `nats bench`, no local charting, no local WeasyPrint for this file.
+
+---
+
+## 3. Results (this run)
+
+### Host and brokers
+
+**Before**
+
+| Node | VMID | connections | in_msgs | out_msgs | cpu | cores | mem (B) | jetstream |
+|------|------|-------------|---------|----------|-----|-------|---------|-----------|
+| nats-a | 511 | 2 | 1,721,203 | 4,933,759 | 1 | 1 | 26,398,720 | True |
+| nats-b | 512 | 2 | 1,613,205 | 3,513,096 | 0 | 1 | 23,097,344 | True |
+| nats-c | 513 | 2 | 1,760,973 | 4,048,582 | 2 | 1 | 23,867,392 | True |
+
+**After**
+
+| Node | VMID | connections | in_msgs | out_msgs | cpu | cores | mem (B) | jetstream |
+|------|------|-------------|---------|----------|-----|-------|---------|-----------|
+| nats-a | 511 | 2 | 2,097,596 | 5,910,161 | 1 | 1 | 38,273,024 | True |
+| nats-b | 512 | 2 | 2,121,816 | 4,746,539 | 1 | 1 | 41,361,408 | True |
+| nats-c | 513 | 2 | 2,241,366 | 5,053,978 | 1 | 1 | 38,162,432 | True |
+
+nproc=40 · uname=`Linux NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG 6.17.2-1-pve #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC PMX 6.17.2-1 (2025-10-21T11:55Z) x86_64 GNU/Linux`
+
+### Throughput
+
+| Run | Mode | Aggregate msgs/s | Pub msgs/s | Pub MB/s | Sub msgs/s | Sub MB/s |
+|-----|------|------------------|------------|----------|------------|----------|
+| `core-1p1s-50k-128` | core pub/sub | 776,331 | 502,502 | 61.34 | 420,976 | 51.39 |
+| `core-4p4s-100k-128` | core pub/sub | 1,278,454 | 379,985 | 46.38 | 1,078,910 | 131.70 |
+| `core-4p4s-50k-1k` | core pub/sub | 581,464 | 209,545 | 204.63 | 482,645 | 471.33 |
+| `core-8p8s-200k-128` | core pub/sub | 2,065,217 | 333,731 | 40.74 | 1,847,242 | 225.49 |
+| `js-1p-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 7,393 | 0.90 | — | — |
+| `js-2p2s-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | 15,416 | 7,728 | 0.94 | 7,711 | 0.94 |
+| `js-4p-20k-1k-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 14,985 | 14.63 | — | — |
+| `js-4p-50k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 17,986 | 2.20 | — | — |
+
+### Round-trip delay
+
+| Run | Kind | Count | Pubs | Size | min | avg | p50 | p90 | p99 | max |
+|-----|------|-------|------|------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
+| `lat-ping-1k-128` | ping (sequential RTT) | 1000 | 1 | 128 B | 0.341ms | 0.470ms | 0.395ms | 0.651ms | 1.377ms | 3.243ms |
+| `lat-1p-5k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 5000 | 1 | 128 B | 132.425ms | 203.717ms | 204.458ms | 241.750ms | 249.468ms | 249.640ms |
+| `lat-4p-5k-1k` | flood (burst queueing) | 5000 | 4 | 1024 B | 196.422ms | 221.264ms | 224.039ms | 233.180ms | 236.798ms | 238.177ms |
+| `lat-4p-10k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 10000 | 4 | 128 B | 211.108ms | 294.925ms | 300.254ms | 314.223ms | 315.551ms | 316.091ms |
+| `lat-8p-20k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 20000 | 8 | 128 B | 280.608ms | 414.972ms | 409.802ms | 513.821ms | 535.394ms | 536.084ms |
+
+### Core NATS
+
+![Core NATS throughput at four loads (NS1 host run)](charts/core-throughput.png)
+
+*Core NATS throughput at four loads (NS1 host run)*
+### Payload size (core)
+
+![Core NATS 128 B vs 1 KiB (NS1 host run)](charts/payload-size.png)
+
+*Core NATS 128 B vs 1 KiB (NS1 host run)*
+### JetStream r=3 file
+
+![JetStream durable publish rate (NS1 host run)](charts/js-throughput.png)
+
+*JetStream durable publish rate (NS1 host run)*
+### Core vs JetStream
+
+![Core vs JetStream publish rate, log scale (NS1 host run)](charts/core-vs-js.png)
+
+*Core vs JetStream publish rate, log scale (NS1 host run)*
+### Delay
+
+![Ping vs flood delay percentiles, log scale (NS1 host run)](charts/delay-percentiles.png)
+
+*Ping vs flood delay percentiles, log scale (NS1 host run)*
+
+---
+
+## 4. Study methodology
+
+### 4.1 Question
+
+On the NS1 test stand, what message **throughput** and **delay** does the three-node `verae` JetStream cluster deliver at several loads, and which part of the stack is the limiter for product traffic (jobs, events, webhooks, archive)?
+
+### 4.2 Hypotheses (stated before the run)
+
+1. **H1 — Core vs JetStream.** Fire-and-forget core NATS is at least an order of magnitude faster than JetStream **file + replicas=3**, because durable publish waits for a majority disk replica.
+2. **H2 — JetStream parallelism.** Adding publishers does **not** linearly increase JetStream write rate once the replica log is saturated.
+3. **H3 — Quiet delay.** Sequential pub→sub round trip on `vmbr1` is well under 1 ms p99 when the consumer is waiting.
+4. **H4 — Burst delay.** If publishers dump a batch before the subscriber drains, observed delay is **queueing time**, roughly linear in backlog, not in cluster hop count.
+5. **H5 — Payload.** Moving 128 B → 1 KiB lowers message rate and raises byte rate on core NATS; JetStream in this size band stays replica/fsync bound.
+
+### 4.3 Independent variables (what we changed)
+
+| Factor | Levels |
+|--------|--------|
+| Transport | Core NATS pub/sub vs JetStream file replicas=3 |
+| Publisher count | 1, 2, 4, 8 |
+| Subscriber count | 0 (JS publish-only), 1, 2, 4, 8 |
+| Message count | 1k, 5k, 10k, 20k, 50k, 100k, 200k (by ladder step) |
+| Payload | 128 B, 1024 B |
+| Delay mode | **ping** (publish, wait, repeat) vs **flood** (publish all, then drain) |
+
+### 4.4 Dependent variables (what we recorded)
+
+| Metric | Instrument | Unit |
+|--------|------------|------|
+| Publish rate | `nats bench` 0.1.6 Pub stats | msgs/s, MB/s |
+| Subscribe rate | `nats bench` Sub stats | msgs/s, MB/s |
+| Aggregate | `nats bench` NATS Pub/Sub stats | msgs/s (fan-out counts both sides) |
+| Publisher spread | nats min/avg/max **msgs/s** | not delay |
+| One-way-ish RTT | `latency.mjs` header timestamp | min, avg, p50, p90, p99, max |
+| Host load | `/proc/loadavg` before and after | load average |
+| Broker counters | `http://127.0.0.1:8222/varz` inside each nats LXC | connections, in/out msgs, cpu, mem |
+
+**Important:** nats CLI 0.1.6 min/avg/max are **rate spread across publishers**, not microseconds of delay. Delay is only `latency.mjs`.
+
+### 4.5 Controls and constants
+
+- Cluster name `verae`, three routes, client `:4222`, cluster `:6222`, monitor loopback `:8222`.
+- Client URL always the three-node list on `vmbr1` (never host `127.0.0.1:4222`, never `vmbr0`).
+- Bench client is LXC **510**, not a nats-* server.
+- JetStream bench stream name `benchstream`, **file** storage, **replicas=3**, deleted between JS loads (`nats stream rm --force`) so names do not collide.
+- Product streams were **not** the bench target (no load test on `ZAPIER_*` / `VERAE_ARCHIVE`).
+- No TLS, no nkeys, no account isolation (isolation is `vmbr1`).
+- Same nats CLI version (0.1.6) and `nats@2` Node client as the first ladder.
+
+### 4.6 Procedure
+
+1. Confirm this script is executing on **NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG**. Refuse otherwise.
+2. Snapshot host load, memory, LXC configs, and each nats `varz`.
+3. From NS1, `pct exec 510` the core ladder (1p1s, 4p4s, 8p8s at 128 B; 4p4s at 1 KiB).
+4. Delete `benchstream`; JS ladder (1p, 4p, 4p×1 KiB, 2p2s pull) at replicas=3 file.
+5. Copy `latency.mjs` into 510; ping then flood at several batch sizes.
+6. Snapshot host/`varz` again.
+7. Parse logs on **this host**; draw charts; write HTML and PDF on **this host**.
+
+No publish, subscribe, chart, or PDF process runs on the operator laptop for this study.
+
+### 4.7 Instrumentation path
+
+```text
+[NS1 host 70.88.205.138]
+   study-on-ns1.sh  (bash + python3)
+        |
+        | sudo pct exec 510
+        v
+[LXC 510 verae-px-worker 10.10.10.20]
+   nats bench / node latency.mjs
+        |
+        | NATS client protocol to
+        v
+[LXC 511/512/513  10.10.10.21-23 :4222]
+   nats-server -js  cluster routes :6222
+```
+
+The hypervisor issues the guest commands. The messages themselves never leave `vmbr1`.
+
+### 4.8 Threats to validity
+
+| Threat | Effect on numbers |
+|--------|-------------------|
+| **One physical host** | Three “replicas” share CPU, memory, and usually the same datastore. This measures process/LXC HA, not disk HA. |
+| **Shared load** | NS1 also runs Caddy, Forgejo, keep, fleet, portal, and other CTs. Load average during a run is part of the result, not noise to ignore. |
+| **Single bench client** | All publishers live in 510. Per-publisher rate spread is contention in that guest. |
+| **Short runs** | Seconds of traffic. No compaction, no multi-hour page-cache eviction, no snapshot during load. |
+| **No TLS/nkeys** | Production auth will cost CPU. Do not treat these rates as post-nkeys rates. |
+| **Fan-out aggregate** | Core aggregate msgs/s counts pub+sub. Do not compare that column to JetStream unique writes. |
+| **Flood ≠ RTT** | Mixing flood averages with ping p99 produces a fake “NATS is slow” story. |
+| **Lab only** | Not a Zapier HTTPS bench and not live `api.veraetime.net`. |
+
+### 4.9 Ethics / safety
+
+Bench uses throwaway subjects (`bench.core.*`, `bench.js.*`, `bench.lat.*`) and a throwaway stream. It does not purge product streams. Zapier cloud has no NATS socket.
+
+---
+
+## 5. Suggestions for fine-tuning
+
+These follow from the method and from the first ladder on this stand (JetStream ~16k durable 128 B pubs/s; ping ~0.3 ms; flood hundreds of ms). Apply in order of leverage. Re-run **this NS1 study** after each change so the delta is measured the same way.
+
+### 5.1 Treat JetStream as the product limiter
+
+Product jobs/events/webhooks/archive are durable. Tuning core NATS to 2M msgs/s will not move a timestamp Zap. Put effort into **replica write path** and **consumer lag**, not core fan-out.
+
+### 5.2 Split storage class by stream
+
+| Stream | Suggested store | Why |
+|--------|-----------------|-----|
+| `ZAPIER_JOBS` | file, r=3 | Work queue; lose-a-job is bad |
+| `ZAPIER_EVENTS` | file r=3, or memory r=3 if events are rebuildable from job status | Hot waiters; measure both |
+| `ZAPIER_WEBHOOKS` | file, r=3, workqueue | HTTPS to Zapier is the slow consumer |
+| `ZAPIER_USAGE` | file, r=3, limits + max-age | Telemetry |
+| `VERAE_ARCHIVE` | file, r=3, on the **best disk** | Puts are larger and must survive |
+
+Try `ZAPIER_EVENTS` as memory store in a maintenance window and re-run only the JS + ping/flood steps. If ping stays ~0.3 ms and durable events still ack at a higher rate, keep it; if a CT restart drops in-flight waiters, revert.
+
+### 5.3 Give JetStream real disks
+
+Today r=3 on three LXC guests on **one Proxmox host** is three files, one failure domain.
+
+- Bind-mount a distinct SSD/NVMe (or ZFS dataset with its own vdev) into each nats LXC `store_dir`.
+- Set `sync: always` only on archive if you need it; default sync is often enough for jobs and is faster. Measure.
+- Do not put JetStream `store_dir` on the same busy rootfs as Forgejo/Caddy if we can avoid it.
+- When moving to three metal boxes: same configs, private NIC, one disk (or mirror) **per node**. That is the first change that makes r=3 mean “two boxes can die.”
+
+### 5.4 Isolate the nats CTs from the rest of NS1
+
+Host load on this box is often already several. Pin:
+
+- `nats-a/b/c`: dedicated cores, no steal from keep/fleet Node processes.
+- Memory high enough that file-backed streams stay cache-hot for the working set.
+- `cpuunits` / cpuset in `pct config` so a Zapier-facing Node GC pause does not stall fsync.
+
+Re-run this study after pinning; H1/H2 should move more than ping.
+
+### 5.5 Consumer and mailbox tuning (delay H4)
+
+Flood delay is backlog / consume_rate. Fine-tune the **waiters**, not the broker RTT.
+
+- `jobs.events` and `webhooks.deliver`: raise `max_ack_pending` so a slow HTTPS hook does not stall the whole consumer; cap it so a poison message cannot unbounded-buffer RAM.
+- Pull consumers: larger batch, shorter `expires`, more pullers horizontally (fleet replica floors) instead of one fat subscriber.
+- Middleware should **not** flood-publish then wait; it already does per-job publish. Keep that. The flood test is the outage profile when a consumer is stopped.
+- Alert on **consumer lag** (pending + ack pending) from JetStream, not on ping RTT.
+
+### 5.6 Publisher-side batching in middleware
+
+A timestamp job is one small JSON. 16k msgs/s is ample. Still:
+
+- Avoid per-byte publishes; one message per job/event.
+- Reuse NATS connections (connection churn showed up as publisher spread in the core 4p/8p runs).
+- Idempotent `msg id` / duplicate window sized to Verae retry window, not default-only.
+
+### 5.7 nats-server knobs worth measuring (A/B with this script)
+
+| Knob | Why try it |
+|------|------------|
+| `max_payload` | Keep default unless archive puts grow |
+| `write_deadline` | Slow consumer protection for webhooks |
+| `max_pending` | Bound memory on a stuck Zapier hook |
+| `max_connections` | Fleet workers + keep + middleware |
+| JetStream `max_file_store` / `max_memory_store` | Prevent one stream from filling the CT |
+| `max_outstanding_catchup` | Replica restart after a nats-c blip |
+| GOMAXPROCS = LXC cores | Do not overthread a 2-core CT |
+
+Change **one** knob, re-run `study-on-ns1.sh`, compare JetStream 1p 128 B and ping p99.
+
+### 5.8 Network
+
+- Keep NATS off `vmbr0`. No change.
+- When on metal: dedicated NIC or VLAN for cluster `:6222` vs client `:4222` if possible (replication vs client load).
+- Check virtio queue counts on the LXC nics if core 1 KiB byte rate plateaus.
+
+### 5.9 Security cost (when nkeys/mTLS flip)
+
+`verae-nats-accounts` is still a sketch. Enabling accounts will add CPU on publish. Budget: re-run this exact study **after** creds are in every `NATS_URL`, and accept a drop on both core and JS. Do not flip without that measurement.
+
+### 5.10 Operational fine-tuning (lag, not peak msgs/s)
+
+1. Scrape `varz` / `jsz` from the host over `vmbr1` (not public). Monitor loopback `:8222` is invisible to Prometheus on NS1 unless we add a host-side proxy on `10.10.10.21:8222` bound only to `vmbr1`.
+2. Keep replica floors for webhook-deliver and job-poller — they are the flood defense.
+3. Backup/restore drill of JetStream **during idle**, then a short JS 1p run to see catchup cost.
+4. A 15–30 minute soak (not in this ladder) for page cache and compaction; add that as a third study when disks are dedicated.
+
+### 5.11 What not to tune
+
+- Do not chase core 8p8s aggregate. It is fan-out on a lab bridge.
+- Do not treat flood 400 ms as “cluster RTT.” Fix consumers.
+- Do not load-test on `ZAPIER_*` streams.
+- Do not bind client NATS to `0.0.0.0` on `vmbr0`.
+
+### 5.12 Recommended next experiments (same method, one change each)
+
+1. CPU pin nats-a/b/c → re-run JS 1p + ping.
+2. `ZAPIER_EVENTS`-shaped memory stream vs file (throwaway stream, same flags as this JS ladder).
+3. Distinct `store_dir` disks per node.
+4. nkeys on, same ladder.
+5. Three hardware boxes, same `cluster.env` IPs updated.
+
+Each experiment should produce a new `results/<utc>/` on NS1 and a new progress-repo report so we can diff H1–H5 instead of arguing from memory.
+
+
+---
+
+## 6. Reproducing this study
+
+On **NS1 only**:
+
+```bash
+cd ~/verae-src/verae-nats-cluster
+bash scripts/study-on-ns1.sh
+```
+
+The script exits if `hostname` is not NS1. Outputs land in `results/<utc>/` including `nats-cluster-bench-ns1.{md,html,pdf}` and `charts/`. Copy those into `zapier-decisions/reports/` for the progress repo and catalog.
+
+Raw logs for this run: `results/20260912T051237Z/`.
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.pdf b/results/20260912T051237Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.pdf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c25d95e
Binary files /dev/null and b/results/20260912T051237Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.pdf differ
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/varz-after.json b/results/20260912T051237Z/varz-after.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c55309c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/varz-after.json
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+[
+  {
+    "vmid": "511",
+    "name": "nats-a",
+    "server_name": "nats-a",
+    "host": "10.10.10.21",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 2,
+    "in_msgs": 2097596,
+    "out_msgs": 5910161,
+    "in_bytes": 559427613,
+    "out_bytes": 1494241553,
+    "cpu": 1,
+    "cores": 1,
+    "mem": 38273024,
+    "jetstream": true
+  },
+  {
+    "vmid": "512",
+    "name": "nats-b",
+    "server_name": "nats-b",
+    "host": "10.10.10.22",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 2,
+    "in_msgs": 2121816,
+    "out_msgs": 4746539,
+    "in_bytes": 585390797,
+    "out_bytes": 974695990,
+    "cpu": 1,
+    "cores": 1,
+    "mem": 41361408,
+    "jetstream": true
+  },
+  {
+    "vmid": "513",
+    "name": "nats-c",
+    "server_name": "nats-c",
+    "host": "10.10.10.23",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 2,
+    "in_msgs": 2241366,
+    "out_msgs": 5053978,
+    "in_bytes": 586858467,
+    "out_bytes": 1040486148,
+    "cpu": 1,
+    "cores": 1,
+    "mem": 38162432,
+    "jetstream": true
+  }
+]
diff --git a/results/20260912T051237Z/varz-before.json b/results/20260912T051237Z/varz-before.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..945da17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T051237Z/varz-before.json
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+[
+  {
+    "vmid": "511",
+    "name": "nats-a",
+    "server_name": "nats-a",
+    "host": "10.10.10.21",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 2,
+    "in_msgs": 1721203,
+    "out_msgs": 4933759,
+    "in_bytes": 440427700,
+    "out_bytes": 1169323990,
+    "cpu": 1,
+    "cores": 1,
+    "mem": 26398720,
+    "jetstream": true
+  },
+  {
+    "vmid": "512",
+    "name": "nats-b",
+    "server_name": "nats-b",
+    "host": "10.10.10.22",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 2,
+    "in_msgs": 1613205,
+    "out_msgs": 3513096,
+    "in_bytes": 428640182,
+    "out_bytes": 715428083,
+    "cpu": 0,
+    "cores": 1,
+    "mem": 23097344,
+    "jetstream": true
+  },
+  {
+    "vmid": "513",
+    "name": "nats-c",
+    "server_name": "nats-c",
+    "host": "10.10.10.23",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 2,
+    "in_msgs": 1760973,
+    "out_msgs": 4048582,
+    "in_bytes": 447844308,
+    "out_bytes": 864199465,
+    "cpu": 2,
+    "cores": 1,
+    "mem": 23867392,
+    "jetstream": true
+  }
+]
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/BENCH.md b/results/20260912T053120Z/BENCH.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c3a69ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/BENCH.md
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# NATS cluster message speed
+
+Run **`20260912T053120Z`** (UTC). Client: LXC **510** `verae-px-worker` (`10.10.10.20`), not a nats-* server. Servers: `nats-a/b/c` on `10.10.10.21–23` (`vmbr1` only).
+
+Client URL:
+
+```text
+nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222
+```
+
+## Method
+
+- **Core NATS** is fire-and-forget pub/sub (`nats bench`). No disk, no replica ack.
+- **JetStream** uses **file** storage and **replicas=3** (same as product streams). The unique stream `benchstream` is deleted between JS loads.
+- Throughput is **msgs/sec** from nats CLI **0.1.6** (`--no-progress --csv`). Its min/avg/max are publisher **rate spread**, not delay.
+- **Ping** delay: one publisher, sequential publish-then-wait. This is one-message round-trip through the cluster.
+- **Flood** delay: N publishers dump the whole batch, then the subscriber drains. This is **queueing under burst**, not wire RTT.
+- Probe: `scripts/latency.mjs` (two connections, header timestamp).
+
+## Throughput
+
+| Run | Mode | Aggregate msgs/s | Pub msgs/s | Pub MB/s | Sub msgs/s | Sub MB/s |
+|-----|------|------------------|------------|----------|------------|----------|
+| `core-1p1s-50k-128` | core pub/sub | 810,988 | 599,004 | 73.12 | 456,116 | 55.68 |
+| `core-4p4s-100k-128` | core pub/sub | 1,361,921 | 379,346 | 46.31 | 1,150,536 | 140.45 |
+| `core-4p4s-50k-1k` | core pub/sub | 695,192 | 175,725 | 171.61 | 584,024 | 570.34 |
+| `core-8p8s-200k-128` | core pub/sub | 1,998,733 | 283,259 | 34.58 | 1,780,589 | 217.36 |
+| `js-1p-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 17,388 | 2.12 | — | — |
+| `js-2p2s-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | 19,876 | 9,959 | 1.22 | 9,942 | 1.21 |
+| `js-4p-20k-1k-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 18,114 | 17.69 | — | — |
+| `js-4p-50k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 22,853 | 2.79 | — | — |
+| `js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 22,153 | 2.70 | — | — |
+| `js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 28,685 | 28.01 | — | — |
+| `js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 36,355 | 4.44 | — | — |
+
+## Round-trip delay
+
+| Run | Kind | Count | Pubs | Size | min | avg | p50 | p90 | p99 | max |
+|-----|------|-------|------|------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
+| `lat-ping-1k-128` | ping (sequential RTT) | 1000 | 1 | 128 B | 0.250ms | 0.319ms | 0.299ms | 0.363ms | 0.684ms | 2.759ms |
+| `lat-1p-5k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 5000 | 1 | 128 B | 94.920ms | 132.026ms | 131.990ms | 156.086ms | 158.860ms | 158.965ms |
+| `lat-4p-5k-1k` | flood (burst queueing) | 5000 | 4 | 1024 B | 113.281ms | 132.425ms | 131.457ms | 140.317ms | 144.683ms | 145.365ms |
+| `lat-4p-10k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 10000 | 4 | 128 B | 153.318ms | 204.329ms | 205.865ms | 234.151ms | 237.346ms | 237.477ms |
+| `lat-8p-20k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 20000 | 8 | 128 B | 233.727ms | 310.924ms | 311.170ms | 373.437ms | 400.764ms | 402.811ms |
+
+## What the numbers mean
+
+Product job/event/archive traffic is **JetStream r=3 file**. On this three-LXC stand that is about **16k durable 128 B pubs/s** (about **13k** at 1 KiB). Core NATS is an upper bound for non-durable fan-out: about **0.7–2.0M msgs/s** aggregate at 128 B, or **~630k msgs/s (~616 MB/s)** at 1 KiB with 4 publishers.
+
+A quiet request-reply is **~0.3 ms** average, **p99 < 1 ms**. Flood rows in the **150–500 ms** band are the subscriber catching up after a burst, which is what a job-events mailbox sees if publishers outrun consumers.
+
+Re-run on NS1: `bash scripts/bench.sh`. Raw logs/CSVs are under `results/<utc>/`.
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diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.csv b/results/20260912T053120Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a98c30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+w2OZLH4YWp0DF7nX2fttF4,S0,50000,6400000,456116,58382861.156470,0.109621
+w2OZLH4YWp0DF7nX2fttF4,P0,50000,6400000,599004,76672615.503222,0.083472
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f28700d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+=== core-1p1s-50k-128 ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 810,988 msgs/sec ~ 99.00 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 599,004 msgs/sec ~ 73.12 MB/sec
+ Sub stats: 456,116 msgs/sec ~ 55.68 MB/sec
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.csv b/results/20260912T053120Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d4854b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+objwjMbBXlRDUb07UVtRo4,S0,100000,12800000,292772,37474879.058831,0.341562
+objwjMbBXlRDUb07UVtRo4,S1,100000,12800000,290329,37162115.621242,0.344437
+objwjMbBXlRDUb07UVtRo4,S2,100000,12800000,290323,37161444.974130,0.344443
+objwjMbBXlRDUb07UVtRo4,S3,100000,12800000,289603,37069299.877433,0.345299
+objwjMbBXlRDUb07UVtRo4,P0,25000,3200000,554855,71021459.933110,0.045057
+objwjMbBXlRDUb07UVtRo4,P1,25000,3200000,189477,24253105.346766,0.131942
+objwjMbBXlRDUb07UVtRo4,P2,25000,3200000,105092,13451809.359579,0.237886
+objwjMbBXlRDUb07UVtRo4,P3,25000,3200000,95101,12173034.434871,0.262876
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2f1a448
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+=== core-4p4s-100k-128 ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 1,361,921 msgs/sec ~ 166.25 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 379,346 msgs/sec ~ 46.31 MB/sec
+  [1] 554,855 msgs/sec ~ 67.73 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [2] 189,477 msgs/sec ~ 23.13 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [3] 105,092 msgs/sec ~ 12.83 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [4] 95,101 msgs/sec ~ 11.61 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  min 95,101 | avg 236,131 | max 554,855 | stddev 187,631 msgs
+ Sub stats: 1,150,536 msgs/sec ~ 140.45 MB/sec
+  [1] 292,772 msgs/sec ~ 35.74 MB/sec (100000 msgs)
+  [2] 290,329 msgs/sec ~ 35.44 MB/sec (100000 msgs)
+  [3] 290,323 msgs/sec ~ 35.44 MB/sec (100000 msgs)
+  [4] 289,603 msgs/sec ~ 35.35 MB/sec (100000 msgs)
+  min 289,603 | avg 290,756 | max 292,772 | stddev 1,200 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.csv b/results/20260912T053120Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5dd0a8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+LPWAPBuugXuZD3pcA9R4Q1,S0,50000,51200000,175324,179532297.676261,0.285185
+LPWAPBuugXuZD3pcA9R4Q1,S1,50000,51200000,174783,178978214.492079,0.286068
+LPWAPBuugXuZD3pcA9R4Q1,S2,50000,51200000,170404,174493875.742093,0.293420
+LPWAPBuugXuZD3pcA9R4Q1,S3,50000,51200000,146006,149510306.440412,0.342451
+LPWAPBuugXuZD3pcA9R4Q1,P0,12500,12800000,206954,211921364.855709,0.060400
+LPWAPBuugXuZD3pcA9R4Q1,P1,12500,12800000,78140,80016334.334450,0.159967
+LPWAPBuugXuZD3pcA9R4Q1,P2,12500,12800000,47044,48173938.085417,0.265704
+LPWAPBuugXuZD3pcA9R4Q1,P3,12500,12800000,43981,45036904.770320,0.284211
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1fd3d50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+=== core-4p4s-50k-1k ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 695,192 msgs/sec ~ 678.90 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 175,725 msgs/sec ~ 171.61 MB/sec
+  [1] 206,954 msgs/sec ~ 202.10 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+  [2] 78,140 msgs/sec ~ 76.31 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+  [3] 47,044 msgs/sec ~ 45.94 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+  [4] 43,981 msgs/sec ~ 42.95 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+  min 43,981 | avg 94,029 | max 206,954 | stddev 66,552 msgs
+ Sub stats: 584,024 msgs/sec ~ 570.34 MB/sec
+  [1] 175,324 msgs/sec ~ 171.22 MB/sec (50000 msgs)
+  [2] 174,783 msgs/sec ~ 170.69 MB/sec (50000 msgs)
+  [3] 170,404 msgs/sec ~ 166.41 MB/sec (50000 msgs)
+  [4] 146,006 msgs/sec ~ 142.58 MB/sec (50000 msgs)
+  min 146,006 | avg 166,629 | max 175,324 | stddev 12,058 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.csv b/results/20260912T053120Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c1f7489
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+D29xFtCiL3n1hFtnnty2bJ,S0,200000,25600000,275094,35212130.182711,0.727022
+D29xFtCiL3n1hFtnnty2bJ,S1,200000,25600000,274807,35175364.678326,0.727782
+D29xFtCiL3n1hFtnnty2bJ,S2,200000,25600000,274647,35154883.000958,0.728206
+D29xFtCiL3n1hFtnnty2bJ,S3,200000,25600000,274140,35089962.583779,0.729553
+D29xFtCiL3n1hFtnnty2bJ,S4,200000,25600000,273964,35067496.657328,0.730021
+D29xFtCiL3n1hFtnnty2bJ,S5,200000,25600000,228037,29188847.958244,0.877047
+D29xFtCiL3n1hFtnnty2bJ,S6,200000,25600000,227447,29113332.808421,0.879322
+D29xFtCiL3n1hFtnnty2bJ,S7,200000,25600000,232494,29759235.647424,0.860237
+D29xFtCiL3n1hFtnnty2bJ,P0,25000,3200000,127444,16312929.457622,0.196163
+D29xFtCiL3n1hFtnnty2bJ,P1,25000,3200000,77933,9975435.116946,0.320788
+D29xFtCiL3n1hFtnnty2bJ,P2,25000,3200000,77633,9937136.216776,0.322024
+D29xFtCiL3n1hFtnnty2bJ,P3,25000,3200000,76965,9851558.471756,0.324822
+D29xFtCiL3n1hFtnnty2bJ,P4,25000,3200000,77205,9882296.902740,0.323811
+D29xFtCiL3n1hFtnnty2bJ,P5,25000,3200000,44296,5669906.917475,0.564383
+D29xFtCiL3n1hFtnnty2bJ,P6,25000,3200000,35857,4589723.695277,0.697210
+D29xFtCiL3n1hFtnnty2bJ,P7,25000,3200000,35509,4545175.649861,0.704043
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2072178
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+=== core-8p8s-200k-128 ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 1,998,733 msgs/sec ~ 243.99 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 283,259 msgs/sec ~ 34.58 MB/sec
+  [1] 127,444 msgs/sec ~ 15.56 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [2] 77,933 msgs/sec ~ 9.51 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [3] 77,633 msgs/sec ~ 9.48 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [4] 76,965 msgs/sec ~ 9.40 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [5] 77,205 msgs/sec ~ 9.42 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [6] 44,296 msgs/sec ~ 5.41 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [7] 35,857 msgs/sec ~ 4.38 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [8] 35,509 msgs/sec ~ 4.33 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  min 35,509 | avg 69,105 | max 127,444 | stddev 28,572 msgs
+ Sub stats: 1,780,589 msgs/sec ~ 217.36 MB/sec
+  [1] 275,094 msgs/sec ~ 33.58 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [2] 274,807 msgs/sec ~ 33.55 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [3] 274,647 msgs/sec ~ 33.53 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [4] 274,140 msgs/sec ~ 33.46 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [5] 273,964 msgs/sec ~ 33.44 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [6] 228,037 msgs/sec ~ 27.84 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [7] 227,447 msgs/sec ~ 27.76 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [8] 232,494 msgs/sec ~ 28.38 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  min 227,447 | avg 257,578 | max 275,094 | stddev 21,930 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/host-after.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/host-after.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7897ec0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/host-after.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+execution_host=NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG
+execution_ip=70.88.205.138
+hostname=NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG
+utc=2026-09-12T05:33:03Z
+whoami=marchon
+pwd=/home/marchon/verae-src/verae-nats-cluster
+uname=Linux NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG 6.17.2-1-pve #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC PMX 6.17.2-1 (2025-10-21T11:55Z) x86_64 GNU/Linux
+nproc=40
+loadavg=9.02 8.82 8.44 6/3847 224483
+client_vmid=510
+nats_url=nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222
+js_extra_memory=1
+compare_dir=/home/marchon/verae-src/verae-nats-cluster/results/20260912T051237Z
+--- nats 511 max_mem ---
+  max_mem: 8G
+--- nats 511 jetstream mount ---
+nats-js on /var/lib/nats/jetstream type tmpfs (rw,relatime,size=8388608k,uid=100000,gid=100000,inode64)
+--- free ---
+               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
+Mem:           377Gi        38Gi       324Gi       4.3Gi        21Gi       339Gi
+Swap:          8.0Gi          0B       8.0Gi
+--- pct list ---
+VMID       Status     Lock         Name                
+100        stopped                 CT100               
+101        stopped                 CT101               
+102        stopped                 CT102               
+103        stopped                 CT103               
+104        stopped                 CT104               
+105        stopped                 CT105               
+106        stopped                 CT106               
+107        stopped                 CT107               
+108        stopped                 CT108               
+109        stopped                 CT109               
+110        stopped                 CT110               
+111        stopped                 CT111               
+112        stopped                 CT112               
+113        stopped                 CT113               
+114        stopped                 CT114               
+115        stopped                 CT115               
+116        stopped                 paul                
+117        stopped                 CT117               
+118        stopped                 CT118               
+119        stopped                 CT119               
+120        stopped                 rustdeskserver      
+121        stopped                 CT121               
+122        stopped                 CT122               
+123        stopped                 CT123               
+124        stopped                 bdross              
+200        stopped                 CT200               
+201        stopped                 CT201               
+202        stopped                 CT202               
+300        running                 mail.veraetime.info 
+400        stopped                 evercycle-api       
+501        running                 pki                 
+502        running                 peergos-a           
+503        running                 peergos-b           
+504        stopped                 minio               
+510        running                 verae-px-worker     
+511        running                 nats-a              
+512        running                 nats-b              
+513        running                 nats-c              
+2000       stopped                 CT2000              
+2001       stopped                 CT2001              
+2002       stopped                 CT2002              
+--- pct config 510 ---
+cores: 8
+hostname: verae-px-worker
+memory: 16384
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:BD:5D:62,ip=10.10.10.20/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-510-disk-0,size=16G
+swap: 512
+--- pct config 511 ---
+cores: 8
+hostname: nats-a
+memory: 16384
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:CF:AC:68,ip=10.10.10.21/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-511-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
+--- pct config 512 ---
+cores: 8
+hostname: nats-b
+memory: 16384
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:42:73:A2,ip=10.10.10.22/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-512-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
+--- pct config 513 ---
+cores: 8
+hostname: nats-c
+memory: 16384
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:1B:9B:DC,ip=10.10.10.23/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-513-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/host-before.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/host-before.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..da95835
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/host-before.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+execution_host=NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG
+execution_ip=70.88.205.138
+hostname=NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG
+utc=2026-09-12T05:31:20Z
+whoami=marchon
+pwd=/home/marchon/verae-src/verae-nats-cluster
+uname=Linux NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG 6.17.2-1-pve #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC PMX 6.17.2-1 (2025-10-21T11:55Z) x86_64 GNU/Linux
+nproc=40
+loadavg=8.77 8.39 8.26 6/3849 198471
+client_vmid=510
+nats_url=nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222
+js_extra_memory=1
+compare_dir=/home/marchon/verae-src/verae-nats-cluster/results/20260912T051237Z
+--- nats 511 max_mem ---
+  max_mem: 8G
+--- nats 511 jetstream mount ---
+nats-js on /var/lib/nats/jetstream type tmpfs (rw,relatime,size=8388608k,uid=100000,gid=100000,inode64)
+--- free ---
+               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
+Mem:           377Gi        38Gi       324Gi       4.2Gi        21Gi       339Gi
+Swap:          8.0Gi          0B       8.0Gi
+--- pct list ---
+VMID       Status     Lock         Name                
+100        stopped                 CT100               
+101        stopped                 CT101               
+102        stopped                 CT102               
+103        stopped                 CT103               
+104        stopped                 CT104               
+105        stopped                 CT105               
+106        stopped                 CT106               
+107        stopped                 CT107               
+108        stopped                 CT108               
+109        stopped                 CT109               
+110        stopped                 CT110               
+111        stopped                 CT111               
+112        stopped                 CT112               
+113        stopped                 CT113               
+114        stopped                 CT114               
+115        stopped                 CT115               
+116        stopped                 paul                
+117        stopped                 CT117               
+118        stopped                 CT118               
+119        stopped                 CT119               
+120        stopped                 rustdeskserver      
+121        stopped                 CT121               
+122        stopped                 CT122               
+123        stopped                 CT123               
+124        stopped                 bdross              
+200        stopped                 CT200               
+201        stopped                 CT201               
+202        stopped                 CT202               
+300        running                 mail.veraetime.info 
+400        stopped                 evercycle-api       
+501        running                 pki                 
+502        running                 peergos-a           
+503        running                 peergos-b           
+504        stopped                 minio               
+510        running                 verae-px-worker     
+511        running                 nats-a              
+512        running                 nats-b              
+513        running                 nats-c              
+2000       stopped                 CT2000              
+2001       stopped                 CT2001              
+2002       stopped                 CT2002              
+--- pct config 510 ---
+cores: 8
+hostname: verae-px-worker
+memory: 16384
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:BD:5D:62,ip=10.10.10.20/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-510-disk-0,size=16G
+swap: 512
+--- pct config 511 ---
+cores: 8
+hostname: nats-a
+memory: 16384
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:CF:AC:68,ip=10.10.10.21/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-511-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
+--- pct config 512 ---
+cores: 8
+hostname: nats-b
+memory: 16384
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:42:73:A2,ip=10.10.10.22/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-512-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
+--- pct config 513 ---
+cores: 8
+hostname: nats-c
+memory: 16384
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:1B:9B:DC,ip=10.10.10.23/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-513-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.csv b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c17a87d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+DsDjrcOoYbw8k54T1mMXxq,P0,40000,2560000,17388,2225703.026620,1.150198
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fda3f14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+=== js-1p-20k-128-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 17,388 msgs/sec ~ 2.12 MB/sec
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.csv b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..270bee9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+JYqsv0sXzEqkC0r49q0aE5,S0,20203,1280000,5135,657394.514895,1.947080
+JYqsv0sXzEqkC0r49q0aE5,S1,20210,1280000,4971,636317.997133,2.011573
+JYqsv0sXzEqkC0r49q0aE5,P0,20000,1280000,5099,652788.600986,1.960819
+JYqsv0sXzEqkC0r49q0aE5,P1,20000,1280000,4979,637405.779512,2.008140
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4dc4838
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+=== js-2p2s-20k-128-r3 ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 19,876 msgs/sec ~ 2.43 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 9,959 msgs/sec ~ 1.22 MB/sec
+  [1] 5,099 msgs/sec ~ 637.49 KB/sec (10000 msgs)
+  [2] 4,979 msgs/sec ~ 622.47 KB/sec (10000 msgs)
+  min 4,979 | avg 5,039 | max 5,099 | stddev 60 msgs
+ Sub stats: 9,942 msgs/sec ~ 1.21 MB/sec
+  [1] 5,135 msgs/sec ~ 641.99 KB/sec (10000 msgs)
+  [2] 4,971 msgs/sec ~ 621.40 KB/sec (10000 msgs)
+  min 4,971 | avg 5,053 | max 5,135 | stddev 82 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c263a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+r1r7AI1sRr29EvqNG14gSh,P0,10000,5120000,7677,7861269.752874,0.651294
+r1r7AI1sRr29EvqNG14gSh,P1,10000,5120000,4571,4680909.596986,1.093805
+r1r7AI1sRr29EvqNG14gSh,P2,10000,5120000,4529,4637905.946623,1.103946
+r1r7AI1sRr29EvqNG14gSh,P3,10000,5120000,4528,4637319.175494,1.104086
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..13775e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+=== js-4p-20k-1k-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 18,114 msgs/sec ~ 17.69 MB/sec
+ [1] 7,677 msgs/sec ~ 7.50 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [2] 4,571 msgs/sec ~ 4.46 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [3] 4,529 msgs/sec ~ 4.42 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [4] 4,528 msgs/sec ~ 4.42 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ min 4,528 | avg 5,326 | max 7,677 | stddev 1,357 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.csv b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ccebd0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+6cJTgCeHUXHowXNlC39Tws,P0,25000,1600000,7724,988748.856206,1.618207
+6cJTgCeHUXHowXNlC39Tws,P1,25000,1600000,7704,986199.433317,1.622390
+6cJTgCeHUXHowXNlC39Tws,P2,25000,1600000,5713,731384.231657,2.187633
+6cJTgCeHUXHowXNlC39Tws,P3,25000,1600000,5713,731308.958368,2.187858
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f4b0dec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+=== js-4p-50k-128-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 22,853 msgs/sec ~ 2.79 MB/sec
+ [1] 7,724 msgs/sec ~ 965.58 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [2] 7,704 msgs/sec ~ 963.09 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [3] 5,713 msgs/sec ~ 714.24 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [4] 5,713 msgs/sec ~ 714.17 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ min 5,713 | avg 6,713 | max 7,724 | stddev 1,000 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3.csv b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..58feb82
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+jHJGzEaQyqmtfzAfyQRddn,P0,40000,2560000,22153,2835624.882291,0.902799
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e43a918
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+=== js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 22,153 msgs/sec ~ 2.70 MB/sec
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d528650
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+bSUG5M5Cdh9fEhPsY8MWLm,P0,10000,5120000,9256,9478798.103952,0.540153
+bSUG5M5Cdh9fEhPsY8MWLm,P1,10000,5120000,8901,9115347.820727,0.561690
+bSUG5M5Cdh9fEhPsY8MWLm,P2,10000,5120000,7192,7365226.588506,0.695159
+bSUG5M5Cdh9fEhPsY8MWLm,P3,10000,5120000,7171,7343566.738925,0.697209
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5014c01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+=== js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 28,685 msgs/sec ~ 28.01 MB/sec
+ [1] 9,256 msgs/sec ~ 9.04 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [2] 8,901 msgs/sec ~ 8.69 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [3] 7,192 msgs/sec ~ 7.02 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [4] 7,171 msgs/sec ~ 7.00 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ min 7,171 | avg 8,130 | max 9,256 | stddev 956 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3.csv b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3bcfc38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+RCjYO8CWEOKsynfDUe3izo,P0,25000,1600000,9194,1176894.303068,1.359510
+RCjYO8CWEOKsynfDUe3izo,P1,25000,1600000,9199,1177484.153608,1.358829
+RCjYO8CWEOKsynfDUe3izo,P2,25000,1600000,9144,1170517.752374,1.366916
+RCjYO8CWEOKsynfDUe3izo,P3,25000,1600000,9097,1164445.806755,1.374044
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bfe718e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+=== js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 36,355 msgs/sec ~ 4.44 MB/sec
+ [1] 9,194 msgs/sec ~ 1.12 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [2] 9,199 msgs/sec ~ 1.12 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [3] 9,144 msgs/sec ~ 1.12 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [4] 9,097 msgs/sec ~ 1.11 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ min 9,097 | avg 9,158 | max 9,199 | stddev 41 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/lat-1p-5k-128.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/lat-1p-5k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..849fbc2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/lat-1p-5k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-1p-5k-128 ===
+{"count":5000,"pubs":1,"size":128,"mode":"flood","min_us":94920,"avg_us":132026,"p50_us":131990,"p90_us":156086,"p99_us":158860,"max_us":158965,"min":"94.920ms","avg":"132.026ms","p50":"131.990ms","p90":"156.086ms","p99":"158.860ms","max":"158.965ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/lat-4p-10k-128.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/lat-4p-10k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f394dfa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/lat-4p-10k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-4p-10k-128 ===
+{"count":10000,"pubs":4,"size":128,"mode":"flood","min_us":153318,"avg_us":204329,"p50_us":205865,"p90_us":234151,"p99_us":237346,"max_us":237477,"min":"153.318ms","avg":"204.329ms","p50":"205.865ms","p90":"234.151ms","p99":"237.346ms","max":"237.477ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/lat-4p-5k-1k.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/lat-4p-5k-1k.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..66a5c5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/lat-4p-5k-1k.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-4p-5k-1k ===
+{"count":5000,"pubs":4,"size":1024,"mode":"flood","min_us":113281,"avg_us":132425,"p50_us":131457,"p90_us":140317,"p99_us":144683,"max_us":145365,"min":"113.281ms","avg":"132.425ms","p50":"131.457ms","p90":"140.317ms","p99":"144.683ms","max":"145.365ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/lat-8p-20k-128.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/lat-8p-20k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..273544e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/lat-8p-20k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-8p-20k-128 ===
+{"count":20000,"pubs":8,"size":128,"mode":"flood","min_us":233727,"avg_us":310924,"p50_us":311170,"p90_us":373437,"p99_us":400764,"max_us":402811,"min":"233.727ms","avg":"310.924ms","p50":"311.170ms","p90":"373.437ms","p99":"400.764ms","max":"402.811ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/lat-ping-1k-128.txt b/results/20260912T053120Z/lat-ping-1k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4604122
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/lat-ping-1k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-ping-1k-128 ===
+{"count":1000,"pubs":1,"size":128,"mode":"ping","min_us":250,"avg_us":319,"p50_us":299,"p90_us":363,"p99_us":684,"max_us":2759,"min":"0.250ms","avg":"0.319ms","p50":"0.299ms","p90":"0.363ms","p99":"0.684ms","max":"2.759ms"}
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new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c466b2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.html
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+<body>
+<div class="doc-banner"><nav class="site"><a href="/">zapier.georgelambert.org</a> · <a href="/index-md.html">Markdown indexes</a></nav><div class="kicker">Verae Time × Zapier · progress report · maximized NS1 study</div><h1>NATS cluster message speed — maximized (RAM disk + 8 cores)</h1><div class="source-path">packages/zapier-decisions/reports/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.md</div></div>
+<header id="title-block-header">
+<h1 class="title">NATS cluster message speed — NS1 host study</h1>
+</header>
+<p><strong>Progress report (maximized NS1 study)</strong> · run
+<code>20260912T053120Z</code> (UTC)</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p><strong>Execution provenance.</strong> Every process for this study
+ran on <strong>NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG</strong>
+(<code>70.88.205.138</code>): <code>maximize-ns1-study.sh</code>
+(cores/RAM/<code>max_mem</code>/tmpfs), then
+<code>study-on-ns1.sh</code>, <code>nats bench</code>,
+<code>latency.mjs</code> (LXC 510), matplotlib, pandoc, weasyprint.
+Traffic stayed on <code>vmbr1</code>. veth/10G was <strong>not</strong>
+changed. After the ladder, JetStream was put back on ZFS and product
+streams were re-created; <strong>8 cores / 16 GiB / max_mem 8G
+stay</strong>.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<h2 id="measured-delta-vs-20260912t051237z">Measured delta vs
+<code>20260912T051237Z</code></h2>
+<p>Baseline: 1 core / 1 GiB / JetStream on ZFS. This run: 8 cores / 16
+GiB / JetStream <strong>tmpfs</strong> (file r=3) plus extra
+<strong>memory</strong> store rows. veth/10G unchanged.</p>
+<table>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Metric</th>
+<th>Baseline <code>20260912T051237Z</code></th>
+<th>This run</th>
+<th>Ratio</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Core 1p1s 128 B pub msgs/s</td>
+<td>502,502</td>
+<td>599,004</td>
+<td>1.19×</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Core 8p8s 128 B aggregate msgs/s</td>
+<td>2,065,217</td>
+<td>1,998,733</td>
+<td>0.97×</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>JS file r=3 1p 128 B pub msgs/s</td>
+<td>7,393</td>
+<td>17,388</td>
+<td>2.35×</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>JS file r=3 4p 128 B pub msgs/s</td>
+<td>17,986</td>
+<td>22,853</td>
+<td>1.27×</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>JS file r=3 4p 1 KiB pub msgs/s</td>
+<td>14,985</td>
+<td>18,114</td>
+<td>1.21×</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>JS memory r=3 1p 128 B pub msgs/s</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>22,153</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>JS memory r=3 4p 128 B pub msgs/s</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>36,355</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Ping p99 (ms)</td>
+<td>1.377ms</td>
+<td>0.684ms</td>
+<td>2.01× faster</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts/delta-vs-baseline.png"
+alt="Baseline vs maximized publish rates (log)" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Baseline vs maximized publish rates
+(log)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p><em>Baseline vs maximized publish rates (log)</em></p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="executive-summary">1. Executive summary</h2>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 24%" />
+<col style="width: 76%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Item</th>
+<th>This NS1-host run</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Control plane</td>
+<td>NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG (<code>70.88.205.138</code>), user
+<code>marchon</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Bench client</td>
+<td>LXC 510 <code>verae-px-worker</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Brokers</td>
+<td>LXC 511/512/513 <code>nats-a/b/c</code> on
+<code>10.10.10.21–23</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Client URL</td>
+<td><code>nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Host load before</td>
+<td><code>8.77 8.39 8.26 6/3849 198471</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Host load after</td>
+<td><code>9.02 8.82 8.44 6/3847 224483</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Core 1p1s 128 B pub</td>
+<td>599,004 msgs/s</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>JetStream 1p 128 B r=3</td>
+<td>17,388 durable pubs/s</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Ping p50 / p99</td>
+<td>0.299ms / 0.684ms</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>Product traffic is the JetStream row. Ping is one-message delay.
+Flood is mailbox catch-up after a burst.</p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="where-it-ran-and-where-it-did-not">2. Where it ran (and where it
+did not)</h2>
+<pre class="text"><code>Operator laptop  ──ssh──►  NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG  70.88.205.138
+                              study-on-ns1.sh
+                              python3 build-ns1-study-report.py
+                              sudo pct exec 510 ──► nats bench / latency.mjs
+                                                    │
+                                                    ▼ vmbr1
+                                              10.10.10.21-23 :4222</code></pre>
+<ul>
+<li><strong>Did run on 138:</strong> bash, python3, matplotlib, pandoc,
+weasyprint, <code>pct</code>, nats-server (in LXC), nats CLI and Node
+(in LXC 510).</li>
+<li><strong>Did not run on the laptop:</strong> no local
+<code>nats bench</code>, no local charting, no local WeasyPrint for this
+file.</li>
+</ul>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="results-this-run">3. Results (this run)</h2>
+<h3 id="host-and-brokers">Host and brokers</h3>
+<p><strong>Before</strong></p>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 7%" />
+<col style="width: 7%" />
+<col style="width: 17%" />
+<col style="width: 11%" />
+<col style="width: 13%" />
+<col style="width: 6%" />
+<col style="width: 9%" />
+<col style="width: 11%" />
+<col style="width: 14%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Node</th>
+<th>VMID</th>
+<th>connections</th>
+<th>in_msgs</th>
+<th>out_msgs</th>
+<th>cpu</th>
+<th>cores</th>
+<th>mem (B)</th>
+<th>jetstream</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>nats-a</td>
+<td>511</td>
+<td>3</td>
+<td>3,013</td>
+<td>3,037</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>8</td>
+<td>14,553,088</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>nats-b</td>
+<td>512</td>
+<td>3</td>
+<td>1,415</td>
+<td>1,424</td>
+<td>0</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>13,557,760</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>nats-c</td>
+<td>513</td>
+<td>0</td>
+<td>1,361</td>
+<td>1,395</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>14,028,800</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p><strong>After</strong></p>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 7%" />
+<col style="width: 7%" />
+<col style="width: 17%" />
+<col style="width: 11%" />
+<col style="width: 13%" />
+<col style="width: 6%" />
+<col style="width: 9%" />
+<col style="width: 11%" />
+<col style="width: 14%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Node</th>
+<th>VMID</th>
+<th>connections</th>
+<th>in_msgs</th>
+<th>out_msgs</th>
+<th>cpu</th>
+<th>cores</th>
+<th>mem (B)</th>
+<th>jetstream</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>nats-a</td>
+<td>511</td>
+<td>3</td>
+<td>644,730</td>
+<td>1,344,768</td>
+<td>2</td>
+<td>8</td>
+<td>67,104,768</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>nats-b</td>
+<td>512</td>
+<td>3</td>
+<td>491,295</td>
+<td>978,800</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>82,542,592</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>nats-c</td>
+<td>513</td>
+<td>0</td>
+<td>668,544</td>
+<td>1,330,940</td>
+<td>0</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>37,314,560</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>nproc=40 ·
+uname=<code>Linux NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG 6.17.2-1-pve #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC PMX 6.17.2-1 (2025-10-21T11:55Z) x86_64 GNU/Linux</code></p>
+<h3 id="throughput">Throughput</h3>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 6%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 24%" />
+<col style="width: 16%" />
+<col style="width: 13%" />
+<col style="width: 16%" />
+<col style="width: 13%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Run</th>
+<th>Mode</th>
+<th>Aggregate msgs/s</th>
+<th>Pub msgs/s</th>
+<th>Pub MB/s</th>
+<th>Sub msgs/s</th>
+<th>Sub MB/s</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>core-1p1s-50k-128</code></td>
+<td>core pub/sub</td>
+<td>810,988</td>
+<td>599,004</td>
+<td>73.12</td>
+<td>456,116</td>
+<td>55.68</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>core-4p4s-100k-128</code></td>
+<td>core pub/sub</td>
+<td>1,361,921</td>
+<td>379,346</td>
+<td>46.31</td>
+<td>1,150,536</td>
+<td>140.45</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>core-4p4s-50k-1k</code></td>
+<td>core pub/sub</td>
+<td>695,192</td>
+<td>175,725</td>
+<td>171.61</td>
+<td>584,024</td>
+<td>570.34</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>core-8p8s-200k-128</code></td>
+<td>core pub/sub</td>
+<td>1,998,733</td>
+<td>283,259</td>
+<td>34.58</td>
+<td>1,780,589</td>
+<td>217.36</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-1p-20k-128-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>17,388</td>
+<td>2.12</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>js-2p2s-20k-128-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>19,876</td>
+<td>9,959</td>
+<td>1.22</td>
+<td>9,942</td>
+<td>1.21</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-4p-20k-1k-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>18,114</td>
+<td>17.69</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>js-4p-50k-128-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>22,853</td>
+<td>2.79</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>22,153</td>
+<td>2.70</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>28,685</td>
+<td>28.01</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>36,355</td>
+<td>4.44</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<h3 id="round-trip-delay">Round-trip delay</h3>
+<table style="width:100%;">
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 9%" />
+<col style="width: 11%" />
+<col style="width: 9%" />
+<col style="width: 9%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Run</th>
+<th>Kind</th>
+<th>Count</th>
+<th>Pubs</th>
+<th>Size</th>
+<th>min</th>
+<th>avg</th>
+<th>p50</th>
+<th>p90</th>
+<th>p99</th>
+<th>max</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>lat-ping-1k-128</code></td>
+<td>ping (sequential RTT)</td>
+<td>1000</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>128 B</td>
+<td>0.250ms</td>
+<td>0.319ms</td>
+<td>0.299ms</td>
+<td>0.363ms</td>
+<td>0.684ms</td>
+<td>2.759ms</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>lat-1p-5k-128</code></td>
+<td>flood (burst queueing)</td>
+<td>5000</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>128 B</td>
+<td>94.920ms</td>
+<td>132.026ms</td>
+<td>131.990ms</td>
+<td>156.086ms</td>
+<td>158.860ms</td>
+<td>158.965ms</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>lat-4p-5k-1k</code></td>
+<td>flood (burst queueing)</td>
+<td>5000</td>
+<td>4</td>
+<td>1024 B</td>
+<td>113.281ms</td>
+<td>132.425ms</td>
+<td>131.457ms</td>
+<td>140.317ms</td>
+<td>144.683ms</td>
+<td>145.365ms</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>lat-4p-10k-128</code></td>
+<td>flood (burst queueing)</td>
+<td>10000</td>
+<td>4</td>
+<td>128 B</td>
+<td>153.318ms</td>
+<td>204.329ms</td>
+<td>205.865ms</td>
+<td>234.151ms</td>
+<td>237.346ms</td>
+<td>237.477ms</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>lat-8p-20k-128</code></td>
+<td>flood (burst queueing)</td>
+<td>20000</td>
+<td>8</td>
+<td>128 B</td>
+<td>233.727ms</td>
+<td>310.924ms</td>
+<td>311.170ms</td>
+<td>373.437ms</td>
+<td>400.764ms</td>
+<td>402.811ms</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<h3 id="core-nats">Core NATS</h3>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts/core-throughput.png"
+alt="Core NATS throughput at four loads (NS1 host run)" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Core NATS throughput at four loads (NS1
+host run)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p><em>Core NATS throughput at four loads (NS1 host run)</em> ###
+Payload size (core)</p>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts/payload-size.png"
+alt="Core NATS 128 B vs 1 KiB (NS1 host run)" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Core NATS 128 B vs 1 KiB (NS1 host
+run)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p><em>Core NATS 128 B vs 1 KiB (NS1 host run)</em> ### JetStream r=3
+file</p>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts/js-throughput.png"
+alt="JetStream durable publish rate (NS1 host run)" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">JetStream durable publish rate (NS1 host
+run)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p><em>JetStream durable publish rate (NS1 host run)</em> ### Core vs
+JetStream</p>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts/core-vs-js.png"
+alt="Core vs JetStream publish rate, log scale (NS1 host run)" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Core vs JetStream publish rate, log scale
+(NS1 host run)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p><em>Core vs JetStream publish rate, log scale (NS1 host run)</em> ###
+Delay</p>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts/delay-percentiles.png"
+alt="Ping vs flood delay percentiles, log scale (NS1 host run)" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Ping vs flood delay percentiles, log
+scale (NS1 host run)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p><em>Ping vs flood delay percentiles, log scale (NS1 host
+run)</em></p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="study-methodology">4. Study methodology</h2>
+<h3 id="question">4.1 Question</h3>
+<p>On the NS1 test stand, what message <strong>throughput</strong> and
+<strong>delay</strong> does the three-node <code>verae</code> JetStream
+cluster deliver at several loads, and which part of the stack is the
+limiter for product traffic (jobs, events, webhooks, archive)?</p>
+<h3 id="hypotheses-stated-before-the-run">4.2 Hypotheses (stated before
+the run)</h3>
+<ol type="1">
+<li><strong>H1 — Core vs JetStream.</strong> Fire-and-forget core NATS
+is at least an order of magnitude faster than JetStream <strong>file +
+replicas=3</strong>, because durable publish waits for a majority disk
+replica.</li>
+<li><strong>H2 — JetStream parallelism.</strong> Adding publishers does
+<strong>not</strong> linearly increase JetStream write rate once the
+replica log is saturated.</li>
+<li><strong>H3 — Quiet delay.</strong> Sequential pub→sub round trip on
+<code>vmbr1</code> is well under 1 ms p99 when the consumer is
+waiting.</li>
+<li><strong>H4 — Burst delay.</strong> If publishers dump a batch before
+the subscriber drains, observed delay is <strong>queueing time</strong>,
+roughly linear in backlog, not in cluster hop count.</li>
+<li><strong>H5 — Payload.</strong> Moving 128 B → 1 KiB lowers message
+rate and raises byte rate on core NATS; JetStream in this size band
+stays replica/fsync bound.</li>
+</ol>
+<h3 id="independent-variables-what-we-changed">4.3 Independent variables
+(what we changed)</h3>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 50%" />
+<col style="width: 50%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Factor</th>
+<th>Levels</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Transport</td>
+<td>Core NATS pub/sub vs JetStream file replicas=3</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Publisher count</td>
+<td>1, 2, 4, 8</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Subscriber count</td>
+<td>0 (JS publish-only), 1, 2, 4, 8</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Message count</td>
+<td>1k, 5k, 10k, 20k, 50k, 100k, 200k (by ladder step)</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Payload</td>
+<td>128 B, 1024 B</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Delay mode</td>
+<td><strong>ping</strong> (publish, wait, repeat) vs
+<strong>flood</strong> (publish all, then drain)</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<h3 id="dependent-variables-what-we-recorded">4.4 Dependent variables
+(what we recorded)</h3>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 30%" />
+<col style="width: 46%" />
+<col style="width: 23%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Metric</th>
+<th>Instrument</th>
+<th>Unit</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Publish rate</td>
+<td><code>nats bench</code> 0.1.6 Pub stats</td>
+<td>msgs/s, MB/s</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Subscribe rate</td>
+<td><code>nats bench</code> Sub stats</td>
+<td>msgs/s, MB/s</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Aggregate</td>
+<td><code>nats bench</code> NATS Pub/Sub stats</td>
+<td>msgs/s (fan-out counts both sides)</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Publisher spread</td>
+<td>nats min/avg/max <strong>msgs/s</strong></td>
+<td>not delay</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>One-way-ish RTT</td>
+<td><code>latency.mjs</code> header timestamp</td>
+<td>min, avg, p50, p90, p99, max</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Host load</td>
+<td><code>/proc/loadavg</code> before and after</td>
+<td>load average</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Broker counters</td>
+<td><code>http://127.0.0.1:8222/varz</code> inside each nats LXC</td>
+<td>connections, in/out msgs, cpu, mem</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p><strong>Important:</strong> nats CLI 0.1.6 min/avg/max are
+<strong>rate spread across publishers</strong>, not microseconds of
+delay. Delay is only <code>latency.mjs</code>.</p>
+<h3 id="controls-and-constants">4.5 Controls and constants</h3>
+<ul>
+<li>Cluster name <code>verae</code>, three routes, client
+<code>:4222</code>, cluster <code>:6222</code>, monitor loopback
+<code>:8222</code>.</li>
+<li>Client URL always the three-node list on <code>vmbr1</code> (never
+host <code>127.0.0.1:4222</code>, never <code>vmbr0</code>).</li>
+<li>Bench client is LXC <strong>510</strong>, not a nats-* server.</li>
+<li>JetStream bench stream name <code>benchstream</code>,
+<strong>file</strong> storage, <strong>replicas=3</strong>, deleted
+between JS loads (<code>nats stream rm --force</code>) so names do not
+collide.</li>
+<li>Product streams were <strong>not</strong> the bench target (no load
+test on <code>ZAPIER_*</code> / <code>VERAE_ARCHIVE</code>).</li>
+<li>No TLS, no nkeys, no account isolation (isolation is
+<code>vmbr1</code>).</li>
+<li>Same nats CLI version (0.1.6) and <code>nats@2</code> Node client as
+the first ladder.</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="procedure">4.6 Procedure</h3>
+<ol type="1">
+<li>Confirm this script is executing on
+<strong>NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG</strong>. Refuse otherwise.</li>
+<li>Snapshot host load, memory, LXC configs, and each nats
+<code>varz</code>.</li>
+<li>From NS1, <code>pct exec 510</code> the core ladder (1p1s, 4p4s,
+8p8s at 128 B; 4p4s at 1 KiB).</li>
+<li>Delete <code>benchstream</code>; JS ladder (1p, 4p, 4p×1 KiB, 2p2s
+pull) at replicas=3 file.</li>
+<li>Copy <code>latency.mjs</code> into 510; ping then flood at several
+batch sizes.</li>
+<li>Snapshot host/<code>varz</code> again.</li>
+<li>Parse logs on <strong>this host</strong>; draw charts; write HTML
+and PDF on <strong>this host</strong>.</li>
+</ol>
+<p>No publish, subscribe, chart, or PDF process runs on the operator
+laptop for this study.</p>
+<h3 id="instrumentation-path">4.7 Instrumentation path</h3>
+<pre class="text"><code>[NS1 host 70.88.205.138]
+   study-on-ns1.sh  (bash + python3)
+        |
+        | sudo pct exec 510
+        v
+[LXC 510 verae-px-worker 10.10.10.20]
+   nats bench / node latency.mjs
+        |
+        | NATS client protocol to
+        v
+[LXC 511/512/513  10.10.10.21-23 :4222]
+   nats-server -js  cluster routes :6222</code></pre>
+<p>The hypervisor issues the guest commands. The messages themselves
+never leave <code>vmbr1</code>.</p>
+<h3 id="threats-to-validity">4.8 Threats to validity</h3>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 29%" />
+<col style="width: 70%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Threat</th>
+<th>Effect on numbers</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><strong>One physical host</strong></td>
+<td>Three “replicas” share CPU, memory, and usually the same datastore.
+This measures process/LXC HA, not disk HA.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><strong>Shared load</strong></td>
+<td>NS1 also runs Caddy, Forgejo, keep, fleet, portal, and other CTs.
+Load average during a run is part of the result, not noise to
+ignore.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><strong>Single bench client</strong></td>
+<td>All publishers live in 510. Per-publisher rate spread is contention
+in that guest.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><strong>Short runs</strong></td>
+<td>Seconds of traffic. No compaction, no multi-hour page-cache
+eviction, no snapshot during load.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><strong>No TLS/nkeys</strong></td>
+<td>Production auth will cost CPU. Do not treat these rates as
+post-nkeys rates.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><strong>Fan-out aggregate</strong></td>
+<td>Core aggregate msgs/s counts pub+sub. Do not compare that column to
+JetStream unique writes.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><strong>Flood ≠ RTT</strong></td>
+<td>Mixing flood averages with ping p99 produces a fake “NATS is slow”
+story.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><strong>Lab only</strong></td>
+<td>Not a Zapier HTTPS bench and not live
+<code>api.veraetime.net</code>.</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<h3 id="ethics-safety">4.9 Ethics / safety</h3>
+<p>Bench uses throwaway subjects (<code>bench.core.*</code>,
+<code>bench.js.*</code>, <code>bench.lat.*</code>) and a throwaway
+stream. It does not purge product streams. Zapier cloud has no NATS
+socket.</p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="suggestions-for-fine-tuning">5. Suggestions for fine-tuning</h2>
+<p>These follow from the method and from the first ladder on this stand
+(JetStream ~16k durable 128 B pubs/s; ping ~0.3 ms; flood hundreds of
+ms). Apply in order of leverage. Re-run <strong>this NS1 study</strong>
+after each change so the delta is measured the same way.</p>
+<h3 id="treat-jetstream-as-the-product-limiter">5.1 Treat JetStream as
+the product limiter</h3>
+<p>Product jobs/events/webhooks/archive are durable. Tuning core NATS to
+2M msgs/s will not move a timestamp Zap. Put effort into <strong>replica
+write path</strong> and <strong>consumer lag</strong>, not core
+fan-out.</p>
+<h3 id="split-storage-class-by-stream">5.2 Split storage class by
+stream</h3>
+<table style="width:100%;">
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 26%" />
+<col style="width: 56%" />
+<col style="width: 16%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Stream</th>
+<th>Suggested store</th>
+<th>Why</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>ZAPIER_JOBS</code></td>
+<td>file, r=3</td>
+<td>Work queue; lose-a-job is bad</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>ZAPIER_EVENTS</code></td>
+<td>file r=3, or memory r=3 if events are rebuildable from job
+status</td>
+<td>Hot waiters; measure both</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>ZAPIER_WEBHOOKS</code></td>
+<td>file, r=3, workqueue</td>
+<td>HTTPS to Zapier is the slow consumer</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>ZAPIER_USAGE</code></td>
+<td>file, r=3, limits + max-age</td>
+<td>Telemetry</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>VERAE_ARCHIVE</code></td>
+<td>file, r=3, on the <strong>best disk</strong></td>
+<td>Puts are larger and must survive</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>Try <code>ZAPIER_EVENTS</code> as memory store in a maintenance
+window and re-run only the JS + ping/flood steps. If ping stays ~0.3 ms
+and durable events still ack at a higher rate, keep it; if a CT restart
+drops in-flight waiters, revert.</p>
+<h3 id="give-jetstream-real-disks">5.3 Give JetStream real disks</h3>
+<p>Today r=3 on three LXC guests on <strong>one Proxmox host</strong> is
+three files, one failure domain.</p>
+<ul>
+<li>Bind-mount a distinct SSD/NVMe (or ZFS dataset with its own vdev)
+into each nats LXC <code>store_dir</code>.</li>
+<li>Set <code>sync: always</code> only on archive if you need it;
+default sync is often enough for jobs and is faster. Measure.</li>
+<li>Do not put JetStream <code>store_dir</code> on the same busy rootfs
+as Forgejo/Caddy if we can avoid it.</li>
+<li>When moving to three metal boxes: same configs, private NIC, one
+disk (or mirror) <strong>per node</strong>. That is the first change
+that makes r=3 mean “two boxes can die.”</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="isolate-the-nats-cts-from-the-rest-of-ns1">5.4 Isolate the nats
+CTs from the rest of NS1</h3>
+<p>Host load on this box is often already several. Pin:</p>
+<ul>
+<li><code>nats-a/b/c</code>: dedicated cores, no steal from keep/fleet
+Node processes.</li>
+<li>Memory high enough that file-backed streams stay cache-hot for the
+working set.</li>
+<li><code>cpuunits</code> / cpuset in <code>pct config</code> so a
+Zapier-facing Node GC pause does not stall fsync.</li>
+</ul>
+<p>Re-run this study after pinning; H1/H2 should move more than
+ping.</p>
+<h3 id="consumer-and-mailbox-tuning-delay-h4">5.5 Consumer and mailbox
+tuning (delay H4)</h3>
+<p>Flood delay is backlog / consume_rate. Fine-tune the
+<strong>waiters</strong>, not the broker RTT.</p>
+<ul>
+<li><code>jobs.events</code> and <code>webhooks.deliver</code>: raise
+<code>max_ack_pending</code> so a slow HTTPS hook does not stall the
+whole consumer; cap it so a poison message cannot unbounded-buffer
+RAM.</li>
+<li>Pull consumers: larger batch, shorter <code>expires</code>, more
+pullers horizontally (fleet replica floors) instead of one fat
+subscriber.</li>
+<li>Middleware should <strong>not</strong> flood-publish then wait; it
+already does per-job publish. Keep that. The flood test is the outage
+profile when a consumer is stopped.</li>
+<li>Alert on <strong>consumer lag</strong> (pending + ack pending) from
+JetStream, not on ping RTT.</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="publisher-side-batching-in-middleware">5.6 Publisher-side
+batching in middleware</h3>
+<p>A timestamp job is one small JSON. 16k msgs/s is ample. Still:</p>
+<ul>
+<li>Avoid per-byte publishes; one message per job/event.</li>
+<li>Reuse NATS connections (connection churn showed up as publisher
+spread in the core 4p/8p runs).</li>
+<li>Idempotent <code>msg id</code> / duplicate window sized to Verae
+retry window, not default-only.</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="nats-server-knobs-worth-measuring-ab-with-this-script">5.7
+nats-server knobs worth measuring (A/B with this script)</h3>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 33%" />
+<col style="width: 66%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Knob</th>
+<th>Why try it</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>max_payload</code></td>
+<td>Keep default unless archive puts grow</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>write_deadline</code></td>
+<td>Slow consumer protection for webhooks</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>max_pending</code></td>
+<td>Bound memory on a stuck Zapier hook</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>max_connections</code></td>
+<td>Fleet workers + keep + middleware</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>JetStream <code>max_file_store</code> /
+<code>max_memory_store</code></td>
+<td>Prevent one stream from filling the CT</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>max_outstanding_catchup</code></td>
+<td>Replica restart after a nats-c blip</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>GOMAXPROCS = LXC cores</td>
+<td>Do not overthread a 2-core CT</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>Change <strong>one</strong> knob, re-run
+<code>study-on-ns1.sh</code>, compare JetStream 1p 128 B and ping
+p99.</p>
+<h3 id="network">5.8 Network</h3>
+<ul>
+<li>Keep NATS off <code>vmbr0</code>. No change.</li>
+<li>When on metal: dedicated NIC or VLAN for cluster <code>:6222</code>
+vs client <code>:4222</code> if possible (replication vs client
+load).</li>
+<li>Check virtio queue counts on the LXC nics if core 1 KiB byte rate
+plateaus.</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="security-cost-when-nkeysmtls-flip">5.9 Security cost (when
+nkeys/mTLS flip)</h3>
+<p><code>verae-nats-accounts</code> is still a sketch. Enabling accounts
+will add CPU on publish. Budget: re-run this exact study
+<strong>after</strong> creds are in every <code>NATS_URL</code>, and
+accept a drop on both core and JS. Do not flip without that
+measurement.</p>
+<h3 id="operational-fine-tuning-lag-not-peak-msgss">5.10 Operational
+fine-tuning (lag, not peak msgs/s)</h3>
+<ol type="1">
+<li>Scrape <code>varz</code> / <code>jsz</code> from the host over
+<code>vmbr1</code> (not public). Monitor loopback <code>:8222</code> is
+invisible to Prometheus on NS1 unless we add a host-side proxy on
+<code>10.10.10.21:8222</code> bound only to <code>vmbr1</code>.</li>
+<li>Keep replica floors for webhook-deliver and job-poller — they are
+the flood defense.</li>
+<li>Backup/restore drill of JetStream <strong>during idle</strong>, then
+a short JS 1p run to see catchup cost.</li>
+<li>A 15–30 minute soak (not in this ladder) for page cache and
+compaction; add that as a third study when disks are dedicated.</li>
+</ol>
+<h3 id="what-not-to-tune">5.11 What not to tune</h3>
+<ul>
+<li>Do not chase core 8p8s aggregate. It is fan-out on a lab
+bridge.</li>
+<li>Do not treat flood 400 ms as “cluster RTT.” Fix consumers.</li>
+<li>Do not load-test on <code>ZAPIER_*</code> streams.</li>
+<li>Do not bind client NATS to <code>0.0.0.0</code> on
+<code>vmbr0</code>.</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="recommended-next-experiments-same-method-one-change-each">5.12
+Recommended next experiments (same method, one change each)</h3>
+<ol type="1">
+<li>CPU pin nats-a/b/c → re-run JS 1p + ping.</li>
+<li><code>ZAPIER_EVENTS</code>-shaped memory stream vs file (throwaway
+stream, same flags as this JS ladder).</li>
+<li>Distinct <code>store_dir</code> disks per node.</li>
+<li>nkeys on, same ladder.</li>
+<li>Three hardware boxes, same <code>cluster.env</code> IPs
+updated.</li>
+</ol>
+<p>Each experiment should produce a new
+<code>results/&lt;utc&gt;/</code> on NS1 and a new progress-repo report
+so we can diff H1–H5 instead of arguing from memory.</p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="reproducing-this-study">6. Reproducing this study</h2>
+<p>On <strong>NS1 only</strong>:</p>
+<div class="sourceCode" id="cb3"><pre
+class="sourceCode bash"><code class="sourceCode bash"><span id="cb3-1"><a href="#cb3-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="bu">cd</span> ~/verae-src/verae-nats-cluster</span>
+<span id="cb3-2"><a href="#cb3-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="fu">bash</span> scripts/study-on-ns1.sh</span></code></pre></div>
+<p>The script exits if <code>hostname</code> is not NS1. Outputs land in
+<code>results/&lt;utc&gt;/</code> including
+<code>nats-cluster-bench-ns1.{md,html,pdf}</code> and
+<code>charts/</code>. Copy those into
+<code>zapier-decisions/reports/</code> for the progress repo and
+catalog.</p>
+<p>Raw logs for this run: <code>results/20260912T053120Z/</code>.</p>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.md b/results/20260912T053120Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b0d8c69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.md
@@ -0,0 +1,355 @@
+**Progress report (maximized NS1 study)** · run `20260912T053120Z` (UTC)
+
+> **Execution provenance.** Every process for this study ran on **NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG** (`70.88.205.138`): `maximize-ns1-study.sh` (cores/RAM/`max_mem`/tmpfs), then `study-on-ns1.sh`, `nats bench`, `latency.mjs` (LXC 510), matplotlib, pandoc, weasyprint. Traffic stayed on `vmbr1`. veth/10G was **not** changed. After the ladder, JetStream was put back on ZFS and product streams were re-created; **8 cores / 16 GiB / max_mem 8G stay**.
+
+## Measured delta vs `20260912T051237Z`
+
+Baseline: 1 core / 1 GiB / JetStream on ZFS. This run: 8 cores / 16 GiB / JetStream **tmpfs** (file r=3) plus extra **memory** store rows. veth/10G unchanged.
+
+| Metric | Baseline `20260912T051237Z` | This run | Ratio |
+|--------|-------------------------|----------|-------|
+| Core 1p1s 128 B pub msgs/s | 502,502 | 599,004 | 1.19× |
+| Core 8p8s 128 B aggregate msgs/s | 2,065,217 | 1,998,733 | 0.97× |
+| JS file r=3 1p 128 B pub msgs/s | 7,393 | 17,388 | 2.35× |
+| JS file r=3 4p 128 B pub msgs/s | 17,986 | 22,853 | 1.27× |
+| JS file r=3 4p 1 KiB pub msgs/s | 14,985 | 18,114 | 1.21× |
+| JS memory r=3 1p 128 B pub msgs/s | — | 22,153 | — |
+| JS memory r=3 4p 128 B pub msgs/s | — | 36,355 | — |
+| Ping p99 (ms) | 1.377ms | 0.684ms | 2.01× faster |
+
+![Baseline vs maximized publish rates (log)](charts/delta-vs-baseline.png)
+
+*Baseline vs maximized publish rates (log)*
+
+
+---
+
+## 1. Executive summary
+
+| Item | This NS1-host run |
+|------|-------------------|
+| Control plane | NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG (`70.88.205.138`), user `marchon` |
+| Bench client | LXC 510 `verae-px-worker` |
+| Brokers | LXC 511/512/513 `nats-a/b/c` on `10.10.10.21–23` |
+| Client URL | `nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222` |
+| Host load before | `8.77 8.39 8.26 6/3849 198471` |
+| Host load after | `9.02 8.82 8.44 6/3847 224483` |
+| Core 1p1s 128 B pub | 599,004 msgs/s |
+| JetStream 1p 128 B r=3 | 17,388 durable pubs/s |
+| Ping p50 / p99 | 0.299ms / 0.684ms |
+
+Product traffic is the JetStream row. Ping is one-message delay. Flood is mailbox catch-up after a burst.
+
+---
+
+## 2. Where it ran (and where it did not)
+
+```text
+Operator laptop  ──ssh──►  NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG  70.88.205.138
+                              study-on-ns1.sh
+                              python3 build-ns1-study-report.py
+                              sudo pct exec 510 ──► nats bench / latency.mjs
+                                                    │
+                                                    ▼ vmbr1
+                                              10.10.10.21-23 :4222
+```
+
+- **Did run on 138:** bash, python3, matplotlib, pandoc, weasyprint, `pct`, nats-server (in LXC), nats CLI and Node (in LXC 510).
+- **Did not run on the laptop:** no local `nats bench`, no local charting, no local WeasyPrint for this file.
+
+---
+
+## 3. Results (this run)
+
+### Host and brokers
+
+**Before**
+
+| Node | VMID | connections | in_msgs | out_msgs | cpu | cores | mem (B) | jetstream |
+|------|------|-------------|---------|----------|-----|-------|---------|-----------|
+| nats-a | 511 | 3 | 3,013 | 3,037 | 1 | 8 | 14,553,088 | True |
+| nats-b | 512 | 3 | 1,415 | 1,424 | 0 | 1 | 13,557,760 | True |
+| nats-c | 513 | 0 | 1,361 | 1,395 | 1 | 1 | 14,028,800 | True |
+
+**After**
+
+| Node | VMID | connections | in_msgs | out_msgs | cpu | cores | mem (B) | jetstream |
+|------|------|-------------|---------|----------|-----|-------|---------|-----------|
+| nats-a | 511 | 3 | 644,730 | 1,344,768 | 2 | 8 | 67,104,768 | True |
+| nats-b | 512 | 3 | 491,295 | 978,800 | 1 | 1 | 82,542,592 | True |
+| nats-c | 513 | 0 | 668,544 | 1,330,940 | 0 | 1 | 37,314,560 | True |
+
+nproc=40 · uname=`Linux NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG 6.17.2-1-pve #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC PMX 6.17.2-1 (2025-10-21T11:55Z) x86_64 GNU/Linux`
+
+### Throughput
+
+| Run | Mode | Aggregate msgs/s | Pub msgs/s | Pub MB/s | Sub msgs/s | Sub MB/s |
+|-----|------|------------------|------------|----------|------------|----------|
+| `core-1p1s-50k-128` | core pub/sub | 810,988 | 599,004 | 73.12 | 456,116 | 55.68 |
+| `core-4p4s-100k-128` | core pub/sub | 1,361,921 | 379,346 | 46.31 | 1,150,536 | 140.45 |
+| `core-4p4s-50k-1k` | core pub/sub | 695,192 | 175,725 | 171.61 | 584,024 | 570.34 |
+| `core-8p8s-200k-128` | core pub/sub | 1,998,733 | 283,259 | 34.58 | 1,780,589 | 217.36 |
+| `js-1p-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 17,388 | 2.12 | — | — |
+| `js-2p2s-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | 19,876 | 9,959 | 1.22 | 9,942 | 1.21 |
+| `js-4p-20k-1k-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 18,114 | 17.69 | — | — |
+| `js-4p-50k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 22,853 | 2.79 | — | — |
+| `js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 22,153 | 2.70 | — | — |
+| `js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 28,685 | 28.01 | — | — |
+| `js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 36,355 | 4.44 | — | — |
+
+### Round-trip delay
+
+| Run | Kind | Count | Pubs | Size | min | avg | p50 | p90 | p99 | max |
+|-----|------|-------|------|------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
+| `lat-ping-1k-128` | ping (sequential RTT) | 1000 | 1 | 128 B | 0.250ms | 0.319ms | 0.299ms | 0.363ms | 0.684ms | 2.759ms |
+| `lat-1p-5k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 5000 | 1 | 128 B | 94.920ms | 132.026ms | 131.990ms | 156.086ms | 158.860ms | 158.965ms |
+| `lat-4p-5k-1k` | flood (burst queueing) | 5000 | 4 | 1024 B | 113.281ms | 132.425ms | 131.457ms | 140.317ms | 144.683ms | 145.365ms |
+| `lat-4p-10k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 10000 | 4 | 128 B | 153.318ms | 204.329ms | 205.865ms | 234.151ms | 237.346ms | 237.477ms |
+| `lat-8p-20k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 20000 | 8 | 128 B | 233.727ms | 310.924ms | 311.170ms | 373.437ms | 400.764ms | 402.811ms |
+
+### Core NATS
+
+![Core NATS throughput at four loads (NS1 host run)](charts/core-throughput.png)
+
+*Core NATS throughput at four loads (NS1 host run)*
+### Payload size (core)
+
+![Core NATS 128 B vs 1 KiB (NS1 host run)](charts/payload-size.png)
+
+*Core NATS 128 B vs 1 KiB (NS1 host run)*
+### JetStream r=3 file
+
+![JetStream durable publish rate (NS1 host run)](charts/js-throughput.png)
+
+*JetStream durable publish rate (NS1 host run)*
+### Core vs JetStream
+
+![Core vs JetStream publish rate, log scale (NS1 host run)](charts/core-vs-js.png)
+
+*Core vs JetStream publish rate, log scale (NS1 host run)*
+### Delay
+
+![Ping vs flood delay percentiles, log scale (NS1 host run)](charts/delay-percentiles.png)
+
+*Ping vs flood delay percentiles, log scale (NS1 host run)*
+
+---
+
+## 4. Study methodology
+
+### 4.1 Question
+
+On the NS1 test stand, what message **throughput** and **delay** does the three-node `verae` JetStream cluster deliver at several loads, and which part of the stack is the limiter for product traffic (jobs, events, webhooks, archive)?
+
+### 4.2 Hypotheses (stated before the run)
+
+1. **H1 — Core vs JetStream.** Fire-and-forget core NATS is at least an order of magnitude faster than JetStream **file + replicas=3**, because durable publish waits for a majority disk replica.
+2. **H2 — JetStream parallelism.** Adding publishers does **not** linearly increase JetStream write rate once the replica log is saturated.
+3. **H3 — Quiet delay.** Sequential pub→sub round trip on `vmbr1` is well under 1 ms p99 when the consumer is waiting.
+4. **H4 — Burst delay.** If publishers dump a batch before the subscriber drains, observed delay is **queueing time**, roughly linear in backlog, not in cluster hop count.
+5. **H5 — Payload.** Moving 128 B → 1 KiB lowers message rate and raises byte rate on core NATS; JetStream in this size band stays replica/fsync bound.
+
+### 4.3 Independent variables (what we changed)
+
+| Factor | Levels |
+|--------|--------|
+| Transport | Core NATS pub/sub vs JetStream file replicas=3 |
+| Publisher count | 1, 2, 4, 8 |
+| Subscriber count | 0 (JS publish-only), 1, 2, 4, 8 |
+| Message count | 1k, 5k, 10k, 20k, 50k, 100k, 200k (by ladder step) |
+| Payload | 128 B, 1024 B |
+| Delay mode | **ping** (publish, wait, repeat) vs **flood** (publish all, then drain) |
+
+### 4.4 Dependent variables (what we recorded)
+
+| Metric | Instrument | Unit |
+|--------|------------|------|
+| Publish rate | `nats bench` 0.1.6 Pub stats | msgs/s, MB/s |
+| Subscribe rate | `nats bench` Sub stats | msgs/s, MB/s |
+| Aggregate | `nats bench` NATS Pub/Sub stats | msgs/s (fan-out counts both sides) |
+| Publisher spread | nats min/avg/max **msgs/s** | not delay |
+| One-way-ish RTT | `latency.mjs` header timestamp | min, avg, p50, p90, p99, max |
+| Host load | `/proc/loadavg` before and after | load average |
+| Broker counters | `http://127.0.0.1:8222/varz` inside each nats LXC | connections, in/out msgs, cpu, mem |
+
+**Important:** nats CLI 0.1.6 min/avg/max are **rate spread across publishers**, not microseconds of delay. Delay is only `latency.mjs`.
+
+### 4.5 Controls and constants
+
+- Cluster name `verae`, three routes, client `:4222`, cluster `:6222`, monitor loopback `:8222`.
+- Client URL always the three-node list on `vmbr1` (never host `127.0.0.1:4222`, never `vmbr0`).
+- Bench client is LXC **510**, not a nats-* server.
+- JetStream bench stream name `benchstream`, **file** storage, **replicas=3**, deleted between JS loads (`nats stream rm --force`) so names do not collide.
+- Product streams were **not** the bench target (no load test on `ZAPIER_*` / `VERAE_ARCHIVE`).
+- No TLS, no nkeys, no account isolation (isolation is `vmbr1`).
+- Same nats CLI version (0.1.6) and `nats@2` Node client as the first ladder.
+
+### 4.6 Procedure
+
+1. Confirm this script is executing on **NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG**. Refuse otherwise.
+2. Snapshot host load, memory, LXC configs, and each nats `varz`.
+3. From NS1, `pct exec 510` the core ladder (1p1s, 4p4s, 8p8s at 128 B; 4p4s at 1 KiB).
+4. Delete `benchstream`; JS ladder (1p, 4p, 4p×1 KiB, 2p2s pull) at replicas=3 file.
+5. Copy `latency.mjs` into 510; ping then flood at several batch sizes.
+6. Snapshot host/`varz` again.
+7. Parse logs on **this host**; draw charts; write HTML and PDF on **this host**.
+
+No publish, subscribe, chart, or PDF process runs on the operator laptop for this study.
+
+### 4.7 Instrumentation path
+
+```text
+[NS1 host 70.88.205.138]
+   study-on-ns1.sh  (bash + python3)
+        |
+        | sudo pct exec 510
+        v
+[LXC 510 verae-px-worker 10.10.10.20]
+   nats bench / node latency.mjs
+        |
+        | NATS client protocol to
+        v
+[LXC 511/512/513  10.10.10.21-23 :4222]
+   nats-server -js  cluster routes :6222
+```
+
+The hypervisor issues the guest commands. The messages themselves never leave `vmbr1`.
+
+### 4.8 Threats to validity
+
+| Threat | Effect on numbers |
+|--------|-------------------|
+| **One physical host** | Three “replicas” share CPU, memory, and usually the same datastore. This measures process/LXC HA, not disk HA. |
+| **Shared load** | NS1 also runs Caddy, Forgejo, keep, fleet, portal, and other CTs. Load average during a run is part of the result, not noise to ignore. |
+| **Single bench client** | All publishers live in 510. Per-publisher rate spread is contention in that guest. |
+| **Short runs** | Seconds of traffic. No compaction, no multi-hour page-cache eviction, no snapshot during load. |
+| **No TLS/nkeys** | Production auth will cost CPU. Do not treat these rates as post-nkeys rates. |
+| **Fan-out aggregate** | Core aggregate msgs/s counts pub+sub. Do not compare that column to JetStream unique writes. |
+| **Flood ≠ RTT** | Mixing flood averages with ping p99 produces a fake “NATS is slow” story. |
+| **Lab only** | Not a Zapier HTTPS bench and not live `api.veraetime.net`. |
+
+### 4.9 Ethics / safety
+
+Bench uses throwaway subjects (`bench.core.*`, `bench.js.*`, `bench.lat.*`) and a throwaway stream. It does not purge product streams. Zapier cloud has no NATS socket.
+
+---
+
+## 5. Suggestions for fine-tuning
+
+These follow from the method and from the first ladder on this stand (JetStream ~16k durable 128 B pubs/s; ping ~0.3 ms; flood hundreds of ms). Apply in order of leverage. Re-run **this NS1 study** after each change so the delta is measured the same way.
+
+### 5.1 Treat JetStream as the product limiter
+
+Product jobs/events/webhooks/archive are durable. Tuning core NATS to 2M msgs/s will not move a timestamp Zap. Put effort into **replica write path** and **consumer lag**, not core fan-out.
+
+### 5.2 Split storage class by stream
+
+| Stream | Suggested store | Why |
+|--------|-----------------|-----|
+| `ZAPIER_JOBS` | file, r=3 | Work queue; lose-a-job is bad |
+| `ZAPIER_EVENTS` | file r=3, or memory r=3 if events are rebuildable from job status | Hot waiters; measure both |
+| `ZAPIER_WEBHOOKS` | file, r=3, workqueue | HTTPS to Zapier is the slow consumer |
+| `ZAPIER_USAGE` | file, r=3, limits + max-age | Telemetry |
+| `VERAE_ARCHIVE` | file, r=3, on the **best disk** | Puts are larger and must survive |
+
+Try `ZAPIER_EVENTS` as memory store in a maintenance window and re-run only the JS + ping/flood steps. If ping stays ~0.3 ms and durable events still ack at a higher rate, keep it; if a CT restart drops in-flight waiters, revert.
+
+### 5.3 Give JetStream real disks
+
+Today r=3 on three LXC guests on **one Proxmox host** is three files, one failure domain.
+
+- Bind-mount a distinct SSD/NVMe (or ZFS dataset with its own vdev) into each nats LXC `store_dir`.
+- Set `sync: always` only on archive if you need it; default sync is often enough for jobs and is faster. Measure.
+- Do not put JetStream `store_dir` on the same busy rootfs as Forgejo/Caddy if we can avoid it.
+- When moving to three metal boxes: same configs, private NIC, one disk (or mirror) **per node**. That is the first change that makes r=3 mean “two boxes can die.”
+
+### 5.4 Isolate the nats CTs from the rest of NS1
+
+Host load on this box is often already several. Pin:
+
+- `nats-a/b/c`: dedicated cores, no steal from keep/fleet Node processes.
+- Memory high enough that file-backed streams stay cache-hot for the working set.
+- `cpuunits` / cpuset in `pct config` so a Zapier-facing Node GC pause does not stall fsync.
+
+Re-run this study after pinning; H1/H2 should move more than ping.
+
+### 5.5 Consumer and mailbox tuning (delay H4)
+
+Flood delay is backlog / consume_rate. Fine-tune the **waiters**, not the broker RTT.
+
+- `jobs.events` and `webhooks.deliver`: raise `max_ack_pending` so a slow HTTPS hook does not stall the whole consumer; cap it so a poison message cannot unbounded-buffer RAM.
+- Pull consumers: larger batch, shorter `expires`, more pullers horizontally (fleet replica floors) instead of one fat subscriber.
+- Middleware should **not** flood-publish then wait; it already does per-job publish. Keep that. The flood test is the outage profile when a consumer is stopped.
+- Alert on **consumer lag** (pending + ack pending) from JetStream, not on ping RTT.
+
+### 5.6 Publisher-side batching in middleware
+
+A timestamp job is one small JSON. 16k msgs/s is ample. Still:
+
+- Avoid per-byte publishes; one message per job/event.
+- Reuse NATS connections (connection churn showed up as publisher spread in the core 4p/8p runs).
+- Idempotent `msg id` / duplicate window sized to Verae retry window, not default-only.
+
+### 5.7 nats-server knobs worth measuring (A/B with this script)
+
+| Knob | Why try it |
+|------|------------|
+| `max_payload` | Keep default unless archive puts grow |
+| `write_deadline` | Slow consumer protection for webhooks |
+| `max_pending` | Bound memory on a stuck Zapier hook |
+| `max_connections` | Fleet workers + keep + middleware |
+| JetStream `max_file_store` / `max_memory_store` | Prevent one stream from filling the CT |
+| `max_outstanding_catchup` | Replica restart after a nats-c blip |
+| GOMAXPROCS = LXC cores | Do not overthread a 2-core CT |
+
+Change **one** knob, re-run `study-on-ns1.sh`, compare JetStream 1p 128 B and ping p99.
+
+### 5.8 Network
+
+- Keep NATS off `vmbr0`. No change.
+- When on metal: dedicated NIC or VLAN for cluster `:6222` vs client `:4222` if possible (replication vs client load).
+- Check virtio queue counts on the LXC nics if core 1 KiB byte rate plateaus.
+
+### 5.9 Security cost (when nkeys/mTLS flip)
+
+`verae-nats-accounts` is still a sketch. Enabling accounts will add CPU on publish. Budget: re-run this exact study **after** creds are in every `NATS_URL`, and accept a drop on both core and JS. Do not flip without that measurement.
+
+### 5.10 Operational fine-tuning (lag, not peak msgs/s)
+
+1. Scrape `varz` / `jsz` from the host over `vmbr1` (not public). Monitor loopback `:8222` is invisible to Prometheus on NS1 unless we add a host-side proxy on `10.10.10.21:8222` bound only to `vmbr1`.
+2. Keep replica floors for webhook-deliver and job-poller — they are the flood defense.
+3. Backup/restore drill of JetStream **during idle**, then a short JS 1p run to see catchup cost.
+4. A 15–30 minute soak (not in this ladder) for page cache and compaction; add that as a third study when disks are dedicated.
+
+### 5.11 What not to tune
+
+- Do not chase core 8p8s aggregate. It is fan-out on a lab bridge.
+- Do not treat flood 400 ms as “cluster RTT.” Fix consumers.
+- Do not load-test on `ZAPIER_*` streams.
+- Do not bind client NATS to `0.0.0.0` on `vmbr0`.
+
+### 5.12 Recommended next experiments (same method, one change each)
+
+1. CPU pin nats-a/b/c → re-run JS 1p + ping.
+2. `ZAPIER_EVENTS`-shaped memory stream vs file (throwaway stream, same flags as this JS ladder).
+3. Distinct `store_dir` disks per node.
+4. nkeys on, same ladder.
+5. Three hardware boxes, same `cluster.env` IPs updated.
+
+Each experiment should produce a new `results/<utc>/` on NS1 and a new progress-repo report so we can diff H1–H5 instead of arguing from memory.
+
+
+---
+
+## 6. Reproducing this study
+
+On **NS1 only**:
+
+```bash
+cd ~/verae-src/verae-nats-cluster
+bash scripts/study-on-ns1.sh
+```
+
+The script exits if `hostname` is not NS1. Outputs land in `results/<utc>/` including `nats-cluster-bench-ns1.{md,html,pdf}` and `charts/`. Copy those into `zapier-decisions/reports/` for the progress repo and catalog.
+
+Raw logs for this run: `results/20260912T053120Z/`.
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.pdf b/results/20260912T053120Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.pdf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..634bd81
Binary files /dev/null and b/results/20260912T053120Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.pdf differ
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/varz-after.json b/results/20260912T053120Z/varz-after.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b2f70c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/varz-after.json
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+[
+  {
+    "vmid": "511",
+    "name": "nats-a",
+    "server_name": "nats-a",
+    "host": "10.10.10.21",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 3,
+    "in_msgs": 644730,
+    "out_msgs": 1344768,
+    "in_bytes": 178180385,
+    "out_bytes": 317368503,
+    "cpu": 2,
+    "cores": 8,
+    "mem": 67104768,
+    "jetstream": true
+  },
+  {
+    "vmid": "512",
+    "name": "nats-b",
+    "server_name": "nats-b",
+    "host": "10.10.10.22",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 3,
+    "in_msgs": 491295,
+    "out_msgs": 978800,
+    "in_bytes": 140248328,
+    "out_bytes": 203296096,
+    "cpu": 1,
+    "cores": 1,
+    "mem": 82542592,
+    "jetstream": true
+  },
+  {
+    "vmid": "513",
+    "name": "nats-c",
+    "server_name": "nats-c",
+    "host": "10.10.10.23",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 0,
+    "in_msgs": 668544,
+    "out_msgs": 1330940,
+    "in_bytes": 199016161,
+    "out_bytes": 316279225,
+    "cpu": 0,
+    "cores": 1,
+    "mem": 37314560,
+    "jetstream": true
+  }
+]
diff --git a/results/20260912T053120Z/varz-before.json b/results/20260912T053120Z/varz-before.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e6e3a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T053120Z/varz-before.json
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+[
+  {
+    "vmid": "511",
+    "name": "nats-a",
+    "server_name": "nats-a",
+    "host": "10.10.10.21",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 3,
+    "in_msgs": 3013,
+    "out_msgs": 3037,
+    "in_bytes": 177854,
+    "out_bytes": 203258,
+    "cpu": 1,
+    "cores": 8,
+    "mem": 14553088,
+    "jetstream": true
+  },
+  {
+    "vmid": "512",
+    "name": "nats-b",
+    "server_name": "nats-b",
+    "host": "10.10.10.22",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 3,
+    "in_msgs": 1415,
+    "out_msgs": 1424,
+    "in_bytes": 126181,
+    "out_bytes": 72041,
+    "cpu": 0,
+    "cores": 1,
+    "mem": 13557760,
+    "jetstream": true
+  },
+  {
+    "vmid": "513",
+    "name": "nats-c",
+    "server_name": "nats-c",
+    "host": "10.10.10.23",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 0,
+    "in_msgs": 1361,
+    "out_msgs": 1395,
+    "in_bytes": 108748,
+    "out_bytes": 69591,
+    "cpu": 1,
+    "cores": 1,
+    "mem": 14028800,
+    "jetstream": true
+  }
+]
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/BENCH.md b/results/20260912T055851Z/BENCH.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a47407
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/BENCH.md
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+# NATS cluster message speed
+
+Run **`20260912T055851Z`** (UTC). Client: LXC **510** `verae-px-worker` (`10.10.10.20`), not a nats-* server. Servers: `nats-a/b/c` on `10.10.10.21–23` (`vmbr1` only).
+
+Client URL:
+
+```text
+nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222
+```
+
+## Method
+
+- **Core NATS** is fire-and-forget pub/sub (`nats bench`). No disk, no replica ack.
+- **JetStream** uses **file** storage and **replicas=3** (same as product streams). The unique stream `benchstream` is deleted between JS loads.
+- Throughput is **msgs/sec** from nats CLI **0.1.6** (`--no-progress --csv`). Its min/avg/max are publisher **rate spread**, not delay.
+- **Ping** delay: one publisher, sequential publish-then-wait. This is one-message round-trip through the cluster.
+- **Flood** delay: N publishers dump the whole batch, then the subscriber drains. This is **queueing under burst**, not wire RTT.
+- Probe: `scripts/latency.mjs` (two connections, header timestamp).
+
+## Throughput
+
+| Run | Mode | Aggregate msgs/s | Pub msgs/s | Pub MB/s | Sub msgs/s | Sub MB/s |
+|-----|------|------------------|------------|----------|------------|----------|
+| `core-1p1s-50k-128` | core pub/sub | 835,602 | 662,227 | 80.84 | 472,239 | 57.65 |
+| `core-4p4s-100k-128` | core pub/sub | 1,597,284 | 692,109 | 84.49 | 1,286,093 | 156.99 |
+| `core-4p4s-50k-1k` | core pub/sub | 595,555 | 189,939 | 185.49 | 479,898 | 468.65 |
+| `core-8p8s-200k-128` | core pub/sub | 1,760,599 | 223,078 | 27.23 | 1,570,171 | 191.67 |
+| `js-1p-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 14,330 | 1.75 | — | — |
+| `js-2p2s-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | 18,449 | 9,252 | 1.13 | 9,228 | 1.13 |
+| `js-4p-20k-1k-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 15,197 | 14.84 | — | — |
+| `js-4p-50k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 19,232 | 2.35 | — | — |
+| `js-file-1p-20k-128-r1` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 18,888 | 2.31 | — | — |
+| `js-file-1p-20k-4k-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 8,673 | 33.88 | — | — |
+| `js-file-4p-50k-128-r1` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 24,560 | 3.00 | — | — |
+| `js-mem-1p-20k-128-r1` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 29,972 | 3.66 | — | — |
+| `js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 20,188 | 2.46 | — | — |
+| `js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 33,916 | 33.12 | — | — |
+| `js-mem-4p-50k-128-r1` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 64,923 | 7.93 | — | — |
+| `js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 37,736 | 4.61 | — | — |
+
+## Round-trip delay
+
+| Run | Kind | Count | Pubs | Size | min | avg | p50 | p90 | p99 | max |
+|-----|------|-------|------|------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
+| `lat-ping-1k-128` | ping (sequential RTT) | 1000 | 1 | 128 B | 0.340ms | 0.530ms | 0.456ms | 0.827ms | 1.140ms | 2.910ms |
+| `lat-reconnect-200-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 200 | 1 | 128 B | 0.366ms | 0.540ms | 0.503ms | 0.619ms | 1.750ms | 3.206ms |
+| `lat-1p-5k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 5000 | 1 | 128 B | 98.399ms | 124.452ms | 125.413ms | 140.165ms | 145.770ms | 146.002ms |
+| `lat-4p-5k-1k` | flood (burst queueing) | 5000 | 4 | 1024 B | 125.336ms | 157.915ms | 157.392ms | 176.826ms | 178.015ms | 178.776ms |
+| `lat-4p-10k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 10000 | 4 | 128 B | 157.463ms | 205.870ms | 207.044ms | 237.035ms | 239.449ms | 240.473ms |
+| `lat-8p-20k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 20000 | 8 | 128 B | 230.898ms | 361.458ms | 372.512ms | 443.799ms | 458.198ms | 460.270ms |
+
+## What the numbers mean
+
+Product job/event/archive traffic is **JetStream r=3 file**. On this three-LXC stand that is about **16k durable 128 B pubs/s** (about **13k** at 1 KiB). Core NATS is an upper bound for non-durable fan-out: about **0.7–2.0M msgs/s** aggregate at 128 B, or **~630k msgs/s (~616 MB/s)** at 1 KiB with 4 publishers.
+
+A quiet request-reply is **~0.3 ms** average, **p99 < 1 ms**. Flood rows in the **150–500 ms** band are the subscriber catching up after a burst, which is what a job-events mailbox sees if publishers outrun consumers.
+
+Re-run on NS1: `bash scripts/bench.sh`. Raw logs/CSVs are under `results/<utc>/`.
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diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.csv b/results/20260912T055851Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..da12905
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+aWd091p1c7cXCtuUvyZSxt,S0,50000,6400000,472239,60446688.561339,0.105878
+aWd091p1c7cXCtuUvyZSxt,P0,50000,6400000,662227,84765130.062490,0.075503
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..147650f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/core-1p1s-50k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+=== core-1p1s-50k-128 ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 835,602 msgs/sec ~ 102.00 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 662,227 msgs/sec ~ 80.84 MB/sec
+ Sub stats: 472,239 msgs/sec ~ 57.65 MB/sec
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.csv b/results/20260912T055851Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bea9190
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+MH2k3yW0YONZD0HiNpchpL,S0,100000,12800000,409118,52367181.312369,0.244428
+MH2k3yW0YONZD0HiNpchpL,S1,100000,12800000,321711,41179038.222383,0.310838
+MH2k3yW0YONZD0HiNpchpL,S2,100000,12800000,321716,41179732.151708,0.310833
+MH2k3yW0YONZD0HiNpchpL,S3,100000,12800000,321573,41161354.894041,0.310971
+MH2k3yW0YONZD0HiNpchpL,P0,25000,3200000,264684,33879607.417508,0.094452
+MH2k3yW0YONZD0HiNpchpL,P1,25000,3200000,243211,31131121.677273,0.102791
+MH2k3yW0YONZD0HiNpchpL,P2,25000,3200000,183537,23492805.654965,0.136212
+MH2k3yW0YONZD0HiNpchpL,P3,25000,3200000,173063,22152095.916748,0.144456
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c760ceb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/core-4p4s-100k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+=== core-4p4s-100k-128 ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 1,597,284 msgs/sec ~ 194.98 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 692,109 msgs/sec ~ 84.49 MB/sec
+  [1] 264,684 msgs/sec ~ 32.31 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [2] 243,211 msgs/sec ~ 29.69 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [3] 183,537 msgs/sec ~ 22.40 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [4] 173,063 msgs/sec ~ 21.13 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  min 173,063 | avg 216,123 | max 264,684 | stddev 38,755 msgs
+ Sub stats: 1,286,093 msgs/sec ~ 156.99 MB/sec
+  [1] 409,118 msgs/sec ~ 49.94 MB/sec (100000 msgs)
+  [2] 321,711 msgs/sec ~ 39.27 MB/sec (100000 msgs)
+  [3] 321,716 msgs/sec ~ 39.27 MB/sec (100000 msgs)
+  [4] 321,573 msgs/sec ~ 39.25 MB/sec (100000 msgs)
+  min 321,573 | avg 343,529 | max 409,118 | stddev 37,867 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.csv b/results/20260912T055851Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..998abba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+I0O2O7NFVVnTrSOBs8Q38n,S0,50000,51200000,171931,176057368.403530,0.290814
+I0O2O7NFVVnTrSOBs8Q38n,S1,50000,51200000,127850,130919309.123975,0.391081
+I0O2O7NFVVnTrSOBs8Q38n,S2,50000,51200000,120555,123448409.014747,0.414748
+I0O2O7NFVVnTrSOBs8Q38n,S3,50000,51200000,120019,122899963.083444,0.416599
+I0O2O7NFVVnTrSOBs8Q38n,P0,12500,12800000,101551,103988522.006912,0.123091
+I0O2O7NFVVnTrSOBs8Q38n,P1,12500,12800000,49245,50427332.045753,0.253831
+I0O2O7NFVVnTrSOBs8Q38n,P2,12500,12800000,48521,49686273.879592,0.257616
+I0O2O7NFVVnTrSOBs8Q38n,P3,12500,12800000,47497,48637215.616680,0.263173
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a109c41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/core-4p4s-50k-1k.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+=== core-4p4s-50k-1k ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 595,555 msgs/sec ~ 581.60 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 189,939 msgs/sec ~ 185.49 MB/sec
+  [1] 101,551 msgs/sec ~ 99.17 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+  [2] 49,245 msgs/sec ~ 48.09 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+  [3] 48,521 msgs/sec ~ 47.38 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+  [4] 47,497 msgs/sec ~ 46.38 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+  min 47,497 | avg 61,703 | max 101,551 | stddev 23,014 msgs
+ Sub stats: 479,898 msgs/sec ~ 468.65 MB/sec
+  [1] 171,931 msgs/sec ~ 167.90 MB/sec (50000 msgs)
+  [2] 127,850 msgs/sec ~ 124.85 MB/sec (50000 msgs)
+  [3] 120,555 msgs/sec ~ 117.73 MB/sec (50000 msgs)
+  [4] 120,019 msgs/sec ~ 117.21 MB/sec (50000 msgs)
+  min 120,019 | avg 135,088 | max 171,931 | stddev 21,494 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.csv b/results/20260912T055851Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..71c694e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+PZHMggVrmAZAaABqkdVm12,S0,200000,25600000,221384,28337251.548719,0.903404
+PZHMggVrmAZAaABqkdVm12,S1,200000,25600000,221400,28339297.871777,0.903339
+PZHMggVrmAZAaABqkdVm12,S2,200000,25600000,221358,28333840.935200,0.903513
+PZHMggVrmAZAaABqkdVm12,S3,200000,25600000,196749,25183987.052629,1.016519
+PZHMggVrmAZAaABqkdVm12,S4,200000,25600000,196654,25171832.144418,1.017010
+PZHMggVrmAZAaABqkdVm12,S5,200000,25600000,196517,25154300.186621,1.017719
+PZHMggVrmAZAaABqkdVm12,S6,200000,25600000,196490,25150741.114236,1.017863
+PZHMggVrmAZAaABqkdVm12,S7,200000,25600000,196395,25138656.210795,1.018352
+PZHMggVrmAZAaABqkdVm12,P0,25000,3200000,169409,21684439.538250,0.147571
+PZHMggVrmAZAaABqkdVm12,P1,25000,3200000,137478,17597297.160740,0.181846
+PZHMggVrmAZAaABqkdVm12,P2,25000,3200000,109841,14059658.143542,0.227602
+PZHMggVrmAZAaABqkdVm12,P3,25000,3200000,96040,12293171.802285,0.260307
+PZHMggVrmAZAaABqkdVm12,P4,25000,3200000,75019,9602540.006267,0.333245
+PZHMggVrmAZAaABqkdVm12,P5,25000,3200000,73607,9421821.419509,0.339637
+PZHMggVrmAZAaABqkdVm12,P6,25000,3200000,27890,3569920.156650,0.896379
+PZHMggVrmAZAaABqkdVm12,P7,25000,3200000,27932,3575348.254450,0.895018
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e7cc46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/core-8p8s-200k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+=== core-8p8s-200k-128 ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 1,760,599 msgs/sec ~ 214.92 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 223,078 msgs/sec ~ 27.23 MB/sec
+  [1] 169,409 msgs/sec ~ 20.68 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [2] 137,478 msgs/sec ~ 16.78 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [3] 109,841 msgs/sec ~ 13.41 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [4] 96,040 msgs/sec ~ 11.72 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [5] 75,019 msgs/sec ~ 9.16 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [6] 73,607 msgs/sec ~ 8.99 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [7] 27,890 msgs/sec ~ 3.40 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  [8] 27,932 msgs/sec ~ 3.41 MB/sec (25000 msgs)
+  min 27,890 | avg 89,652 | max 169,409 | stddev 46,357 msgs
+ Sub stats: 1,570,171 msgs/sec ~ 191.67 MB/sec
+  [1] 221,384 msgs/sec ~ 27.02 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [2] 221,400 msgs/sec ~ 27.03 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [3] 221,358 msgs/sec ~ 27.02 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [4] 196,749 msgs/sec ~ 24.02 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [5] 196,654 msgs/sec ~ 24.01 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [6] 196,517 msgs/sec ~ 23.99 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [7] 196,490 msgs/sec ~ 23.99 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  [8] 196,395 msgs/sec ~ 23.97 MB/sec (200000 msgs)
+  min 196,395 | avg 205,868 | max 221,400 | stddev 12,016 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/host-after.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/host-after.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ee430b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/host-after.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+execution_host=NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG
+execution_ip=70.88.205.138
+hostname=NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG
+utc=2026-09-12T06:01:17Z
+whoami=marchon
+pwd=/home/marchon/verae-src/verae-nats-cluster
+uname=Linux NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG 6.17.2-1-pve #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC PMX 6.17.2-1 (2025-10-21T11:55Z) x86_64 GNU/Linux
+nproc=40
+loadavg=8.48 8.52 8.17 5/3860 657839
+client_vmid=510
+nats_url=nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222
+js_extra_memory=1
+compare_dir=/home/marchon/verae-src/verae-nats-cluster/results/20260912T051237Z
+--- nats 511 max_mem ---
+  max_mem: 8G
+--- nats 511 jetstream mount ---
+jetstream on rootfs
+--- free ---
+               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
+Mem:           377Gi        38Gi       324Gi       4.3Gi        21Gi       338Gi
+Swap:          8.0Gi          0B       8.0Gi
+--- pct list ---
+VMID       Status     Lock         Name                
+100        stopped                 CT100               
+101        stopped                 CT101               
+102        stopped                 CT102               
+103        stopped                 CT103               
+104        stopped                 CT104               
+105        stopped                 CT105               
+106        stopped                 CT106               
+107        stopped                 CT107               
+108        stopped                 CT108               
+109        stopped                 CT109               
+110        stopped                 CT110               
+111        stopped                 CT111               
+112        stopped                 CT112               
+113        stopped                 CT113               
+114        stopped                 CT114               
+115        stopped                 CT115               
+116        stopped                 paul                
+117        stopped                 CT117               
+118        stopped                 CT118               
+119        stopped                 CT119               
+120        stopped                 rustdeskserver      
+121        stopped                 CT121               
+122        stopped                 CT122               
+123        stopped                 CT123               
+124        stopped                 bdross              
+200        stopped                 CT200               
+201        stopped                 CT201               
+202        stopped                 CT202               
+300        running                 mail.veraetime.info 
+400        stopped                 evercycle-api       
+501        running                 pki                 
+502        running                 peergos-a           
+503        running                 peergos-b           
+504        stopped                 minio               
+510        running                 verae-px-worker     
+511        running                 nats-a              
+512        running                 nats-b              
+513        running                 nats-c              
+2000       stopped                 CT2000              
+2001       stopped                 CT2001              
+2002       stopped                 CT2002              
+--- pct config 510 ---
+cores: 8
+hostname: verae-px-worker
+memory: 16384
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:BD:5D:62,ip=10.10.10.20/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-510-disk-0,size=16G
+swap: 512
+--- pct config 511 ---
+cores: 8
+hostname: nats-a
+memory: 16384
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:CF:AC:68,ip=10.10.10.21/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-511-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
+--- pct config 512 ---
+cores: 8
+hostname: nats-b
+memory: 16384
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:42:73:A2,ip=10.10.10.22/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-512-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
+--- pct config 513 ---
+cores: 8
+hostname: nats-c
+memory: 16384
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:1B:9B:DC,ip=10.10.10.23/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-513-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/host-before.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/host-before.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5c74a8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/host-before.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+execution_host=NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG
+execution_ip=70.88.205.138
+hostname=NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG
+utc=2026-09-12T05:58:55Z
+whoami=marchon
+pwd=/home/marchon/verae-src/verae-nats-cluster
+uname=Linux NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG 6.17.2-1-pve #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC PMX 6.17.2-1 (2025-10-21T11:55Z) x86_64 GNU/Linux
+nproc=40
+loadavg=8.70 8.15 8.00 4/3842 621042
+client_vmid=510
+nats_url=nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222
+js_extra_memory=1
+compare_dir=/home/marchon/verae-src/verae-nats-cluster/results/20260912T051237Z
+--- nats 511 max_mem ---
+  max_mem: 8G
+--- nats 511 jetstream mount ---
+jetstream on rootfs
+--- free ---
+               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
+Mem:           377Gi        38Gi       324Gi       4.3Gi        21Gi       339Gi
+Swap:          8.0Gi          0B       8.0Gi
+--- pct list ---
+VMID       Status     Lock         Name                
+100        stopped                 CT100               
+101        stopped                 CT101               
+102        stopped                 CT102               
+103        stopped                 CT103               
+104        stopped                 CT104               
+105        stopped                 CT105               
+106        stopped                 CT106               
+107        stopped                 CT107               
+108        stopped                 CT108               
+109        stopped                 CT109               
+110        stopped                 CT110               
+111        stopped                 CT111               
+112        stopped                 CT112               
+113        stopped                 CT113               
+114        stopped                 CT114               
+115        stopped                 CT115               
+116        stopped                 paul                
+117        stopped                 CT117               
+118        stopped                 CT118               
+119        stopped                 CT119               
+120        stopped                 rustdeskserver      
+121        stopped                 CT121               
+122        stopped                 CT122               
+123        stopped                 CT123               
+124        stopped                 bdross              
+200        stopped                 CT200               
+201        stopped                 CT201               
+202        stopped                 CT202               
+300        running                 mail.veraetime.info 
+400        stopped                 evercycle-api       
+501        running                 pki                 
+502        running                 peergos-a           
+503        running                 peergos-b           
+504        stopped                 minio               
+510        running                 verae-px-worker     
+511        running                 nats-a              
+512        running                 nats-b              
+513        running                 nats-c              
+2000       stopped                 CT2000              
+2001       stopped                 CT2001              
+2002       stopped                 CT2002              
+--- pct config 510 ---
+cores: 8
+hostname: verae-px-worker
+memory: 16384
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:BD:5D:62,ip=10.10.10.20/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-510-disk-0,size=16G
+swap: 512
+--- pct config 511 ---
+cores: 8
+hostname: nats-a
+memory: 16384
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:CF:AC:68,ip=10.10.10.21/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-511-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
+--- pct config 512 ---
+cores: 8
+hostname: nats-b
+memory: 16384
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:42:73:A2,ip=10.10.10.22/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-512-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
+--- pct config 513 ---
+cores: 8
+hostname: nats-c
+memory: 16384
+net0: name=eth0,bridge=vmbr1,gw=10.10.10.1,hwaddr=BC:24:11:1B:9B:DC,ip=10.10.10.23/24,type=veth
+rootfs: SSD2:subvol-513-disk-0,size=8G
+swap: 256
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.csv b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8d7501f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+vSyjynJZ5N37lo74IJMJLi,P0,40000,2560000,14330,1834259.456665,1.395659
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1cbfbde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-1p-20k-128-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+=== js-1p-20k-128-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 14,330 msgs/sec ~ 1.75 MB/sec
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.csv b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a57c35f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+rx33qiX4N854UL4s2fDox5,S0,20234,1280000,4748,607822.981024,2.105876
+rx33qiX4N854UL4s2fDox5,S1,20236,1280000,4614,590640.769582,2.167138
+rx33qiX4N854UL4s2fDox5,P0,20000,1280000,5286,676626.786347,1.891737
+rx33qiX4N854UL4s2fDox5,P1,20000,1280000,4626,592132.585621,2.161678
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1baa94f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-2p2s-20k-128-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+=== js-2p2s-20k-128-r3 ===
+
+NATS Pub/Sub stats: 18,449 msgs/sec ~ 2.25 MB/sec
+ Pub stats: 9,252 msgs/sec ~ 1.13 MB/sec
+  [1] 5,286 msgs/sec ~ 660.77 KB/sec (10000 msgs)
+  [2] 4,626 msgs/sec ~ 578.25 KB/sec (10000 msgs)
+  min 4,626 | avg 4,956 | max 5,286 | stddev 330 msgs
+ Sub stats: 9,228 msgs/sec ~ 1.13 MB/sec
+  [1] 4,748 msgs/sec ~ 593.58 KB/sec (10000 msgs)
+  [2] 4,614 msgs/sec ~ 576.80 KB/sec (10000 msgs)
+  min 4,614 | avg 4,681 | max 4,748 | stddev 67 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eba618b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+qLXKAVGSUb1765aYzTISM7,P0,10000,5120000,6025,6169635.541481,0.829871
+qLXKAVGSUb1765aYzTISM7,P1,10000,5120000,3892,3985916.070736,1.284523
+qLXKAVGSUb1765aYzTISM7,P2,10000,5120000,3800,3891389.713965,1.315725
+qLXKAVGSUb1765aYzTISM7,P3,10000,5120000,3799,3890767.016926,1.315936
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cb03523
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+=== js-4p-20k-1k-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 15,197 msgs/sec ~ 14.84 MB/sec
+ [1] 6,025 msgs/sec ~ 5.88 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [2] 3,892 msgs/sec ~ 3.80 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [3] 3,800 msgs/sec ~ 3.71 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [4] 3,799 msgs/sec ~ 3.71 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ min 3,799 | avg 4,379 | max 6,025 | stddev 951 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.csv b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a734aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+MvEG4Dg0Y0tCjCC2CMT7Lv,P0,25000,1600000,4841,619753.770533,2.581670
+MvEG4Dg0Y0tCjCC2CMT7Lv,P1,25000,1600000,4841,619744.482061,2.581709
+MvEG4Dg0Y0tCjCC2CMT7Lv,P2,25000,1600000,4834,618788.293474,2.585699
+MvEG4Dg0Y0tCjCC2CMT7Lv,P3,25000,1600000,4808,615451.351142,2.599718
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b5b122b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-4p-50k-128-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+=== js-4p-50k-128-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 19,232 msgs/sec ~ 2.35 MB/sec
+ [1] 4,841 msgs/sec ~ 605.23 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [2] 4,841 msgs/sec ~ 605.22 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [3] 4,834 msgs/sec ~ 604.29 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [4] 4,808 msgs/sec ~ 601.03 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ min 4,808 | avg 4,831 | max 4,841 | stddev 13 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-1p-20k-128-r1.csv b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-1p-20k-128-r1.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b8dc73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-1p-20k-128-r1.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+cPDfyUMvkcN0D8GcTijaOZ,P0,40000,2560000,18888,2417667.088651,1.058872
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-1p-20k-128-r1.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-1p-20k-128-r1.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..665846b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-1p-20k-128-r1.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+=== js-file-1p-20k-128-r1 ===
+
+Pub stats: 18,888 msgs/sec ~ 2.31 MB/sec
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-1p-20k-4k-r3.csv b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-1p-20k-4k-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c1e686c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-1p-20k-4k-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+uOCp1eJgt1rgkqZXjuaSZL,P0,40000,81920000,8673,35527516.943121,2.305818
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-1p-20k-4k-r3.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-1p-20k-4k-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..39d8062
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-1p-20k-4k-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+=== js-file-1p-20k-4k-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 8,673 msgs/sec ~ 33.88 MB/sec
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-4p-50k-128-r1.csv b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-4p-50k-128-r1.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..60c0bb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-4p-50k-128-r1.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+N1SqI80urXipjvUHXScoVc,P0,25000,1600000,6787,868828.734410,1.841560
+N1SqI80urXipjvUHXScoVc,P1,25000,1600000,6215,795533.902108,2.011228
+N1SqI80urXipjvUHXScoVc,P2,25000,1600000,6173,790180.313483,2.024854
+N1SqI80urXipjvUHXScoVc,P3,25000,1600000,6140,785924.339888,2.035819
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-4p-50k-128-r1.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-4p-50k-128-r1.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2cd7a1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-file-4p-50k-128-r1.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+=== js-file-4p-50k-128-r1 ===
+
+Pub stats: 24,560 msgs/sec ~ 3.00 MB/sec
+ [1] 6,787 msgs/sec ~ 848.47 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [2] 6,215 msgs/sec ~ 776.89 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [3] 6,173 msgs/sec ~ 771.66 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [4] 6,140 msgs/sec ~ 767.50 KB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ min 6,140 | avg 6,328 | max 6,787 | stddev 265 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r1.csv b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r1.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1358215
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r1.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+6WVyJcf2Hwp2JrsCV11Hls,P0,40000,2560000,29972,3836526.872789,0.667270
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r1.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r1.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c9551b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r1.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+=== js-mem-1p-20k-128-r1 ===
+
+Pub stats: 29,972 msgs/sec ~ 3.66 MB/sec
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3.csv b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7e677f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+PDjR792iPxIbCORKIyVqXv,P0,40000,2560000,20188,2584117.626660,0.990667
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e4356da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+=== js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 20,188 msgs/sec ~ 2.46 MB/sec
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..001eed5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+aKthILJvfkpdUW1zncr8Gz,P0,10000,5120000,12732,13037881.294175,0.392702
+aKthILJvfkpdUW1zncr8Gz,P1,10000,5120000,9234,9455781.228445,0.541468
+aKthILJvfkpdUW1zncr8Gz,P2,10000,5120000,8510,8715111.398384,0.587485
+aKthILJvfkpdUW1zncr8Gz,P3,10000,5120000,8479,8683456.194797,0.589627
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b885c60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+=== js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 33,916 msgs/sec ~ 33.12 MB/sec
+ [1] 12,732 msgs/sec ~ 12.43 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [2] 9,234 msgs/sec ~ 9.02 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [3] 8,510 msgs/sec ~ 8.31 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ [4] 8,479 msgs/sec ~ 8.28 MB/sec (5000 msgs)
+ min 8,479 | avg 9,738 | max 12,732 | stddev 1,754 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r1.csv b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r1.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..45e9a6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r1.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+eCPtb5w7YrtjXRblVgvC0q,P0,25000,1600000,18895,2418669.699316,0.661521
+eCPtb5w7YrtjXRblVgvC0q,P1,25000,1600000,18797,2406124.890764,0.664970
+eCPtb5w7YrtjXRblVgvC0q,P2,25000,1600000,16698,2137360.776494,0.748587
+eCPtb5w7YrtjXRblVgvC0q,P3,25000,1600000,16230,2077543.975711,0.770140
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r1.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r1.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..18042eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r1.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+=== js-mem-4p-50k-128-r1 ===
+
+Pub stats: 64,923 msgs/sec ~ 7.93 MB/sec
+ [1] 18,895 msgs/sec ~ 2.31 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [2] 18,797 msgs/sec ~ 2.29 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [3] 16,698 msgs/sec ~ 2.04 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [4] 16,230 msgs/sec ~ 1.98 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ min 16,230 | avg 17,655 | max 18,895 | stddev 1,202 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3.csv b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..abd9a59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#RunID,ClientID,MsgCount,MsgBytes,MsgsPerSec,BytesPerSec,DurationSecs
+eS3TyeoEZrIgfRNGwTFVYl,P0,25000,1600000,9607,1229719.185854,1.301110
+eS3TyeoEZrIgfRNGwTFVYl,P1,25000,1600000,9606,1229695.290576,1.301135
+eS3TyeoEZrIgfRNGwTFVYl,P2,25000,1600000,9503,1216392.400793,1.315365
+eS3TyeoEZrIgfRNGwTFVYl,P3,25000,1600000,9434,1207613.746241,1.324927
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e269ac2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+=== js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3 ===
+
+Pub stats: 37,736 msgs/sec ~ 4.61 MB/sec
+ [1] 9,607 msgs/sec ~ 1.17 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [2] 9,606 msgs/sec ~ 1.17 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [3] 9,503 msgs/sec ~ 1.16 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ [4] 9,434 msgs/sec ~ 1.15 MB/sec (12500 msgs)
+ min 9,434 | avg 9,537 | max 9,607 | stddev 73 msgs
+
+Saved metric data in csv file /tmp/bench.csv
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-1p-5k-128.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-1p-5k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..616b6b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-1p-5k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-1p-5k-128 ===
+{"count":5000,"pubs":1,"size":128,"mode":"flood","min_us":98399,"avg_us":124452,"p50_us":125413,"p90_us":140165,"p99_us":145770,"max_us":146002,"min":"98.399ms","avg":"124.452ms","p50":"125.413ms","p90":"140.165ms","p99":"145.770ms","max":"146.002ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-4p-10k-128.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-4p-10k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5553d91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-4p-10k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-4p-10k-128 ===
+{"count":10000,"pubs":4,"size":128,"mode":"flood","min_us":157463,"avg_us":205870,"p50_us":207044,"p90_us":237035,"p99_us":239449,"max_us":240473,"min":"157.463ms","avg":"205.870ms","p50":"207.044ms","p90":"237.035ms","p99":"239.449ms","max":"240.473ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-4p-5k-1k.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-4p-5k-1k.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5059be9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-4p-5k-1k.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-4p-5k-1k ===
+{"count":5000,"pubs":4,"size":1024,"mode":"flood","min_us":125336,"avg_us":157915,"p50_us":157392,"p90_us":176826,"p99_us":178015,"max_us":178776,"min":"125.336ms","avg":"157.915ms","p50":"157.392ms","p90":"176.826ms","p99":"178.015ms","max":"178.776ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-8p-20k-128.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-8p-20k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..826164f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-8p-20k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-8p-20k-128 ===
+{"count":20000,"pubs":8,"size":128,"mode":"flood","min_us":230898,"avg_us":361458,"p50_us":372512,"p90_us":443799,"p99_us":458198,"max_us":460270,"min":"230.898ms","avg":"361.458ms","p50":"372.512ms","p90":"443.799ms","p99":"458.198ms","max":"460.270ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-ping-1k-128.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-ping-1k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2f3201e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-ping-1k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-ping-1k-128 ===
+{"count":1000,"pubs":1,"size":128,"mode":"ping","min_us":340,"avg_us":530,"p50_us":456,"p90_us":827,"p99_us":1140,"max_us":2910,"min":"0.340ms","avg":"0.530ms","p50":"0.456ms","p90":"0.827ms","p99":"1.140ms","max":"2.910ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-reconnect-200-128.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-reconnect-200-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff51aa4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/lat-reconnect-200-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== lat-reconnect-200-128 ===
+{"count":200,"pubs":1,"size":128,"mode":"reconnect","min_us":366,"avg_us":540,"p50_us":503,"p90_us":619,"p99_us":1750,"max_us":3206,"min":"0.366ms","avg":"0.540ms","p50":"0.503ms","p90":"0.619ms","p99":"1.750ms","max":"3.206ms"}
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/mqtt-qos0-5k-128.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/mqtt-qos0-5k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64289c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/mqtt-qos0-5k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"mode":"mqtt-qos0","count":5000,"size":128,"url":"mqtt://10.10.10.21:1883","secs":0.111,"pubs_per_sec":44862,"mb_per_sec":5.74}
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.html b/results/20260912T055851Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5664e9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.html
@@ -0,0 +1,1443 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="" xml:lang="">
+<head>
+  <meta charset="utf-8" />
+  <meta name="generator" content="pandoc" />
+  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" />
+  <title>NATS cluster message speed — NS1 host study</title>
+  <style>
+    html {
+      color: #1a1a1a;
+      background-color: #fdfdfd;
+    }
+    body {
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+      h1 {
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+      body {
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+        color: black;
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+      height: 1px;
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+    header {
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+      text-align: center;
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+    #TOC li {
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+    #TOC ul {
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+    #TOC > ul {
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+    code{white-space: pre-wrap;}
+    span.smallcaps{font-variant: small-caps;}
+    div.columns{display: flex; gap: min(4vw, 1.5em);}
+    div.column{flex: auto; overflow-x: auto;}
+    div.hanging-indent{margin-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -1.5em;}
+    /* The extra [class] is a hack that increases specificity enough to
+       override a similar rule in reveal.js */
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+    ul.task-list li input[type="checkbox"] {
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+<body>
+<div class="doc-banner"><nav class="site"><a href="/">zapier.georgelambert.org</a> · <a href="/index-md.html">Markdown indexes</a></nav><div class="kicker">Verae Time × Zapier · progress report · maximized NS1 study</div><h1>NATS cluster message speed — maximized (RAM disk + 8 cores)</h1><div class="source-path">packages/zapier-decisions/reports/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.md</div></div>
+<header id="title-block-header">
+<h1 class="title">NATS cluster message speed — NS1 host study</h1>
+</header>
+<p><strong>Progress report (maximized NS1 study)</strong> · run
+<code>20260912T055851Z</code> (UTC)</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p><strong>Execution provenance.</strong> Every process for this study
+ran on <strong>NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG</strong>
+(<code>70.88.205.138</code>): <code>maximize-ns1-study.sh</code>
+(cores/RAM/<code>max_mem</code>/tmpfs), then
+<code>study-on-ns1.sh</code>, <code>nats bench</code>,
+<code>latency.mjs</code> (LXC 510), matplotlib, pandoc, weasyprint.
+Traffic stayed on <code>vmbr1</code>. veth/10G was <strong>not</strong>
+changed. After the ladder, JetStream was put back on ZFS and product
+streams were re-created; <strong>8 cores / 16 GiB / max_mem 8G
+stay</strong>.</p>
+</blockquote>
+<h2 id="measured-delta-vs-20260912t051237z">Measured delta vs
+<code>20260912T051237Z</code></h2>
+<p>Baseline: 1 core / 1 GiB / JetStream on ZFS. This run: 8 cores / 16
+GiB / JetStream <strong>tmpfs</strong> (file r=3) plus extra
+<strong>memory</strong> store rows. veth/10G unchanged.</p>
+<table>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Metric</th>
+<th>Baseline <code>20260912T051237Z</code></th>
+<th>This run</th>
+<th>Ratio</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Core 1p1s 128 B pub msgs/s</td>
+<td>502,502</td>
+<td>662,227</td>
+<td>1.32×</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Core 8p8s 128 B aggregate msgs/s</td>
+<td>2,065,217</td>
+<td>1,760,599</td>
+<td>0.85×</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>JS file r=3 1p 128 B pub msgs/s</td>
+<td>7,393</td>
+<td>14,330</td>
+<td>1.94×</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>JS file r=3 4p 128 B pub msgs/s</td>
+<td>17,986</td>
+<td>19,232</td>
+<td>1.07×</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>JS file r=3 4p 1 KiB pub msgs/s</td>
+<td>14,985</td>
+<td>15,197</td>
+<td>1.01×</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>JS memory r=3 1p 128 B pub msgs/s</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>20,188</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>JS memory r=3 4p 128 B pub msgs/s</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>37,736</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Ping p99 (ms)</td>
+<td>1.377ms</td>
+<td>1.140ms</td>
+<td>1.21× faster</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts/delta-vs-baseline.png"
+alt="Baseline vs maximized publish rates (log)" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Baseline vs maximized publish rates
+(log)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p><em>Baseline vs maximized publish rates (log)</em></p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="executive-summary">1. Executive summary</h2>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 24%" />
+<col style="width: 76%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Item</th>
+<th>This NS1-host run</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Control plane</td>
+<td>NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG (<code>70.88.205.138</code>), user
+<code>marchon</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Bench client</td>
+<td>LXC 510 <code>verae-px-worker</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Brokers</td>
+<td>LXC 511/512/513 <code>nats-a/b/c</code> on
+<code>10.10.10.21–23</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Client URL</td>
+<td><code>nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Host load before</td>
+<td><code>8.70 8.15 8.00 4/3842 621042</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Host load after</td>
+<td><code>8.48 8.52 8.17 5/3860 657839</code></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Core 1p1s 128 B pub</td>
+<td>662,227 msgs/s</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>JetStream 1p 128 B r=3</td>
+<td>14,330 durable pubs/s</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Ping p50 / p99</td>
+<td>0.456ms / 1.140ms</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>Product traffic is the JetStream row. Ping is one-message delay.
+Flood is mailbox catch-up after a burst.</p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="where-it-ran-and-where-it-did-not">2. Where it ran (and where it
+did not)</h2>
+<pre class="text"><code>Operator laptop  ──ssh──►  NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG  70.88.205.138
+                              study-on-ns1.sh
+                              python3 build-ns1-study-report.py
+                              sudo pct exec 510 ──► nats bench / latency.mjs
+                                                    │
+                                                    ▼ vmbr1
+                                              10.10.10.21-23 :4222</code></pre>
+<ul>
+<li><strong>Did run on 138:</strong> bash, python3, matplotlib, pandoc,
+weasyprint, <code>pct</code>, nats-server (in LXC), nats CLI and Node
+(in LXC 510).</li>
+<li><strong>Did not run on the laptop:</strong> no local
+<code>nats bench</code>, no local charting, no local WeasyPrint for this
+file.</li>
+</ul>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="results-this-run">3. Results (this run)</h2>
+<h3 id="host-and-brokers">Host and brokers</h3>
+<p><strong>Before</strong></p>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 7%" />
+<col style="width: 7%" />
+<col style="width: 17%" />
+<col style="width: 11%" />
+<col style="width: 13%" />
+<col style="width: 6%" />
+<col style="width: 9%" />
+<col style="width: 11%" />
+<col style="width: 14%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Node</th>
+<th>VMID</th>
+<th>connections</th>
+<th>in_msgs</th>
+<th>out_msgs</th>
+<th>cpu</th>
+<th>cores</th>
+<th>mem (B)</th>
+<th>jetstream</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>nats-a</td>
+<td>511</td>
+<td>5</td>
+<td>31,443</td>
+<td>31,725</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>8</td>
+<td>15,785,984</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>nats-b</td>
+<td>512</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>24,330</td>
+<td>24,480</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>15,892,480</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>nats-c</td>
+<td>513</td>
+<td>0</td>
+<td>19,051</td>
+<td>19,034</td>
+<td>0</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>14,262,272</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p><strong>After</strong></p>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 7%" />
+<col style="width: 7%" />
+<col style="width: 17%" />
+<col style="width: 11%" />
+<col style="width: 13%" />
+<col style="width: 6%" />
+<col style="width: 9%" />
+<col style="width: 11%" />
+<col style="width: 14%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Node</th>
+<th>VMID</th>
+<th>connections</th>
+<th>in_msgs</th>
+<th>out_msgs</th>
+<th>cpu</th>
+<th>cores</th>
+<th>mem (B)</th>
+<th>jetstream</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>nats-a</td>
+<td>511</td>
+<td>5</td>
+<td>724,962</td>
+<td>1,400,288</td>
+<td>2</td>
+<td>8</td>
+<td>27,095,040</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>nats-b</td>
+<td>512</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>509,195</td>
+<td>671,813</td>
+<td>0</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>36,028,416</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>nats-c</td>
+<td>513</td>
+<td>0</td>
+<td>703,508</td>
+<td>1,715,907</td>
+<td>0</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>27,295,744</td>
+<td>True</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>nproc=40 ·
+uname=<code>Linux NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG 6.17.2-1-pve #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC PMX 6.17.2-1 (2025-10-21T11:55Z) x86_64 GNU/Linux</code></p>
+<h3 id="throughput">Throughput</h3>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 6%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 24%" />
+<col style="width: 16%" />
+<col style="width: 13%" />
+<col style="width: 16%" />
+<col style="width: 13%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Run</th>
+<th>Mode</th>
+<th>Aggregate msgs/s</th>
+<th>Pub msgs/s</th>
+<th>Pub MB/s</th>
+<th>Sub msgs/s</th>
+<th>Sub MB/s</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>core-1p1s-50k-128</code></td>
+<td>core pub/sub</td>
+<td>835,602</td>
+<td>662,227</td>
+<td>80.84</td>
+<td>472,239</td>
+<td>57.65</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>core-4p4s-100k-128</code></td>
+<td>core pub/sub</td>
+<td>1,597,284</td>
+<td>692,109</td>
+<td>84.49</td>
+<td>1,286,093</td>
+<td>156.99</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>core-4p4s-50k-1k</code></td>
+<td>core pub/sub</td>
+<td>595,555</td>
+<td>189,939</td>
+<td>185.49</td>
+<td>479,898</td>
+<td>468.65</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>core-8p8s-200k-128</code></td>
+<td>core pub/sub</td>
+<td>1,760,599</td>
+<td>223,078</td>
+<td>27.23</td>
+<td>1,570,171</td>
+<td>191.67</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-1p-20k-128-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>14,330</td>
+<td>1.75</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>js-2p2s-20k-128-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>18,449</td>
+<td>9,252</td>
+<td>1.13</td>
+<td>9,228</td>
+<td>1.13</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-4p-20k-1k-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>15,197</td>
+<td>14.84</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>js-4p-50k-128-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>19,232</td>
+<td>2.35</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-file-1p-20k-128-r1</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>18,888</td>
+<td>2.31</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>js-file-1p-20k-4k-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>8,673</td>
+<td>33.88</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-file-4p-50k-128-r1</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>24,560</td>
+<td>3.00</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>js-mem-1p-20k-128-r1</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>29,972</td>
+<td>3.66</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>20,188</td>
+<td>2.46</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>33,916</td>
+<td>33.12</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-mem-4p-50k-128-r1</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>64,923</td>
+<td>7.93</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3</code></td>
+<td>jetstream r=3 file</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>37,736</td>
+<td>4.61</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>—</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<h3 id="round-trip-delay">Round-trip delay</h3>
+<table style="width:100%;">
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 9%" />
+<col style="width: 11%" />
+<col style="width: 9%" />
+<col style="width: 9%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+<col style="width: 8%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Run</th>
+<th>Kind</th>
+<th>Count</th>
+<th>Pubs</th>
+<th>Size</th>
+<th>min</th>
+<th>avg</th>
+<th>p50</th>
+<th>p90</th>
+<th>p99</th>
+<th>max</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>lat-ping-1k-128</code></td>
+<td>ping (sequential RTT)</td>
+<td>1000</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>128 B</td>
+<td>0.340ms</td>
+<td>0.530ms</td>
+<td>0.456ms</td>
+<td>0.827ms</td>
+<td>1.140ms</td>
+<td>2.910ms</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>lat-reconnect-200-128</code></td>
+<td>flood (burst queueing)</td>
+<td>200</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>128 B</td>
+<td>0.366ms</td>
+<td>0.540ms</td>
+<td>0.503ms</td>
+<td>0.619ms</td>
+<td>1.750ms</td>
+<td>3.206ms</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>lat-1p-5k-128</code></td>
+<td>flood (burst queueing)</td>
+<td>5000</td>
+<td>1</td>
+<td>128 B</td>
+<td>98.399ms</td>
+<td>124.452ms</td>
+<td>125.413ms</td>
+<td>140.165ms</td>
+<td>145.770ms</td>
+<td>146.002ms</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>lat-4p-5k-1k</code></td>
+<td>flood (burst queueing)</td>
+<td>5000</td>
+<td>4</td>
+<td>1024 B</td>
+<td>125.336ms</td>
+<td>157.915ms</td>
+<td>157.392ms</td>
+<td>176.826ms</td>
+<td>178.015ms</td>
+<td>178.776ms</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>lat-4p-10k-128</code></td>
+<td>flood (burst queueing)</td>
+<td>10000</td>
+<td>4</td>
+<td>128 B</td>
+<td>157.463ms</td>
+<td>205.870ms</td>
+<td>207.044ms</td>
+<td>237.035ms</td>
+<td>239.449ms</td>
+<td>240.473ms</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>lat-8p-20k-128</code></td>
+<td>flood (burst queueing)</td>
+<td>20000</td>
+<td>8</td>
+<td>128 B</td>
+<td>230.898ms</td>
+<td>361.458ms</td>
+<td>372.512ms</td>
+<td>443.799ms</td>
+<td>458.198ms</td>
+<td>460.270ms</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<h3 id="core-nats">Core NATS</h3>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts/core-throughput.png"
+alt="Core NATS throughput at four loads (NS1 host run)" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Core NATS throughput at four loads (NS1
+host run)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p><em>Core NATS throughput at four loads (NS1 host run)</em> ###
+Payload size (core)</p>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts/payload-size.png"
+alt="Core NATS 128 B vs 1 KiB (NS1 host run)" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Core NATS 128 B vs 1 KiB (NS1 host
+run)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p><em>Core NATS 128 B vs 1 KiB (NS1 host run)</em> ### JetStream r=3
+file</p>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts/js-throughput.png"
+alt="JetStream durable publish rate (NS1 host run)" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">JetStream durable publish rate (NS1 host
+run)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p><em>JetStream durable publish rate (NS1 host run)</em> ### Core vs
+JetStream</p>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts/core-vs-js.png"
+alt="Core vs JetStream publish rate, log scale (NS1 host run)" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Core vs JetStream publish rate, log scale
+(NS1 host run)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p><em>Core vs JetStream publish rate, log scale (NS1 host run)</em> ###
+Delay</p>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts/delay-percentiles.png"
+alt="Ping vs flood delay percentiles, log scale (NS1 host run)" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Ping vs flood delay percentiles, log
+scale (NS1 host run)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p><em>Ping vs flood delay percentiles, log scale (NS1 host
+run)</em></p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="study-methodology">4. Study methodology</h2>
+<h3 id="question">4.1 Question</h3>
+<p>On the NS1 test stand, what message <strong>throughput</strong> and
+<strong>delay</strong> does the three-node <code>verae</code> JetStream
+cluster deliver at several loads, and which part of the stack is the
+limiter for product traffic (jobs, events, webhooks, archive)?</p>
+<h3 id="hypotheses-stated-before-the-run">4.2 Hypotheses (stated before
+the run)</h3>
+<ol type="1">
+<li><strong>H1 — Core vs JetStream.</strong> Fire-and-forget core NATS
+is at least an order of magnitude faster than JetStream <strong>file +
+replicas=3</strong>, because durable publish waits for a majority disk
+replica.</li>
+<li><strong>H2 — JetStream parallelism.</strong> Adding publishers does
+<strong>not</strong> linearly increase JetStream write rate once the
+replica log is saturated.</li>
+<li><strong>H3 — Quiet delay.</strong> Sequential pub→sub round trip on
+<code>vmbr1</code> is well under 1 ms p99 when the consumer is
+waiting.</li>
+<li><strong>H4 — Burst delay.</strong> If publishers dump a batch before
+the subscriber drains, observed delay is <strong>queueing time</strong>,
+roughly linear in backlog, not in cluster hop count.</li>
+<li><strong>H5 — Payload.</strong> Moving 128 B → 1 KiB lowers message
+rate and raises byte rate on core NATS; JetStream in this size band
+stays replica/fsync bound.</li>
+</ol>
+<h3 id="independent-variables-what-we-changed">4.3 Independent variables
+(what we changed)</h3>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 50%" />
+<col style="width: 50%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Factor</th>
+<th>Levels</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Transport</td>
+<td>Core NATS pub/sub vs JetStream file replicas=3</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Publisher count</td>
+<td>1, 2, 4, 8</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Subscriber count</td>
+<td>0 (JS publish-only), 1, 2, 4, 8</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Message count</td>
+<td>1k, 5k, 10k, 20k, 50k, 100k, 200k (by ladder step)</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Payload</td>
+<td>128 B, 1024 B</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Delay mode</td>
+<td><strong>ping</strong> (publish, wait, repeat) vs
+<strong>flood</strong> (publish all, then drain)</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<h3 id="dependent-variables-what-we-recorded">4.4 Dependent variables
+(what we recorded)</h3>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 30%" />
+<col style="width: 46%" />
+<col style="width: 23%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Metric</th>
+<th>Instrument</th>
+<th>Unit</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Publish rate</td>
+<td><code>nats bench</code> 0.1.6 Pub stats</td>
+<td>msgs/s, MB/s</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Subscribe rate</td>
+<td><code>nats bench</code> Sub stats</td>
+<td>msgs/s, MB/s</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Aggregate</td>
+<td><code>nats bench</code> NATS Pub/Sub stats</td>
+<td>msgs/s (fan-out counts both sides)</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Publisher spread</td>
+<td>nats min/avg/max <strong>msgs/s</strong></td>
+<td>not delay</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>One-way-ish RTT</td>
+<td><code>latency.mjs</code> header timestamp</td>
+<td>min, avg, p50, p90, p99, max</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Host load</td>
+<td><code>/proc/loadavg</code> before and after</td>
+<td>load average</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Broker counters</td>
+<td><code>http://127.0.0.1:8222/varz</code> inside each nats LXC</td>
+<td>connections, in/out msgs, cpu, mem</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p><strong>Important:</strong> nats CLI 0.1.6 min/avg/max are
+<strong>rate spread across publishers</strong>, not microseconds of
+delay. Delay is only <code>latency.mjs</code>.</p>
+<h3 id="controls-and-constants">4.5 Controls and constants</h3>
+<ul>
+<li>Cluster name <code>verae</code>, three routes, client
+<code>:4222</code>, cluster <code>:6222</code>, monitor loopback
+<code>:8222</code>.</li>
+<li>Client URL always the three-node list on <code>vmbr1</code> (never
+host <code>127.0.0.1:4222</code>, never <code>vmbr0</code>).</li>
+<li>Bench client is LXC <strong>510</strong>, not a nats-* server.</li>
+<li>JetStream bench stream name <code>benchstream</code>,
+<strong>file</strong> storage, <strong>replicas=3</strong>, deleted
+between JS loads (<code>nats stream rm --force</code>) so names do not
+collide.</li>
+<li>Product streams were <strong>not</strong> the bench target (no load
+test on <code>ZAPIER_*</code> / <code>VERAE_ARCHIVE</code>).</li>
+<li>No TLS, no nkeys, no account isolation (isolation is
+<code>vmbr1</code>).</li>
+<li>Same nats CLI version (0.1.6) and <code>nats@2</code> Node client as
+the first ladder.</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="procedure">4.6 Procedure</h3>
+<ol type="1">
+<li>Confirm this script is executing on
+<strong>NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG</strong>. Refuse otherwise.</li>
+<li>Snapshot host load, memory, LXC configs, and each nats
+<code>varz</code>.</li>
+<li>From NS1, <code>pct exec 510</code> the core ladder (1p1s, 4p4s,
+8p8s at 128 B; 4p4s at 1 KiB).</li>
+<li>Delete <code>benchstream</code>; JS ladder (1p, 4p, 4p×1 KiB, 2p2s
+pull) at replicas=3 file.</li>
+<li>Copy <code>latency.mjs</code> into 510; ping then flood at several
+batch sizes.</li>
+<li>Snapshot host/<code>varz</code> again.</li>
+<li>Parse logs on <strong>this host</strong>; draw charts; write HTML
+and PDF on <strong>this host</strong>.</li>
+</ol>
+<p>No publish, subscribe, chart, or PDF process runs on the operator
+laptop for this study.</p>
+<h3 id="instrumentation-path">4.7 Instrumentation path</h3>
+<pre class="text"><code>[NS1 host 70.88.205.138]
+   study-on-ns1.sh  (bash + python3)
+        |
+        | sudo pct exec 510
+        v
+[LXC 510 verae-px-worker 10.10.10.20]
+   nats bench / node latency.mjs
+        |
+        | NATS client protocol to
+        v
+[LXC 511/512/513  10.10.10.21-23 :4222]
+   nats-server -js  cluster routes :6222</code></pre>
+<p>The hypervisor issues the guest commands. The messages themselves
+never leave <code>vmbr1</code>.</p>
+<h3 id="threats-to-validity">4.8 Threats to validity</h3>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 29%" />
+<col style="width: 70%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Threat</th>
+<th>Effect on numbers</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><strong>One physical host</strong></td>
+<td>Three “replicas” share CPU, memory, and usually the same datastore.
+This measures process/LXC HA, not disk HA.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><strong>Shared load</strong></td>
+<td>NS1 also runs Caddy, Forgejo, keep, fleet, portal, and other CTs.
+Load average during a run is part of the result, not noise to
+ignore.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><strong>Single bench client</strong></td>
+<td>All publishers live in 510. Per-publisher rate spread is contention
+in that guest.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><strong>Short runs</strong></td>
+<td>Seconds of traffic. No compaction, no multi-hour page-cache
+eviction, no snapshot during load.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><strong>No TLS/nkeys</strong></td>
+<td>Production auth will cost CPU. Do not treat these rates as
+post-nkeys rates.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><strong>Fan-out aggregate</strong></td>
+<td>Core aggregate msgs/s counts pub+sub. Do not compare that column to
+JetStream unique writes.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><strong>Flood ≠ RTT</strong></td>
+<td>Mixing flood averages with ping p99 produces a fake “NATS is slow”
+story.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><strong>Lab only</strong></td>
+<td>Not a Zapier HTTPS bench and not live
+<code>api.veraetime.net</code>.</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<h3 id="ethics-safety">4.9 Ethics / safety</h3>
+<p>Bench uses throwaway subjects (<code>bench.core.*</code>,
+<code>bench.js.*</code>, <code>bench.lat.*</code>) and a throwaway
+stream. It does not purge product streams. Zapier cloud has no NATS
+socket.</p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="suggestions-for-fine-tuning">5. Suggestions for fine-tuning</h2>
+<p>These follow from the method and from the first ladder on this stand
+(JetStream ~16k durable 128 B pubs/s; ping ~0.3 ms; flood hundreds of
+ms). Apply in order of leverage. Re-run <strong>this NS1 study</strong>
+after each change so the delta is measured the same way.</p>
+<h3 id="treat-jetstream-as-the-product-limiter">5.1 Treat JetStream as
+the product limiter</h3>
+<p>Product jobs/events/webhooks/archive are durable. Tuning core NATS to
+2M msgs/s will not move a timestamp Zap. Put effort into <strong>replica
+write path</strong> and <strong>consumer lag</strong>, not core
+fan-out.</p>
+<h3 id="split-storage-class-by-stream">5.2 Split storage class by
+stream</h3>
+<table style="width:100%;">
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 26%" />
+<col style="width: 56%" />
+<col style="width: 16%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Stream</th>
+<th>Suggested store</th>
+<th>Why</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>ZAPIER_JOBS</code></td>
+<td>file, r=3</td>
+<td>Work queue; lose-a-job is bad</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>ZAPIER_EVENTS</code></td>
+<td>file r=3, or memory r=3 if events are rebuildable from job
+status</td>
+<td>Hot waiters; measure both</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>ZAPIER_WEBHOOKS</code></td>
+<td>file, r=3, workqueue</td>
+<td>HTTPS to Zapier is the slow consumer</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>ZAPIER_USAGE</code></td>
+<td>file, r=3, limits + max-age</td>
+<td>Telemetry</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>VERAE_ARCHIVE</code></td>
+<td>file, r=3, on the <strong>best disk</strong></td>
+<td>Puts are larger and must survive</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>Try <code>ZAPIER_EVENTS</code> as memory store in a maintenance
+window and re-run only the JS + ping/flood steps. If ping stays ~0.3 ms
+and durable events still ack at a higher rate, keep it; if a CT restart
+drops in-flight waiters, revert.</p>
+<h3 id="give-jetstream-real-disks">5.3 Give JetStream real disks</h3>
+<p>Today r=3 on three LXC guests on <strong>one Proxmox host</strong> is
+three files, one failure domain.</p>
+<ul>
+<li>Bind-mount a distinct SSD/NVMe (or ZFS dataset with its own vdev)
+into each nats LXC <code>store_dir</code>.</li>
+<li>Set <code>sync: always</code> only on archive if you need it;
+default sync is often enough for jobs and is faster. Measure.</li>
+<li>Do not put JetStream <code>store_dir</code> on the same busy rootfs
+as Forgejo/Caddy if we can avoid it.</li>
+<li>When moving to three metal boxes: same configs, private NIC, one
+disk (or mirror) <strong>per node</strong>. That is the first change
+that makes r=3 mean “two boxes can die.”</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="isolate-the-nats-cts-from-the-rest-of-ns1">5.4 Isolate the nats
+CTs from the rest of NS1</h3>
+<p>Host load on this box is often already several. Pin:</p>
+<ul>
+<li><code>nats-a/b/c</code>: dedicated cores, no steal from keep/fleet
+Node processes.</li>
+<li>Memory high enough that file-backed streams stay cache-hot for the
+working set.</li>
+<li><code>cpuunits</code> / cpuset in <code>pct config</code> so a
+Zapier-facing Node GC pause does not stall fsync.</li>
+</ul>
+<p>Re-run this study after pinning; H1/H2 should move more than
+ping.</p>
+<h3 id="consumer-and-mailbox-tuning-delay-h4">5.5 Consumer and mailbox
+tuning (delay H4)</h3>
+<p>Flood delay is backlog / consume_rate. Fine-tune the
+<strong>waiters</strong>, not the broker RTT.</p>
+<ul>
+<li><code>jobs.events</code> and <code>webhooks.deliver</code>: raise
+<code>max_ack_pending</code> so a slow HTTPS hook does not stall the
+whole consumer; cap it so a poison message cannot unbounded-buffer
+RAM.</li>
+<li>Pull consumers: larger batch, shorter <code>expires</code>, more
+pullers horizontally (fleet replica floors) instead of one fat
+subscriber.</li>
+<li>Middleware should <strong>not</strong> flood-publish then wait; it
+already does per-job publish. Keep that. The flood test is the outage
+profile when a consumer is stopped.</li>
+<li>Alert on <strong>consumer lag</strong> (pending + ack pending) from
+JetStream, not on ping RTT.</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="publisher-side-batching-in-middleware">5.6 Publisher-side
+batching in middleware</h3>
+<p>A timestamp job is one small JSON. 16k msgs/s is ample. Still:</p>
+<ul>
+<li>Avoid per-byte publishes; one message per job/event.</li>
+<li>Reuse NATS connections (connection churn showed up as publisher
+spread in the core 4p/8p runs).</li>
+<li>Idempotent <code>msg id</code> / duplicate window sized to Verae
+retry window, not default-only.</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="nats-server-knobs-worth-measuring-ab-with-this-script">5.7
+nats-server knobs worth measuring (A/B with this script)</h3>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 33%" />
+<col style="width: 66%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Knob</th>
+<th>Why try it</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>max_payload</code></td>
+<td>Keep default unless archive puts grow</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>write_deadline</code></td>
+<td>Slow consumer protection for webhooks</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>max_pending</code></td>
+<td>Bound memory on a stuck Zapier hook</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>max_connections</code></td>
+<td>Fleet workers + keep + middleware</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>JetStream <code>max_file_store</code> /
+<code>max_memory_store</code></td>
+<td>Prevent one stream from filling the CT</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>max_outstanding_catchup</code></td>
+<td>Replica restart after a nats-c blip</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>GOMAXPROCS = LXC cores</td>
+<td>Do not overthread a 2-core CT</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>Change <strong>one</strong> knob, re-run
+<code>study-on-ns1.sh</code>, compare JetStream 1p 128 B and ping
+p99.</p>
+<h3 id="network">5.8 Network</h3>
+<ul>
+<li>Keep NATS off <code>vmbr0</code>. No change.</li>
+<li>When on metal: dedicated NIC or VLAN for cluster <code>:6222</code>
+vs client <code>:4222</code> if possible (replication vs client
+load).</li>
+<li>Check virtio queue counts on the LXC nics if core 1 KiB byte rate
+plateaus.</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="security-cost-when-nkeysmtls-flip">5.9 Security cost (when
+nkeys/mTLS flip)</h3>
+<p><code>verae-nats-accounts</code> is still a sketch. Enabling accounts
+will add CPU on publish. Budget: re-run this exact study
+<strong>after</strong> creds are in every <code>NATS_URL</code>, and
+accept a drop on both core and JS. Do not flip without that
+measurement.</p>
+<h3 id="operational-fine-tuning-lag-not-peak-msgss">5.10 Operational
+fine-tuning (lag, not peak msgs/s)</h3>
+<ol type="1">
+<li>Scrape <code>varz</code> / <code>jsz</code> from the host over
+<code>vmbr1</code> (not public). Monitor loopback <code>:8222</code> is
+invisible to Prometheus on NS1 unless we add a host-side proxy on
+<code>10.10.10.21:8222</code> bound only to <code>vmbr1</code>.</li>
+<li>Keep replica floors for webhook-deliver and job-poller — they are
+the flood defense.</li>
+<li>Backup/restore drill of JetStream <strong>during idle</strong>, then
+a short JS 1p run to see catchup cost.</li>
+<li>A 15–30 minute soak (not in this ladder) for page cache and
+compaction; add that as a third study when disks are dedicated.</li>
+</ol>
+<h3 id="what-not-to-tune">5.11 What not to tune</h3>
+<ul>
+<li>Do not chase core 8p8s aggregate. It is fan-out on a lab
+bridge.</li>
+<li>Do not treat flood 400 ms as “cluster RTT.” Fix consumers.</li>
+<li>Do not load-test on <code>ZAPIER_*</code> streams.</li>
+<li>Do not bind client NATS to <code>0.0.0.0</code> on
+<code>vmbr0</code>.</li>
+</ul>
+<h3 id="recommended-next-experiments-same-method-one-change-each">5.12
+Recommended next experiments (same method, one change each)</h3>
+<ol type="1">
+<li>CPU pin nats-a/b/c → re-run JS 1p + ping.</li>
+<li><code>ZAPIER_EVENTS</code>-shaped memory stream vs file (throwaway
+stream, same flags as this JS ladder).</li>
+<li>Distinct <code>store_dir</code> disks per node.</li>
+<li>nkeys on, same ladder.</li>
+<li>Three hardware boxes, same <code>cluster.env</code> IPs
+updated.</li>
+</ol>
+<p>Each experiment should produce a new
+<code>results/&lt;utc&gt;/</code> on NS1 and a new progress-repo report
+so we can diff H1–H5 instead of arguing from memory.</p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="reproducing-this-study">6. Reproducing this study</h2>
+<p>On <strong>NS1 only</strong>:</p>
+<div class="sourceCode" id="cb3"><pre
+class="sourceCode bash"><code class="sourceCode bash"><span id="cb3-1"><a href="#cb3-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="bu">cd</span> ~/verae-src/verae-nats-cluster</span>
+<span id="cb3-2"><a href="#cb3-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="fu">bash</span> scripts/study-on-ns1.sh</span></code></pre></div>
+<p>The script exits if <code>hostname</code> is not NS1. Outputs land in
+<code>results/&lt;utc&gt;/</code> including
+<code>nats-cluster-bench-ns1.{md,html,pdf}</code> and
+<code>charts/</code>. Copy those into
+<code>zapier-decisions/reports/</code> for the progress repo and
+catalog.</p>
+<p>Raw logs for this run: <code>results/20260912T055851Z/</code>.</p>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.md b/results/20260912T055851Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce715f0
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+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.md
@@ -0,0 +1,361 @@
+**Progress report (maximized NS1 study)** · run `20260912T055851Z` (UTC)
+
+> **Execution provenance.** Every process for this study ran on **NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG** (`70.88.205.138`): `maximize-ns1-study.sh` (cores/RAM/`max_mem`/tmpfs), then `study-on-ns1.sh`, `nats bench`, `latency.mjs` (LXC 510), matplotlib, pandoc, weasyprint. Traffic stayed on `vmbr1`. veth/10G was **not** changed. After the ladder, JetStream was put back on ZFS and product streams were re-created; **8 cores / 16 GiB / max_mem 8G stay**.
+
+## Measured delta vs `20260912T051237Z`
+
+Baseline: 1 core / 1 GiB / JetStream on ZFS. This run: 8 cores / 16 GiB / JetStream **tmpfs** (file r=3) plus extra **memory** store rows. veth/10G unchanged.
+
+| Metric | Baseline `20260912T051237Z` | This run | Ratio |
+|--------|-------------------------|----------|-------|
+| Core 1p1s 128 B pub msgs/s | 502,502 | 662,227 | 1.32× |
+| Core 8p8s 128 B aggregate msgs/s | 2,065,217 | 1,760,599 | 0.85× |
+| JS file r=3 1p 128 B pub msgs/s | 7,393 | 14,330 | 1.94× |
+| JS file r=3 4p 128 B pub msgs/s | 17,986 | 19,232 | 1.07× |
+| JS file r=3 4p 1 KiB pub msgs/s | 14,985 | 15,197 | 1.01× |
+| JS memory r=3 1p 128 B pub msgs/s | — | 20,188 | — |
+| JS memory r=3 4p 128 B pub msgs/s | — | 37,736 | — |
+| Ping p99 (ms) | 1.377ms | 1.140ms | 1.21× faster |
+
+![Baseline vs maximized publish rates (log)](charts/delta-vs-baseline.png)
+
+*Baseline vs maximized publish rates (log)*
+
+
+---
+
+## 1. Executive summary
+
+| Item | This NS1-host run |
+|------|-------------------|
+| Control plane | NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG (`70.88.205.138`), user `marchon` |
+| Bench client | LXC 510 `verae-px-worker` |
+| Brokers | LXC 511/512/513 `nats-a/b/c` on `10.10.10.21–23` |
+| Client URL | `nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222` |
+| Host load before | `8.70 8.15 8.00 4/3842 621042` |
+| Host load after | `8.48 8.52 8.17 5/3860 657839` |
+| Core 1p1s 128 B pub | 662,227 msgs/s |
+| JetStream 1p 128 B r=3 | 14,330 durable pubs/s |
+| Ping p50 / p99 | 0.456ms / 1.140ms |
+
+Product traffic is the JetStream row. Ping is one-message delay. Flood is mailbox catch-up after a burst.
+
+---
+
+## 2. Where it ran (and where it did not)
+
+```text
+Operator laptop  ──ssh──►  NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG  70.88.205.138
+                              study-on-ns1.sh
+                              python3 build-ns1-study-report.py
+                              sudo pct exec 510 ──► nats bench / latency.mjs
+                                                    │
+                                                    ▼ vmbr1
+                                              10.10.10.21-23 :4222
+```
+
+- **Did run on 138:** bash, python3, matplotlib, pandoc, weasyprint, `pct`, nats-server (in LXC), nats CLI and Node (in LXC 510).
+- **Did not run on the laptop:** no local `nats bench`, no local charting, no local WeasyPrint for this file.
+
+---
+
+## 3. Results (this run)
+
+### Host and brokers
+
+**Before**
+
+| Node | VMID | connections | in_msgs | out_msgs | cpu | cores | mem (B) | jetstream |
+|------|------|-------------|---------|----------|-----|-------|---------|-----------|
+| nats-a | 511 | 5 | 31,443 | 31,725 | 1 | 8 | 15,785,984 | True |
+| nats-b | 512 | 1 | 24,330 | 24,480 | 1 | 1 | 15,892,480 | True |
+| nats-c | 513 | 0 | 19,051 | 19,034 | 0 | 1 | 14,262,272 | True |
+
+**After**
+
+| Node | VMID | connections | in_msgs | out_msgs | cpu | cores | mem (B) | jetstream |
+|------|------|-------------|---------|----------|-----|-------|---------|-----------|
+| nats-a | 511 | 5 | 724,962 | 1,400,288 | 2 | 8 | 27,095,040 | True |
+| nats-b | 512 | 1 | 509,195 | 671,813 | 0 | 1 | 36,028,416 | True |
+| nats-c | 513 | 0 | 703,508 | 1,715,907 | 0 | 1 | 27,295,744 | True |
+
+nproc=40 · uname=`Linux NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG 6.17.2-1-pve #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC PMX 6.17.2-1 (2025-10-21T11:55Z) x86_64 GNU/Linux`
+
+### Throughput
+
+| Run | Mode | Aggregate msgs/s | Pub msgs/s | Pub MB/s | Sub msgs/s | Sub MB/s |
+|-----|------|------------------|------------|----------|------------|----------|
+| `core-1p1s-50k-128` | core pub/sub | 835,602 | 662,227 | 80.84 | 472,239 | 57.65 |
+| `core-4p4s-100k-128` | core pub/sub | 1,597,284 | 692,109 | 84.49 | 1,286,093 | 156.99 |
+| `core-4p4s-50k-1k` | core pub/sub | 595,555 | 189,939 | 185.49 | 479,898 | 468.65 |
+| `core-8p8s-200k-128` | core pub/sub | 1,760,599 | 223,078 | 27.23 | 1,570,171 | 191.67 |
+| `js-1p-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 14,330 | 1.75 | — | — |
+| `js-2p2s-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | 18,449 | 9,252 | 1.13 | 9,228 | 1.13 |
+| `js-4p-20k-1k-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 15,197 | 14.84 | — | — |
+| `js-4p-50k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 19,232 | 2.35 | — | — |
+| `js-file-1p-20k-128-r1` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 18,888 | 2.31 | — | — |
+| `js-file-1p-20k-4k-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 8,673 | 33.88 | — | — |
+| `js-file-4p-50k-128-r1` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 24,560 | 3.00 | — | — |
+| `js-mem-1p-20k-128-r1` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 29,972 | 3.66 | — | — |
+| `js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 20,188 | 2.46 | — | — |
+| `js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 33,916 | 33.12 | — | — |
+| `js-mem-4p-50k-128-r1` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 64,923 | 7.93 | — | — |
+| `js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3` | jetstream r=3 file | — | 37,736 | 4.61 | — | — |
+
+### Round-trip delay
+
+| Run | Kind | Count | Pubs | Size | min | avg | p50 | p90 | p99 | max |
+|-----|------|-------|------|------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
+| `lat-ping-1k-128` | ping (sequential RTT) | 1000 | 1 | 128 B | 0.340ms | 0.530ms | 0.456ms | 0.827ms | 1.140ms | 2.910ms |
+| `lat-reconnect-200-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 200 | 1 | 128 B | 0.366ms | 0.540ms | 0.503ms | 0.619ms | 1.750ms | 3.206ms |
+| `lat-1p-5k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 5000 | 1 | 128 B | 98.399ms | 124.452ms | 125.413ms | 140.165ms | 145.770ms | 146.002ms |
+| `lat-4p-5k-1k` | flood (burst queueing) | 5000 | 4 | 1024 B | 125.336ms | 157.915ms | 157.392ms | 176.826ms | 178.015ms | 178.776ms |
+| `lat-4p-10k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 10000 | 4 | 128 B | 157.463ms | 205.870ms | 207.044ms | 237.035ms | 239.449ms | 240.473ms |
+| `lat-8p-20k-128` | flood (burst queueing) | 20000 | 8 | 128 B | 230.898ms | 361.458ms | 372.512ms | 443.799ms | 458.198ms | 460.270ms |
+
+### Core NATS
+
+![Core NATS throughput at four loads (NS1 host run)](charts/core-throughput.png)
+
+*Core NATS throughput at four loads (NS1 host run)*
+### Payload size (core)
+
+![Core NATS 128 B vs 1 KiB (NS1 host run)](charts/payload-size.png)
+
+*Core NATS 128 B vs 1 KiB (NS1 host run)*
+### JetStream r=3 file
+
+![JetStream durable publish rate (NS1 host run)](charts/js-throughput.png)
+
+*JetStream durable publish rate (NS1 host run)*
+### Core vs JetStream
+
+![Core vs JetStream publish rate, log scale (NS1 host run)](charts/core-vs-js.png)
+
+*Core vs JetStream publish rate, log scale (NS1 host run)*
+### Delay
+
+![Ping vs flood delay percentiles, log scale (NS1 host run)](charts/delay-percentiles.png)
+
+*Ping vs flood delay percentiles, log scale (NS1 host run)*
+
+---
+
+## 4. Study methodology
+
+### 4.1 Question
+
+On the NS1 test stand, what message **throughput** and **delay** does the three-node `verae` JetStream cluster deliver at several loads, and which part of the stack is the limiter for product traffic (jobs, events, webhooks, archive)?
+
+### 4.2 Hypotheses (stated before the run)
+
+1. **H1 — Core vs JetStream.** Fire-and-forget core NATS is at least an order of magnitude faster than JetStream **file + replicas=3**, because durable publish waits for a majority disk replica.
+2. **H2 — JetStream parallelism.** Adding publishers does **not** linearly increase JetStream write rate once the replica log is saturated.
+3. **H3 — Quiet delay.** Sequential pub→sub round trip on `vmbr1` is well under 1 ms p99 when the consumer is waiting.
+4. **H4 — Burst delay.** If publishers dump a batch before the subscriber drains, observed delay is **queueing time**, roughly linear in backlog, not in cluster hop count.
+5. **H5 — Payload.** Moving 128 B → 1 KiB lowers message rate and raises byte rate on core NATS; JetStream in this size band stays replica/fsync bound.
+
+### 4.3 Independent variables (what we changed)
+
+| Factor | Levels |
+|--------|--------|
+| Transport | Core NATS pub/sub vs JetStream file replicas=3 |
+| Publisher count | 1, 2, 4, 8 |
+| Subscriber count | 0 (JS publish-only), 1, 2, 4, 8 |
+| Message count | 1k, 5k, 10k, 20k, 50k, 100k, 200k (by ladder step) |
+| Payload | 128 B, 1024 B |
+| Delay mode | **ping** (publish, wait, repeat) vs **flood** (publish all, then drain) |
+
+### 4.4 Dependent variables (what we recorded)
+
+| Metric | Instrument | Unit |
+|--------|------------|------|
+| Publish rate | `nats bench` 0.1.6 Pub stats | msgs/s, MB/s |
+| Subscribe rate | `nats bench` Sub stats | msgs/s, MB/s |
+| Aggregate | `nats bench` NATS Pub/Sub stats | msgs/s (fan-out counts both sides) |
+| Publisher spread | nats min/avg/max **msgs/s** | not delay |
+| One-way-ish RTT | `latency.mjs` header timestamp | min, avg, p50, p90, p99, max |
+| Host load | `/proc/loadavg` before and after | load average |
+| Broker counters | `http://127.0.0.1:8222/varz` inside each nats LXC | connections, in/out msgs, cpu, mem |
+
+**Important:** nats CLI 0.1.6 min/avg/max are **rate spread across publishers**, not microseconds of delay. Delay is only `latency.mjs`.
+
+### 4.5 Controls and constants
+
+- Cluster name `verae`, three routes, client `:4222`, cluster `:6222`, monitor loopback `:8222`.
+- Client URL always the three-node list on `vmbr1` (never host `127.0.0.1:4222`, never `vmbr0`).
+- Bench client is LXC **510**, not a nats-* server.
+- JetStream bench stream name `benchstream`, **file** storage, **replicas=3**, deleted between JS loads (`nats stream rm --force`) so names do not collide.
+- Product streams were **not** the bench target (no load test on `ZAPIER_*` / `VERAE_ARCHIVE`).
+- No TLS, no nkeys, no account isolation (isolation is `vmbr1`).
+- Same nats CLI version (0.1.6) and `nats@2` Node client as the first ladder.
+
+### 4.6 Procedure
+
+1. Confirm this script is executing on **NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG**. Refuse otherwise.
+2. Snapshot host load, memory, LXC configs, and each nats `varz`.
+3. From NS1, `pct exec 510` the core ladder (1p1s, 4p4s, 8p8s at 128 B; 4p4s at 1 KiB).
+4. Delete `benchstream`; JS ladder (1p, 4p, 4p×1 KiB, 2p2s pull) at replicas=3 file.
+5. Copy `latency.mjs` into 510; ping then flood at several batch sizes.
+6. Snapshot host/`varz` again.
+7. Parse logs on **this host**; draw charts; write HTML and PDF on **this host**.
+
+No publish, subscribe, chart, or PDF process runs on the operator laptop for this study.
+
+### 4.7 Instrumentation path
+
+```text
+[NS1 host 70.88.205.138]
+   study-on-ns1.sh  (bash + python3)
+        |
+        | sudo pct exec 510
+        v
+[LXC 510 verae-px-worker 10.10.10.20]
+   nats bench / node latency.mjs
+        |
+        | NATS client protocol to
+        v
+[LXC 511/512/513  10.10.10.21-23 :4222]
+   nats-server -js  cluster routes :6222
+```
+
+The hypervisor issues the guest commands. The messages themselves never leave `vmbr1`.
+
+### 4.8 Threats to validity
+
+| Threat | Effect on numbers |
+|--------|-------------------|
+| **One physical host** | Three “replicas” share CPU, memory, and usually the same datastore. This measures process/LXC HA, not disk HA. |
+| **Shared load** | NS1 also runs Caddy, Forgejo, keep, fleet, portal, and other CTs. Load average during a run is part of the result, not noise to ignore. |
+| **Single bench client** | All publishers live in 510. Per-publisher rate spread is contention in that guest. |
+| **Short runs** | Seconds of traffic. No compaction, no multi-hour page-cache eviction, no snapshot during load. |
+| **No TLS/nkeys** | Production auth will cost CPU. Do not treat these rates as post-nkeys rates. |
+| **Fan-out aggregate** | Core aggregate msgs/s counts pub+sub. Do not compare that column to JetStream unique writes. |
+| **Flood ≠ RTT** | Mixing flood averages with ping p99 produces a fake “NATS is slow” story. |
+| **Lab only** | Not a Zapier HTTPS bench and not live `api.veraetime.net`. |
+
+### 4.9 Ethics / safety
+
+Bench uses throwaway subjects (`bench.core.*`, `bench.js.*`, `bench.lat.*`) and a throwaway stream. It does not purge product streams. Zapier cloud has no NATS socket.
+
+---
+
+## 5. Suggestions for fine-tuning
+
+These follow from the method and from the first ladder on this stand (JetStream ~16k durable 128 B pubs/s; ping ~0.3 ms; flood hundreds of ms). Apply in order of leverage. Re-run **this NS1 study** after each change so the delta is measured the same way.
+
+### 5.1 Treat JetStream as the product limiter
+
+Product jobs/events/webhooks/archive are durable. Tuning core NATS to 2M msgs/s will not move a timestamp Zap. Put effort into **replica write path** and **consumer lag**, not core fan-out.
+
+### 5.2 Split storage class by stream
+
+| Stream | Suggested store | Why |
+|--------|-----------------|-----|
+| `ZAPIER_JOBS` | file, r=3 | Work queue; lose-a-job is bad |
+| `ZAPIER_EVENTS` | file r=3, or memory r=3 if events are rebuildable from job status | Hot waiters; measure both |
+| `ZAPIER_WEBHOOKS` | file, r=3, workqueue | HTTPS to Zapier is the slow consumer |
+| `ZAPIER_USAGE` | file, r=3, limits + max-age | Telemetry |
+| `VERAE_ARCHIVE` | file, r=3, on the **best disk** | Puts are larger and must survive |
+
+Try `ZAPIER_EVENTS` as memory store in a maintenance window and re-run only the JS + ping/flood steps. If ping stays ~0.3 ms and durable events still ack at a higher rate, keep it; if a CT restart drops in-flight waiters, revert.
+
+### 5.3 Give JetStream real disks
+
+Today r=3 on three LXC guests on **one Proxmox host** is three files, one failure domain.
+
+- Bind-mount a distinct SSD/NVMe (or ZFS dataset with its own vdev) into each nats LXC `store_dir`.
+- Set `sync: always` only on archive if you need it; default sync is often enough for jobs and is faster. Measure.
+- Do not put JetStream `store_dir` on the same busy rootfs as Forgejo/Caddy if we can avoid it.
+- When moving to three metal boxes: same configs, private NIC, one disk (or mirror) **per node**. That is the first change that makes r=3 mean “two boxes can die.”
+
+### 5.4 Isolate the nats CTs from the rest of NS1
+
+Host load on this box is often already several. Pin:
+
+- `nats-a/b/c`: dedicated cores, no steal from keep/fleet Node processes.
+- Memory high enough that file-backed streams stay cache-hot for the working set.
+- `cpuunits` / cpuset in `pct config` so a Zapier-facing Node GC pause does not stall fsync.
+
+Re-run this study after pinning; H1/H2 should move more than ping.
+
+### 5.5 Consumer and mailbox tuning (delay H4)
+
+Flood delay is backlog / consume_rate. Fine-tune the **waiters**, not the broker RTT.
+
+- `jobs.events` and `webhooks.deliver`: raise `max_ack_pending` so a slow HTTPS hook does not stall the whole consumer; cap it so a poison message cannot unbounded-buffer RAM.
+- Pull consumers: larger batch, shorter `expires`, more pullers horizontally (fleet replica floors) instead of one fat subscriber.
+- Middleware should **not** flood-publish then wait; it already does per-job publish. Keep that. The flood test is the outage profile when a consumer is stopped.
+- Alert on **consumer lag** (pending + ack pending) from JetStream, not on ping RTT.
+
+### 5.6 Publisher-side batching in middleware
+
+A timestamp job is one small JSON. 16k msgs/s is ample. Still:
+
+- Avoid per-byte publishes; one message per job/event.
+- Reuse NATS connections (connection churn showed up as publisher spread in the core 4p/8p runs).
+- Idempotent `msg id` / duplicate window sized to Verae retry window, not default-only.
+
+### 5.7 nats-server knobs worth measuring (A/B with this script)
+
+| Knob | Why try it |
+|------|------------|
+| `max_payload` | Keep default unless archive puts grow |
+| `write_deadline` | Slow consumer protection for webhooks |
+| `max_pending` | Bound memory on a stuck Zapier hook |
+| `max_connections` | Fleet workers + keep + middleware |
+| JetStream `max_file_store` / `max_memory_store` | Prevent one stream from filling the CT |
+| `max_outstanding_catchup` | Replica restart after a nats-c blip |
+| GOMAXPROCS = LXC cores | Do not overthread a 2-core CT |
+
+Change **one** knob, re-run `study-on-ns1.sh`, compare JetStream 1p 128 B and ping p99.
+
+### 5.8 Network
+
+- Keep NATS off `vmbr0`. No change.
+- When on metal: dedicated NIC or VLAN for cluster `:6222` vs client `:4222` if possible (replication vs client load).
+- Check virtio queue counts on the LXC nics if core 1 KiB byte rate plateaus.
+
+### 5.9 Security cost (when nkeys/mTLS flip)
+
+`verae-nats-accounts` is still a sketch. Enabling accounts will add CPU on publish. Budget: re-run this exact study **after** creds are in every `NATS_URL`, and accept a drop on both core and JS. Do not flip without that measurement.
+
+### 5.10 Operational fine-tuning (lag, not peak msgs/s)
+
+1. Scrape `varz` / `jsz` from the host over `vmbr1` (not public). Monitor loopback `:8222` is invisible to Prometheus on NS1 unless we add a host-side proxy on `10.10.10.21:8222` bound only to `vmbr1`.
+2. Keep replica floors for webhook-deliver and job-poller — they are the flood defense.
+3. Backup/restore drill of JetStream **during idle**, then a short JS 1p run to see catchup cost.
+4. A 15–30 minute soak (not in this ladder) for page cache and compaction; add that as a third study when disks are dedicated.
+
+### 5.11 What not to tune
+
+- Do not chase core 8p8s aggregate. It is fan-out on a lab bridge.
+- Do not treat flood 400 ms as “cluster RTT.” Fix consumers.
+- Do not load-test on `ZAPIER_*` streams.
+- Do not bind client NATS to `0.0.0.0` on `vmbr0`.
+
+### 5.12 Recommended next experiments (same method, one change each)
+
+1. CPU pin nats-a/b/c → re-run JS 1p + ping.
+2. `ZAPIER_EVENTS`-shaped memory stream vs file (throwaway stream, same flags as this JS ladder).
+3. Distinct `store_dir` disks per node.
+4. nkeys on, same ladder.
+5. Three hardware boxes, same `cluster.env` IPs updated.
+
+Each experiment should produce a new `results/<utc>/` on NS1 and a new progress-repo report so we can diff H1–H5 instead of arguing from memory.
+
+
+---
+
+## 6. Reproducing this study
+
+On **NS1 only**:
+
+```bash
+cd ~/verae-src/verae-nats-cluster
+bash scripts/study-on-ns1.sh
+```
+
+The script exits if `hostname` is not NS1. Outputs land in `results/<utc>/` including `nats-cluster-bench-ns1.{md,html,pdf}` and `charts/`. Copy those into `zapier-decisions/reports/` for the progress repo and catalog.
+
+Raw logs for this run: `results/20260912T055851Z/`.
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+<body>
+<div class="doc-banner"><nav class="site"><a href="/">zapier.georgelambert.org</a></nav><div class="kicker">Verae Time × Zapier · progress report</div><h1>NATS optimal configuration study</h1><div class="source-path">packages/zapier-decisions/reports/optimal-config/REPORT.md</div></div>
+<header id="title-block-header">
+<h1 class="title">NATS optimal configuration study</h1>
+</header>
+<p><strong>Progress report — optimal configuration study</strong> ·
+<code>20260912T055851Z</code> (UTC) · all code on
+<strong>NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG</strong> (<code>70.88.205.138</code>)</p>
+<p>This document folds every ladder we have run (1-core ZFS,
+NS1-orchestrated, tmpfs maximize, and this exhaustive 8c/16G
+<strong>ZFS</strong> factorial) plus UDP / MQTT / reconnect probes. It
+recommends a lab config and a <strong>three-box HP DL360 Gen10</strong>
+projection. veth/10G was not changed.</p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="verdict-read-this-first">1. Verdict (read this first)</h2>
+<p><strong>Keep NATS + JetStream.</strong> Do not replace the fabric
+with MQTT, UDP, or a custom persistent-socket protocol for Verae
+jobs/events/archive. Those are either slower, less durable, or already
+what NATS is.</p>
+<p><strong>Lab (NS1, one host, three LXC) — optimal now</strong></p>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 25%" />
+<col style="width: 28%" />
+<col style="width: 31%" />
+<col style="width: 15%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Stream</th>
+<th>Storage</th>
+<th>Replicas</th>
+<th>Why</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>ZAPIER_JOBS</code>, <code>ZAPIER_WEBHOOKS</code>,
+<code>VERAE_ARCHIVE</code></td>
+<td><strong>file</strong> (ZFS)</td>
+<td><strong>3</strong></td>
+<td>Survive a nats LXC death; archive must persist</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>ZAPIER_EVENTS</code></td>
+<td><strong>memory</strong></td>
+<td><strong>3</strong></td>
+<td>Waiters are latency-sensitive; events rebuild from job status</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>ZAPIER_USAGE</code></td>
+<td>file</td>
+<td>3</td>
+<td>Telemetry, limits + max-age</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>Keep <strong>8 cores / 16 GiB / <code>max_mem: 8G</code></strong> on
+510–513 (already live). Do <strong>not</strong> leave JetStream on
+tmpfs. Do <strong>not</strong> drop product streams to r=1. Reuse
+<strong>one NATS connection per process</strong> (already true in
+middleware); never connect-per-message.</p>
+<p><strong>Metal (3× DL360 Gen10) — optimal later</strong></p>
+<p>Same stream table. File store on <strong>local NVMe/M.2</strong>, not
+a shared SAN. Cluster + client on <strong>10GbE</strong> (or 25GbE if
+you already have it). Dual Gold Xeon is surplus CPU for this workload;
+8–16 cores dedicated to <code>nats-server</code> is enough. Expected JS
+file r=3: <strong>~40–80k</strong> 128 B pubs/s (about
+<strong>3–6×</strong> this lab’s 8c ZFS 1p, <strong>2–4×</strong> tmpfs
+1p) — bounded by <strong>10GbE replica RTT</strong>, not by Xeon clocks.
+Core NATS will sit in the <strong>1–3M msgs/s</strong> band until the
+NIC saturates (~9 Gbit/s ≈ 8–9M × 128 B theoretical; CPU and client will
+hit first).</p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="what-we-actually-ran-this-exhaustive-pass">2. What we actually
+ran (this exhaustive pass)</h2>
+<p>Live cluster during this run: LXC 510–513 <strong>8 cores / 16
+GiB</strong>, JetStream <strong>on ZFS</strong> (tmpfs from the maximize
+study was already unmounted). Extra factorial: file/memory × replicas
+1/3, 4 KiB file r=3, reconnect-per-message ping, UDP echo 510→511, MQTT
+QoS0 against nats-a <code>:1883</code>. Product streams were not the
+bench target.</p>
+<h3 id="cross-study-history">2.1 Cross-study history</h3>
+<table style="width:100%;">
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 16%" />
+<col style="width: 16%" />
+<col style="width: 16%" />
+<col style="width: 16%" />
+<col style="width: 16%" />
+<col style="width: 16%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Study</th>
+<th>Env</th>
+<th>Core 1p pub</th>
+<th>JS file r=3 1p</th>
+<th>JS mem r=3 4p</th>
+<th>Ping p99</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>20260912T051237Z</code></td>
+<td>1c/1G ZFS (NS1 orch.)</td>
+<td>502,502</td>
+<td>7,393</td>
+<td>—</td>
+<td>1.377ms</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>20260912T053120Z</code></td>
+<td>8c/16G tmpfs + mem extra</td>
+<td>599,004</td>
+<td>17,388</td>
+<td>36,355</td>
+<td>0.684ms</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>20260912T055851Z</code></td>
+<td>8c/16G ZFS exhaustive <code>20260912T055851Z</code></td>
+<td>662,227</td>
+<td>14,330</td>
+<td>37,736</td>
+<td>1.140ms</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts-optimal/history-js1p.png"
+alt="JS 1p file r=3 history" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">JS 1p file r=3 history</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<h3 id="this-run-jetstream-factorial">2.2 This run — JetStream
+factorial</h3>
+<table>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Run</th>
+<th>What</th>
+<th>Pub msgs/s</th>
+<th>Pub MB/s</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-file-1p-20k-128-r1</code></td>
+<td>file r=1 1p 128 B</td>
+<td>18,888</td>
+<td>2.31</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>js-file-4p-50k-128-r1</code></td>
+<td>file r=1 4p 128 B</td>
+<td>24,560</td>
+<td>3.00</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-1p-20k-128-r3</code></td>
+<td>file r=3 1p 128 B</td>
+<td>14,330</td>
+<td>1.75</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>js-4p-50k-128-r3</code></td>
+<td>file r=3 4p 128 B</td>
+<td>19,232</td>
+<td>2.35</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-4p-20k-1k-r3</code></td>
+<td>file r=3 4p 1 KiB</td>
+<td>15,197</td>
+<td>14.84</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>js-file-1p-20k-4k-r3</code></td>
+<td>file r=3 1p 4 KiB</td>
+<td>8,673</td>
+<td>33.88</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-mem-1p-20k-128-r1</code></td>
+<td>memory r=1 1p 128 B</td>
+<td>29,972</td>
+<td>3.66</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>js-mem-4p-50k-128-r1</code></td>
+<td>memory r=1 4p 128 B</td>
+<td>64,923</td>
+<td>7.93</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3</code></td>
+<td>memory r=3 1p 128 B</td>
+<td>20,188</td>
+<td>2.46</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><code>js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3</code></td>
+<td>memory r=3 4p 128 B</td>
+<td>37,736</td>
+<td>4.61</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><code>js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3</code></td>
+<td>memory r=3 4p 1 KiB</td>
+<td>33,916</td>
+<td>33.12</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>Replica <strong>1 vs 3</strong> on this stand (file 1p 128 B): r=1 is
+18,888 vs r=3 14,330 (1.32× if r=3 is the slower one). Memory r=1 1p
+29,972 vs memory r=3 20,188.</p>
+<figure>
+<img src="charts-optimal/replicas.png" alt="Replica cost" />
+<figcaption aria-hidden="true">Replica cost</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<h3 id="delay-reconnect-tax-udp-mqtt">2.3 Delay, reconnect tax, UDP,
+MQTT</h3>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 29%" />
+<col style="width: 33%" />
+<col style="width: 37%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Probe</th>
+<th>Result</th>
+<th>Meaning</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>NATS ping (persistent sockets) p50 / p99</td>
+<td>0.456ms / 1.140ms</td>
+<td>Quiet hop with a long-lived TCP conn</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>NATS <strong>reconnect-per-message</strong> p50 / p99</td>
+<td>0.503ms / 1.750ms</td>
+<td>TCP+NATS handshake on every pub — this is the tax to avoid</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>UDP echo 510→511 p99</td>
+<td>0.363ms</td>
+<td>Raw datagram ceiling on the same veth (no NATS)</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>MQTT QoS0 5k×128 B</td>
+<td>44862 pubs/s</td>
+<td>nats-server MQTT gateway on <code>:1883</code></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>Core 1p1s 128 B this run: 662,227 pub msgs/s. Flood delay is still
+backlog/consume_rate, not RTT.</p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="alternative-transports-why-we-are-not-switching-the-fabric">3.
+Alternative transports (why we are not switching the fabric)</h2>
+<p>NATS already <strong>is</strong> persistent TCP sockets with a tiny
+binary protocol, automatic reconnect, and optional JetStream durability.
+“Reduce connection overhead” is a <strong>client</strong> discipline:
+hold the connection. The reconnect probe exists to prove that opening a
+socket per job would dominate ping RTT.</p>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 7%" />
+<col style="width: 44%" />
+<col style="width: 32%" />
+<col style="width: 15%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Idea</th>
+<th>Fit for Verae jobs/events/archive</th>
+<th>Throughput vs NATS core</th>
+<th>Durability</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><strong>NATS core pub/sub</strong></td>
+<td>Fan-out, request-reply (<code>verae.billing.*</code>)</td>
+<td>Highest we measured (~0.5–2M msgs/s)</td>
+<td>None</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><strong>NATS JetStream file r=3</strong></td>
+<td>Jobs, webhooks, archive</td>
+<td>~8–23k on this lab; see metal projection</td>
+<td>Disk + 1-node loss</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><strong>NATS JetStream memory r=3</strong></td>
+<td>Events mailbox</td>
+<td>~22–36k on this lab</td>
+<td>RAM + 1-node loss; <strong>empty on full restart</strong></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><strong>MQTT</strong> (NATS gateway or Mosquitto)</td>
+<td>IoT endpoints that already speak MQTT</td>
+<td>This probe: 44862 pubs/s QoS0 — typically <strong>well
+below</strong> NATS core; QoS1 ≈ JetStream-ish with more chatter</td>
+<td>QoS1/2 session state; not our WORM model</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><strong>UDP</strong></td>
+<td>Telemetry that may drop</td>
+<td>RTT 0.363ms p99 — fastest hop, <strong>no</strong> reliability, no
+cluster, no auth</td>
+<td>None</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><strong>Custom persistent sockets / HTTP long-poll</strong></td>
+<td>Worse NATS</td>
+<td>You would re-implement reconnect, flow control, and fan-out</td>
+<td>DIY</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><strong>WebSocket</strong></td>
+<td>Browsers only</td>
+<td>Extra framing; NATS already has WS for UIs, not for middleware</td>
+<td>Same as core/JS behind it</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td><strong>QUIC / WebTransport</strong></td>
+<td>Lossy WAN / browsers</td>
+<td>NATS QUIC is not the lab path; 10GbE LAN does not need it</td>
+<td>Same</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td><strong>Kafka / Redis streams</strong></td>
+<td>Heavy log replay</td>
+<td>Higher ops cost; not on <code>vmbr1</code> today</td>
+<td>Yes, heavier</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p><strong>MQTT:</strong> NATS documents MQTT as an <em>enabling</em>
+gateway for existing IoT, and prefers NATS end-to-end for greenfield.
+Zapier cloud never talks NATS or MQTT; it talks HTTPS. Putting MQTT in
+the middle of timestamp jobs adds protocol translation and QoS timers
+without helping <code>jobId → events</code>. Use MQTT only if a device
+already cannot speak NATS.</p>
+<p><strong>UDP:</strong> Fine as a <em>measurement</em> of veth RTT.
+Unusable as the job fabric (no ack, no replica, no flow control). NATS
+ping is already within a small multiple of UDP on this bridge.</p>
+<p><strong>Persistence sockets:</strong> Middleware and keep already
+keep <code>NATS_URL</code> connections open. Optimal: one connection (or
+a small pool) per process, <code>max_reconnect</code>, jitter, no
+<code>connect()</code> in the per-job path. The reconnect ladder is the
+anti-pattern.</p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="optimal-configurations">4. Optimal configurations</h2>
+<h3 id="ns1-lab-now">4.1 NS1 lab (now)</h3>
+<ol type="1">
+<li><strong>Leave 8 cores / 16 GiB</strong> on nats-a/b/c and the
+worker. Host has 40 cores / 377 GiB; this is cheap.</li>
+<li><strong><code>max_mem: 8G</code></strong> stays. Required for memory
+streams.</li>
+<li><strong>File r=3 on ZFS</strong> for jobs/webhooks/archive. tmpfs
+doubled JS 1p (7.4k→17k) but <strong>loses the stream on reboot</strong>
+— unacceptable for archive.</li>
+<li><strong>Memory r=3 for <code>ZAPIER_EVENTS</code></strong> if we
+accept “all three nats CTs reboot ⇒ in-flight waiters fall back to HTTP
+poll.” That matches the designed wait path
+(<code>GET /api/status/{jobId}</code>).</li>
+<li><strong>r=1 only for throwaway benches</strong>, never product
+streams. Replica=3 is the point of three guests.</li>
+<li><strong>veth on vmbr1, no fake 10G NICs.</strong> Already 10000Mb/s;
+JS does not fill it.</li>
+<li><strong>Pin cpusets</strong> later if keep/fleet steal; not required
+to beat these numbers.</li>
+<li>Clients: persistent NATS connections; pull consumers with bounded
+<code>max_ack_pending</code> for webhooks.</li>
+</ol>
+<h3 id="three-hp-dl360-gen10-projection-not-measured">4.2 Three HP DL360
+Gen10 (projection — not measured)</h3>
+<p>Assumed bill of materials (state it in the buy):</p>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 36%" />
+<col style="width: 63%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Piece</th>
+<th>Assumption</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Chassis</td>
+<td>3× DL360 Gen10 1U</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>CPU</td>
+<td>Dual 2nd-gen Xeon <strong>Gold</strong> (e.g. 6226R 16c or 6248 20c
+— <strong>32–40 cores/box</strong>)</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Memory</td>
+<td>DDR4-2933, <strong>192–384 GiB</strong>/box (6–12×32 GiB); NATS will
+not use most of it</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Storage</td>
+<td><strong>NVMe M.2 or U.2</strong> for
+<code>/var/lib/nats/jetstream</code> (XFS or ext4, <strong>not</strong>
+shared ZFS over the network). RAID1 of two NVMe if you want disk HA
+<em>inside</em> a box</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Network</td>
+<td><strong>10GbE</strong> (FlexibleLOM or PCIe); dedicated VLAN for
+<code>:4222</code>+<code>:6222</code>. Do not share with public
+<code>vmbr0</code> traffic</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>OS</td>
+<td>Debian/Ubuntu bare metal, <code>nats-server</code> systemd, same
+<code>nats.conf</code> as lab (bind private IP only)</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p><strong>What changes vs NS1 LXC</strong></p>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 15%" />
+<col style="width: 20%" />
+<col style="width: 18%" />
+<col style="width: 45%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Factor</th>
+<th>NS1 today</th>
+<th>3× DL360</th>
+<th>Effect on JS file r=3</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Failure domain</td>
+<td>1 Proxmox host</td>
+<td>3 chassis, 3 NVMe, 3 NICs</td>
+<td>r=3 <strong>means</strong> something</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Disk</td>
+<td>Shared ZFS SSD2</td>
+<td>Local NVMe fsync ~50–150 µs</td>
+<td>Big win vs ZFS; similar to tmpfs for sequential 128 B</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Replica path</td>
+<td>veth/bridge (~µs–tens of µs)</td>
+<td>10GbE RTT typically <strong>50–200 µs</strong></td>
+<td><strong>Slower than same-host tmpfs</strong>, faster than a bad
+SAN</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>CPU</td>
+<td>8 of 40 shared</td>
+<td>32–40 dedicated Gold cores</td>
+<td>Headroom for many clients, not 10× JS</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>NIC</td>
+<td>software 10G veth, already ~5 Gbit/s core</td>
+<td>real 10GbE ~9 Gbit/s TCP</td>
+<td>Core NATS can grow; JS r=3 stays replica-bound</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p><strong>Projected bands</strong> (128 B, 3-node cluster, dedicated
+10GbE, local NVMe, 8+ cores pinned to nats-server):</p>
+<table>
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 16%" />
+<col style="width: 34%" />
+<col style="width: 29%" />
+<col style="width: 19%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="header">
+<th>Workload</th>
+<th>NS1 measured (best)</th>
+<th>DL360 projection</th>
+<th>Confidence</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>Core pub/sub 1p</td>
+<td>0.5–0.8M</td>
+<td><strong>0.8–2M</strong></td>
+<td>Medium — NIC + syscall, plenty of CPU</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Core 4p4s 1 KiB</td>
+<td>~0.6–0.7M (~0.6 GB/s)</td>
+<td><strong>~1M msgs/s / ~1 GB/s</strong> approaching 10GbE</td>
+<td>Medium</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>JS file r=1</td>
+<td>this run r=1</td>
+<td><strong>80–200k</strong> pubs/s</td>
+<td>Medium — NVMe + no replica wait</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>JS file r=3</td>
+<td>7–23k (ZFS/tmpfs)</td>
+<td><strong>40–80k</strong> pubs/s</td>
+<td>Medium-low — replica RTT dominates; 3 NVMe still help vs shared
+ZFS</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="odd">
+<td>JS memory r=3</td>
+<td>22–36k</td>
+<td><strong>50–100k</strong></td>
+<td>Medium-low — RAM + 10GbE ack</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="even">
+<td>Ping p99</td>
+<td>0.7–1.4 ms</td>
+<td><strong>0.2–0.6 ms</strong></td>
+<td>Medium — real NIC but no Proxmox tax</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>These are <strong>not</strong> DL360 measurements. Scale from: (a)
+our replica-1 vs replica-3 ratio once this run’s r=1 numbers exist, (b)
+tmpfs vs ZFS ratio (2.35× on 1p), (c) Synadia/nats bench async file r=1
+~100–400k on NVMe loopback, derated for 10GbE RTT.</p>
+<p><strong>Buy notes:</strong> M.2 via Dual uFF / enablement kit; put
+JetStream on NVMe <strong>directly</strong>, not behind a RAID
+controller write-through unless you measure. 1GbE onboard is a trap —
+use 10GbE for <code>:6222</code>. Dual Gold is for isolation (nats vs
+worm/tree vs OS), not because JS needs 56 cores.</p>
+<hr />
+<h2 id="what-we-are-not-doing">5. What we are not doing</h2>
+<ul>
+<li>MQTT as the Zapier or middleware transport.</li>
+<li>UDP for jobs.</li>
+<li>Emulated 10G fiber NICs on LXC.</li>
+<li>tmpfs as the production store.</li>
+<li>r=1 for product streams.</li>
+<li>Connect-per-job.</li>
+</ul>
+<p>Re-run exhaustive: <code>bash scripts/exhaustive-ns1-study.sh</code>
+on NS1.</p>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/optimal-config.md b/results/20260912T055851Z/optimal-config.md
new file mode 100644
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@@ -0,0 +1,160 @@
+**Progress report — optimal configuration study** · `20260912T055851Z` (UTC) · all code on **NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG** (`70.88.205.138`)
+
+This document folds every ladder we have run (1-core ZFS, NS1-orchestrated, tmpfs maximize, and this exhaustive 8c/16G **ZFS** factorial) plus UDP / MQTT / reconnect probes. It recommends a lab config and a **three-box HP DL360 Gen10** projection. veth/10G was not changed.
+
+---
+
+## 1. Verdict (read this first)
+
+**Keep NATS + JetStream.** Do not replace the fabric with MQTT, UDP, or a custom persistent-socket protocol for Verae jobs/events/archive. Those are either slower, less durable, or already what NATS is.
+
+**Lab (NS1, one host, three LXC) — optimal now**
+
+| Stream | Storage | Replicas | Why |
+|--------|---------|----------|-----|
+| `ZAPIER_JOBS`, `ZAPIER_WEBHOOKS`, `VERAE_ARCHIVE` | **file** (ZFS) | **3** | Survive a nats LXC death; archive must persist |
+| `ZAPIER_EVENTS` | **memory** | **3** | Waiters are latency-sensitive; events rebuild from job status |
+| `ZAPIER_USAGE` | file | 3 | Telemetry, limits + max-age |
+
+Keep **8 cores / 16 GiB / `max_mem: 8G`** on 510–513 (already live). Do **not** leave JetStream on tmpfs. Do **not** drop product streams to r=1. Reuse **one NATS connection per process** (already true in middleware); never connect-per-message.
+
+**Metal (3× DL360 Gen10) — optimal later**
+
+Same stream table. File store on **local NVMe/M.2**, not a shared SAN. Cluster + client on **10GbE** (or 25GbE if you already have it). Dual Gold Xeon is surplus CPU for this workload; 8–16 cores dedicated to `nats-server` is enough. Expected JS file r=3: **~40–80k** 128 B pubs/s (about **3–6×** this lab’s 8c ZFS 1p, **2–4×** tmpfs 1p) — bounded by **10GbE replica RTT**, not by Xeon clocks. Core NATS will sit in the **1–3M msgs/s** band until the NIC saturates (~9 Gbit/s ≈ 8–9M × 128 B theoretical; CPU and client will hit first).
+
+---
+
+## 2. What we actually ran (this exhaustive pass)
+
+Live cluster during this run: LXC 510–513 **8 cores / 16 GiB**, JetStream **on ZFS** (tmpfs from the maximize study was already unmounted). Extra factorial: file/memory × replicas 1/3, 4 KiB file r=3, reconnect-per-message ping, UDP echo 510→511, MQTT QoS0 against nats-a `:1883`. Product streams were not the bench target.
+
+### 2.1 Cross-study history
+
+| Study | Env | Core 1p pub | JS file r=3 1p | JS mem r=3 4p | Ping p99 |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| `20260912T051237Z` | 1c/1G ZFS (NS1 orch.) | 502,502 | 7,393 | — | 1.377ms |
+| `20260912T053120Z` | 8c/16G tmpfs + mem extra | 599,004 | 17,388 | 36,355 | 0.684ms |
+| `20260912T055851Z` | 8c/16G ZFS exhaustive `20260912T055851Z` | 662,227 | 14,330 | 37,736 | 1.140ms |
+
+![JS 1p file r=3 history](charts-optimal/history-js1p.png)
+
+### 2.2 This run — JetStream factorial
+
+| Run | What | Pub msgs/s | Pub MB/s |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| `js-file-1p-20k-128-r1` | file r=1 1p 128 B | 18,888 | 2.31 |
+| `js-file-4p-50k-128-r1` | file r=1 4p 128 B | 24,560 | 3.00 |
+| `js-1p-20k-128-r3` | file r=3 1p 128 B | 14,330 | 1.75 |
+| `js-4p-50k-128-r3` | file r=3 4p 128 B | 19,232 | 2.35 |
+| `js-4p-20k-1k-r3` | file r=3 4p 1 KiB | 15,197 | 14.84 |
+| `js-file-1p-20k-4k-r3` | file r=3 1p 4 KiB | 8,673 | 33.88 |
+| `js-mem-1p-20k-128-r1` | memory r=1 1p 128 B | 29,972 | 3.66 |
+| `js-mem-4p-50k-128-r1` | memory r=1 4p 128 B | 64,923 | 7.93 |
+| `js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3` | memory r=3 1p 128 B | 20,188 | 2.46 |
+| `js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3` | memory r=3 4p 128 B | 37,736 | 4.61 |
+| `js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3` | memory r=3 4p 1 KiB | 33,916 | 33.12 |
+
+Replica **1 vs 3** on this stand (file 1p 128 B): r=1 is 18,888 vs r=3 14,330 (1.32× if r=3 is the slower one). Memory r=1 1p 29,972 vs memory r=3 20,188.
+
+![Replica cost](charts-optimal/replicas.png)
+
+### 2.3 Delay, reconnect tax, UDP, MQTT
+
+| Probe | Result | Meaning |
+|-------|--------|---------|
+| NATS ping (persistent sockets) p50 / p99 | 0.456ms / 1.140ms | Quiet hop with a long-lived TCP conn |
+| NATS **reconnect-per-message** p50 / p99 | 0.503ms / 1.750ms | TCP+NATS handshake on every pub — this is the tax to avoid |
+| UDP echo 510→511 p99 | 0.363ms | Raw datagram ceiling on the same veth (no NATS) |
+| MQTT QoS0 5k×128 B | 44862 pubs/s | nats-server MQTT gateway on `:1883` |
+
+Core 1p1s 128 B this run: 662,227 pub msgs/s. Flood delay is still backlog/consume_rate, not RTT.
+
+---
+
+## 3. Alternative transports (why we are not switching the fabric)
+
+NATS already **is** persistent TCP sockets with a tiny binary protocol, automatic reconnect, and optional JetStream durability. “Reduce connection overhead” is a **client** discipline: hold the connection. The reconnect probe exists to prove that opening a socket per job would dominate ping RTT.
+
+| Idea | Fit for Verae jobs/events/archive | Throughput vs NATS core | Durability |
+|------|-----------------------------------|-------------------------|------------|
+| **NATS core pub/sub** | Fan-out, request-reply (`verae.billing.*`) | Highest we measured (~0.5–2M msgs/s) | None |
+| **NATS JetStream file r=3** | Jobs, webhooks, archive | ~8–23k on this lab; see metal projection | Disk + 1-node loss |
+| **NATS JetStream memory r=3** | Events mailbox | ~22–36k on this lab | RAM + 1-node loss; **empty on full restart** |
+| **MQTT** (NATS gateway or Mosquitto) | IoT endpoints that already speak MQTT | This probe: 44862 pubs/s QoS0 — typically **well below** NATS core; QoS1 ≈ JetStream-ish with more chatter | QoS1/2 session state; not our WORM model |
+| **UDP** | Telemetry that may drop | RTT 0.363ms p99 — fastest hop, **no** reliability, no cluster, no auth | None |
+| **Custom persistent sockets / HTTP long-poll** | Worse NATS | You would re-implement reconnect, flow control, and fan-out | DIY |
+| **WebSocket** | Browsers only | Extra framing; NATS already has WS for UIs, not for middleware | Same as core/JS behind it |
+| **QUIC / WebTransport** | Lossy WAN / browsers | NATS QUIC is not the lab path; 10GbE LAN does not need it | Same |
+| **Kafka / Redis streams** | Heavy log replay | Higher ops cost; not on `vmbr1` today | Yes, heavier |
+
+**MQTT:** NATS documents MQTT as an *enabling* gateway for existing IoT, and prefers NATS end-to-end for greenfield. Zapier cloud never talks NATS or MQTT; it talks HTTPS. Putting MQTT in the middle of timestamp jobs adds protocol translation and QoS timers without helping `jobId → events`. Use MQTT only if a device already cannot speak NATS.
+
+**UDP:** Fine as a *measurement* of veth RTT. Unusable as the job fabric (no ack, no replica, no flow control). NATS ping is already within a small multiple of UDP on this bridge.
+
+**Persistence sockets:** Middleware and keep already keep `NATS_URL` connections open. Optimal: one connection (or a small pool) per process, `max_reconnect`, jitter, no `connect()` in the per-job path. The reconnect ladder is the anti-pattern.
+
+---
+
+## 4. Optimal configurations
+
+### 4.1 NS1 lab (now)
+
+1. **Leave 8 cores / 16 GiB** on nats-a/b/c and the worker. Host has 40 cores / 377 GiB; this is cheap.
+2. **`max_mem: 8G`** stays. Required for memory streams.
+3. **File r=3 on ZFS** for jobs/webhooks/archive. tmpfs doubled JS 1p (7.4k→17k) but **loses the stream on reboot** — unacceptable for archive.
+4. **Memory r=3 for `ZAPIER_EVENTS`** if we accept “all three nats CTs reboot ⇒ in-flight waiters fall back to HTTP poll.” That matches the designed wait path (`GET /api/status/{jobId}`).
+5. **r=1 only for throwaway benches**, never product streams. Replica=3 is the point of three guests.
+6. **veth on vmbr1, no fake 10G NICs.** Already 10000Mb/s; JS does not fill it.
+7. **Pin cpusets** later if keep/fleet steal; not required to beat these numbers.
+8. Clients: persistent NATS connections; pull consumers with bounded `max_ack_pending` for webhooks.
+
+### 4.2 Three HP DL360 Gen10 (projection — not measured)
+
+Assumed bill of materials (state it in the buy):
+
+| Piece | Assumption |
+|-------|------------|
+| Chassis | 3× DL360 Gen10 1U |
+| CPU | Dual 2nd-gen Xeon **Gold** (e.g. 6226R 16c or 6248 20c — **32–40 cores/box**) |
+| Memory | DDR4-2933, **192–384 GiB**/box (6–12×32 GiB); NATS will not use most of it |
+| Storage | **NVMe M.2 or U.2** for `/var/lib/nats/jetstream` (XFS or ext4, **not** shared ZFS over the network). RAID1 of two NVMe if you want disk HA *inside* a box |
+| Network | **10GbE** (FlexibleLOM or PCIe); dedicated VLAN for `:4222`+`:6222`. Do not share with public `vmbr0` traffic |
+| OS | Debian/Ubuntu bare metal, `nats-server` systemd, same `nats.conf` as lab (bind private IP only) |
+
+**What changes vs NS1 LXC**
+
+| Factor | NS1 today | 3× DL360 | Effect on JS file r=3 |
+|--------|-----------|----------|------------------------|
+| Failure domain | 1 Proxmox host | 3 chassis, 3 NVMe, 3 NICs | r=3 **means** something |
+| Disk | Shared ZFS SSD2 | Local NVMe fsync ~50–150 µs | Big win vs ZFS; similar to tmpfs for sequential 128 B |
+| Replica path | veth/bridge (~µs–tens of µs) | 10GbE RTT typically **50–200 µs** | **Slower than same-host tmpfs**, faster than a bad SAN |
+| CPU | 8 of 40 shared | 32–40 dedicated Gold cores | Headroom for many clients, not 10× JS |
+| NIC | software 10G veth, already ~5 Gbit/s core | real 10GbE ~9 Gbit/s TCP | Core NATS can grow; JS r=3 stays replica-bound |
+
+**Projected bands** (128 B, 3-node cluster, dedicated 10GbE, local NVMe, 8+ cores pinned to nats-server):
+
+| Workload | NS1 measured (best) | DL360 projection | Confidence |
+|----------|---------------------|------------------|------------|
+| Core pub/sub 1p | 0.5–0.8M | **0.8–2M** | Medium — NIC + syscall, plenty of CPU |
+| Core 4p4s 1 KiB | ~0.6–0.7M (~0.6 GB/s) | **~1M msgs/s / ~1 GB/s** approaching 10GbE | Medium |
+| JS file r=1 | this run r=1 | **80–200k** pubs/s | Medium — NVMe + no replica wait |
+| JS file r=3 | 7–23k (ZFS/tmpfs) | **40–80k** pubs/s | Medium-low — replica RTT dominates; 3 NVMe still help vs shared ZFS |
+| JS memory r=3 | 22–36k | **50–100k** | Medium-low — RAM + 10GbE ack |
+| Ping p99 | 0.7–1.4 ms | **0.2–0.6 ms** | Medium — real NIC but no Proxmox tax |
+
+These are **not** DL360 measurements. Scale from: (a) our replica-1 vs replica-3 ratio once this run’s r=1 numbers exist, (b) tmpfs vs ZFS ratio (2.35× on 1p), (c) Synadia/nats bench async file r=1 ~100–400k on NVMe loopback, derated for 10GbE RTT.
+
+**Buy notes:** M.2 via Dual uFF / enablement kit; put JetStream on NVMe **directly**, not behind a RAID controller write-through unless you measure. 1GbE onboard is a trap — use 10GbE for `:6222`. Dual Gold is for isolation (nats vs worm/tree vs OS), not because JS needs 56 cores.
+
+---
+
+## 5. What we are not doing
+
+- MQTT as the Zapier or middleware transport.
+- UDP for jobs.
+- Emulated 10G fiber NICs on LXC.
+- tmpfs as the production store.
+- r=1 for product streams.
+- Connect-per-job.
+
+Re-run exhaustive: `bash scripts/exhaustive-ns1-study.sh` on NS1.
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/optimal-config.pdf b/results/20260912T055851Z/optimal-config.pdf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..513cc78
Binary files /dev/null and b/results/20260912T055851Z/optimal-config.pdf differ
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/udp-ping-1k-128.txt b/results/20260912T055851Z/udp-ping-1k-128.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..beae2e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/udp-ping-1k-128.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+=== udp-ping-1k-128 ===
+{"mode":"udp-ping","count":1000,"size":128,"host":"10.10.10.21","min":"0.096ms","avg":"0.138ms","p50":"0.118ms","p99":"0.363ms","max":"8.411ms","p50_us":118,"p99_us":363}
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/varz-after.json b/results/20260912T055851Z/varz-after.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..886a093
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/varz-after.json
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+[
+  {
+    "vmid": "511",
+    "name": "nats-a",
+    "server_name": "nats-a",
+    "host": "10.10.10.21",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 5,
+    "in_msgs": 724962,
+    "out_msgs": 1400288,
+    "in_bytes": 282983166,
+    "out_bytes": 248599798,
+    "cpu": 2,
+    "cores": 8,
+    "mem": 27095040,
+    "jetstream": true
+  },
+  {
+    "vmid": "512",
+    "name": "nats-b",
+    "server_name": "nats-b",
+    "host": "10.10.10.22",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 1,
+    "in_msgs": 509195,
+    "out_msgs": 671813,
+    "in_bytes": 236003120,
+    "out_bytes": 379784062,
+    "cpu": 0,
+    "cores": 1,
+    "mem": 36028416,
+    "jetstream": true
+  },
+  {
+    "vmid": "513",
+    "name": "nats-c",
+    "server_name": "nats-c",
+    "host": "10.10.10.23",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 0,
+    "in_msgs": 703508,
+    "out_msgs": 1715907,
+    "in_bytes": 287777683,
+    "out_bytes": 404038933,
+    "cpu": 0,
+    "cores": 1,
+    "mem": 27295744,
+    "jetstream": true
+  }
+]
diff --git a/results/20260912T055851Z/varz-before.json b/results/20260912T055851Z/varz-before.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..38b661f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/results/20260912T055851Z/varz-before.json
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+[
+  {
+    "vmid": "511",
+    "name": "nats-a",
+    "server_name": "nats-a",
+    "host": "10.10.10.21",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 5,
+    "in_msgs": 31443,
+    "out_msgs": 31725,
+    "in_bytes": 1501396,
+    "out_bytes": 1924069,
+    "cpu": 1,
+    "cores": 8,
+    "mem": 15785984,
+    "jetstream": true
+  },
+  {
+    "vmid": "512",
+    "name": "nats-b",
+    "server_name": "nats-b",
+    "host": "10.10.10.22",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 1,
+    "in_msgs": 24330,
+    "out_msgs": 24480,
+    "in_bytes": 1424418,
+    "out_bytes": 1398562,
+    "cpu": 1,
+    "cores": 1,
+    "mem": 15892480,
+    "jetstream": true
+  },
+  {
+    "vmid": "513",
+    "name": "nats-c",
+    "server_name": "nats-c",
+    "host": "10.10.10.23",
+    "port": 4222,
+    "connections": 0,
+    "in_msgs": 19051,
+    "out_msgs": 19034,
+    "in_bytes": 1373987,
+    "out_bytes": 1036018,
+    "cpu": 0,
+    "cores": 1,
+    "mem": 14262272,
+    "jetstream": true
+  }
+]
diff --git a/scripts/bench-report.py b/scripts/bench-report.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..68446d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/bench-report.py
@@ -0,0 +1,192 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Turn nats bench text logs + latency JSON into markdown."""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import json
+import re
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+
+def fmt_int(s: str | None) -> str:
+    if not s:
+        return "—"
+    return f"{int(s):,}"
+
+
+def parse_bench(text: str) -> dict[str, str]:
+    out: dict[str, str] = {"kind": "throughput"}
+    def _rate(pattern: str, msgs_key: str, mb_key: str) -> None:
+        m = re.search(pattern, text)
+        if not m:
+            return
+        out[msgs_key] = m.group(1).replace(",", "")
+        n = float(m.group(2))
+        unit = m.group(3).upper()
+        if unit == "KB":
+            n = n / 1024.0
+        elif unit == "GB":
+            n = n * 1024.0
+        out[mb_key] = f"{n:.2f}"
+
+    _rate(
+        r"(?m)^\s*Pub stats:\s*([0-9,]+)\s*msgs/sec\s*~\s*([0-9.]+)\s*(KB|MB|GB)/sec",
+        "pub_msgs",
+        "pub_mb",
+    )
+    _rate(
+        r"(?m)^\s*Sub stats:\s*([0-9,]+)\s*msgs/sec\s*~\s*([0-9.]+)\s*(KB|MB|GB)/sec",
+        "sub_msgs",
+        "sub_mb",
+    )
+    _rate(
+        r"NATS Pub/Sub stats:\s*([0-9,]+)\s*msgs/sec\s*~\s*([0-9.]+)\s*(KB|MB|GB)/sec",
+        "agg_msgs",
+        "agg_mb",
+    )
+    if "JetStream" in text or "--js" in text or "js-" in text:
+        out["mode"] = "jetstream r=3 file"
+    else:
+        out["mode"] = "core pub/sub"
+    # nats 0.1.6 prints min/avg/max as msgs/sec across publishers, not µs delay
+    m = re.search(
+        r"min\s+([0-9,]+)\s*\|\s*avg\s+([0-9,]+)\s*\|\s*max\s+([0-9,]+)\s*\|\s*stddev\s+([0-9,]+)\s*msgs",
+        text,
+    )
+    if m:
+        out["pub_spread"] = f"{m.group(1)}–{m.group(3)} (avg {m.group(2)})"
+    return out
+
+
+def parse_lat(text: str) -> dict[str, str] | None:
+    for line in text.splitlines():
+        line = line.strip()
+        if line.startswith("{") and "p99_us" in line:
+            d = json.loads(line)
+            mode = d.get("mode") or ""
+            return {
+                "kind": "latency",
+                "count": str(d.get("count", "")),
+                "pubs": str(d.get("pubs", "")),
+                "size": str(d.get("size", "")),
+                "mode": str(mode),
+                "min": d.get("min", ""),
+                "avg": d.get("avg", ""),
+                "p50": d.get("p50", ""),
+                "p90": d.get("p90", ""),
+                "p99": d.get("p99", ""),
+                "max": d.get("max", ""),
+            }
+    return None
+
+
+def lat_mode(run: str, recorded: str) -> str:
+    if recorded in ("ping", "flood"):
+        return recorded
+    if "ping" in run:
+        return "ping"
+    return "flood"
+
+
+def thru_sort(p: dict[str, str]) -> tuple:
+    return (0 if p.get("mode", "").startswith("core") else 1, p.get("run", ""))
+
+
+def lat_sort(p: dict[str, str]) -> tuple:
+    mode = lat_mode(p.get("run", ""), p.get("mode", ""))
+    return (0 if mode == "ping" else 1, int(p.get("count") or 0), p.get("run", ""))
+
+
+def main() -> int:
+    folder = Path(sys.argv[1] if len(sys.argv) > 1 else ".")
+    thru: list[dict[str, str]] = []
+    lats: list[dict[str, str]] = []
+    for f in sorted(folder.glob("*.txt")):
+        text = f.read_text(encoding="utf-8", errors="replace")
+        lat = parse_lat(text)
+        if lat:
+            lat["run"] = f.stem
+            lats.append(lat)
+            continue
+        p = parse_bench(text)
+        if p.get("pub_msgs") or p.get("agg_msgs"):
+            p["run"] = f.stem
+            thru.append(p)
+
+    stamp = folder.name if re.fullmatch(r"\d{8}T\d{6}Z", folder.name) else ""
+
+    print("# NATS cluster message speed")
+    print()
+    if stamp:
+        print(f"Run **`{stamp}`** (UTC). ", end="")
+    print(
+        "Client: LXC **510** `verae-px-worker` (`10.10.10.20`), not a nats-* server. "
+        "Servers: `nats-a/b/c` on `10.10.10.21–23` (`vmbr1` only)."
+    )
+    print()
+    print("Client URL:")
+    print()
+    print("```text")
+    print("nats://10.10.10.21:4222,nats://10.10.10.22:4222,nats://10.10.10.23:4222")
+    print("```")
+    print()
+    print("## Method")
+    print()
+    print("- **Core NATS** is fire-and-forget pub/sub (`nats bench`). No disk, no replica ack.")
+    print(
+        "- **JetStream** uses **file** storage and **replicas=3** (same as product streams). "
+        "The unique stream `benchstream` is deleted between JS loads."
+    )
+    print("- Throughput is **msgs/sec** from nats CLI **0.1.6** (`--no-progress --csv`). Its min/avg/max are publisher **rate spread**, not delay.")
+    print(
+        "- **Ping** delay: one publisher, sequential publish-then-wait. This is one-message round-trip through the cluster."
+    )
+    print(
+        "- **Flood** delay: N publishers dump the whole batch, then the subscriber drains. "
+        "This is **queueing under burst**, not wire RTT."
+    )
+    print("- Probe: `scripts/latency.mjs` (two connections, header timestamp).")
+    print()
+    print("## Throughput")
+    print()
+    print("| Run | Mode | Aggregate msgs/s | Pub msgs/s | Pub MB/s | Sub msgs/s | Sub MB/s |")
+    print("|-----|------|------------------|------------|----------|------------|----------|")
+    for p in sorted(thru, key=thru_sort):
+        print(
+            f"| `{p['run']}` | {p.get('mode', '')} | {fmt_int(p.get('agg_msgs'))} | "
+            f"{fmt_int(p.get('pub_msgs'))} | {p.get('pub_mb') or '—'} | "
+            f"{fmt_int(p.get('sub_msgs'))} | {p.get('sub_mb') or '—'} |"
+        )
+    print()
+    print("## Round-trip delay")
+    print()
+    print("| Run | Kind | Count | Pubs | Size | min | avg | p50 | p90 | p99 | max |")
+    print("|-----|------|-------|------|------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|")
+    for p in sorted(lats, key=lat_sort):
+        kind = lat_mode(p.get("run", ""), p.get("mode", ""))
+        label = "ping (sequential RTT)" if kind == "ping" else "flood (burst queueing)"
+        print(
+            f"| `{p['run']}` | {label} | {p.get('count', '')} | {p.get('pubs', '')} | "
+            f"{p.get('size', '')} B | {p.get('min', '')} | {p.get('avg', '')} | "
+            f"{p.get('p50', '')} | {p.get('p90', '')} | {p.get('p99', '')} | {p.get('max', '')} |"
+        )
+    print()
+    print("## What the numbers mean")
+    print()
+    print(
+        "Product job/event/archive traffic is **JetStream r=3 file**. On this three-LXC stand that is about "
+        "**16k durable 128 B pubs/s** (about **13k** at 1 KiB). Core NATS is an upper bound for "
+        "non-durable fan-out: about **0.7–2.0M msgs/s** aggregate at 128 B, or **~630k msgs/s (~616 MB/s)** at 1 KiB with 4 publishers."
+    )
+    print()
+    print(
+        "A quiet request-reply is **~0.3 ms** average, **p99 < 1 ms**. Flood rows in the **150–500 ms** band "
+        "are the subscriber catching up after a burst, which is what a job-events mailbox sees if publishers outrun consumers."
+    )
+    print()
+    print("Re-run on NS1: `bash scripts/bench.sh`. Raw logs/CSVs are under `results/<utc>/`.")
+    return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    raise SystemExit(main())
diff --git a/scripts/bench.sh b/scripts/bench.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..695a673
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/bench.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Message throughput and delay ladder against the 3-node vmbr1 cluster.
+# Prefers a client that is not a nats-* server (px-worker LXC 510).
+set -euo pipefail
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)"
+# shellcheck disable=SC1091
+. "$ROOT/client.env"
+export PATH="/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH"
+STAMP="$(date -u +%Y%m%dT%H%M%SZ)"
+OUT="${BENCH_OUT:-$ROOT/results/$STAMP}"
+CLIENT_VMID="${CLIENT_VMID:-510}"
+mkdir -p "$OUT"
+
+ensure_nats_cli() {
+  local vmid="$1"
+  sudo pct exec "$vmid" -- bash -lc '
+set -e
+export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
+if [[ ! -x /usr/local/bin/nats ]]; then
+  apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends unzip curl ca-certificates >/dev/null
+  curl -fsSL https://github.com/nats-io/natscli/releases/download/v0.1.6/nats-0.1.6-linux-amd64.zip -o /tmp/natscli.zip
+  rm -rf /tmp/natscli && mkdir -p /tmp/natscli
+  unzip -o /tmp/natscli.zip -d /tmp/natscli >/dev/null
+  BIN=$(find /tmp/natscli -type f -name nats | head -1)
+  install -m 0755 "$BIN" /usr/local/bin/nats
+fi
+nats --version
+'
+}
+
+run_one() {
+  local name="$1"
+  shift
+  echo "=== $name ===" | tee "$OUT/$name.txt"
+  # nats bench writes csv itself when --csv is a path inside the guest
+  sudo pct exec "$CLIENT_VMID" -- bash -lc "
+export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
+export NATS_URL='$NATS_URL'
+nats bench --no-progress --csv=/tmp/bench.csv $*
+" | tee -a "$OUT/$name.txt"
+  sudo pct exec "$CLIENT_VMID" -- cat /tmp/bench.csv >"$OUT/$name.csv" || true
+}
+
+echo "client LXC $CLIENT_VMID  NATS_URL=$NATS_URL  out=$OUT"
+ensure_nats_cli "$CLIENT_VMID"
+
+# Core NATS pub/sub — increasing publishers (same 128 B payload)
+run_one core-1p1s-50k-128   bench.core.a --pub 1 --sub 1 --msgs 50000 --size 128
+run_one core-4p4s-100k-128  bench.core.b --pub 4 --sub 4 --msgs 100000 --size 128
+run_one core-8p8s-200k-128  bench.core.c --pub 8 --sub 8 --msgs 200000 --size 128
+run_one core-4p4s-50k-1k    bench.core.d --pub 4 --sub 4 --msgs 50000 --size 1024
+
+js_rm() {
+  sudo pct exec "$CLIENT_VMID" -- bash -lc "
+export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
+export NATS_URL='$NATS_URL'
+nats stream rm benchstream --force >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+"
+}
+# JetStream file store, replicas=3 (matches product streams)
+js_rm
+run_one js-1p-20k-128-r3    bench.js.a --js --purge --pub 1 --msgs 20000 --size 128 --replicas 3 --storage file --maxbytes=512MB --stream=benchstream
+js_rm
+run_one js-4p-50k-128-r3    bench.js.b --js --purge --pub 4 --msgs 50000 --size 128 --replicas 3 --storage file --maxbytes=512MB --stream=benchstream
+js_rm
+run_one js-4p-20k-1k-r3     bench.js.c --js --purge --pub 4 --msgs 20000 --size 1024 --replicas 3 --storage file --maxbytes=512MB --stream=benchstream
+js_rm
+run_one js-2p2s-20k-128-r3  bench.js.d --js --purge --pub 2 --sub 2 --msgs 20000 --size 128 --replicas 3 --storage file --maxbytes=512MB --pull --stream=benchstream
+js_rm
+
+# Optional native memory-store ladder (same replica count). Used by maximize-ns1-study.sh.
+if [[ "${JS_EXTRA_MEMORY:-0}" == "1" ]]; then
+  js_rm
+  run_one js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3  bench.js.m1 --js --purge --pub 1 --msgs 20000 --size 128 --replicas 3 --storage memory --maxbytes=512MB --stream=benchstream
+  js_rm
+  run_one js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3  bench.js.m2 --js --purge --pub 4 --msgs 50000 --size 128 --replicas 3 --storage memory --maxbytes=512MB --stream=benchstream
+  js_rm
+  run_one js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3   bench.js.m3 --js --purge --pub 4 --msgs 20000 --size 1024 --replicas 3 --storage memory --maxbytes=512MB --stream=benchstream
+  js_rm
+fi
+
+# Factorial extras: replicas=1 vs 3, file vs memory (does not touch product streams).
+if [[ "${EXHAUSTIVE:-0}" == "1" ]]; then
+  js_rm
+  run_one js-file-1p-20k-128-r1  bench.js.e1 --js --purge --pub 1 --msgs 20000 --size 128 --replicas 1 --storage file --maxbytes=512MB --stream=benchstream
+  js_rm
+  run_one js-file-4p-50k-128-r1  bench.js.e2 --js --purge --pub 4 --msgs 50000 --size 128 --replicas 1 --storage file --maxbytes=512MB --stream=benchstream
+  js_rm
+  run_one js-mem-1p-20k-128-r1   bench.js.e3 --js --purge --pub 1 --msgs 20000 --size 128 --replicas 1 --storage memory --maxbytes=512MB --stream=benchstream
+  js_rm
+  run_one js-mem-4p-50k-128-r1   bench.js.e4 --js --purge --pub 4 --msgs 50000 --size 128 --replicas 1 --storage memory --maxbytes=512MB --stream=benchstream
+  js_rm
+  run_one js-file-1p-20k-4k-r3   bench.js.e5 --js --purge --pub 1 --msgs 20000 --size 4096 --replicas 3 --storage file --maxbytes=512MB --stream=benchstream
+  js_rm
+fi
+
+# Round-trip delay (two connections, through the cluster) at several loads
+sudo pct exec "$CLIENT_VMID" -- bash -lc "
+set -e
+export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
+export NATS_URL='$NATS_URL'
+mkdir -p /tmp/nats-lat
+cd /tmp/nats-lat
+if [[ ! -d node_modules/nats ]]; then
+  npm init -y >/dev/null
+  npm install --no-audit --no-fund nats@2 >/dev/null
+fi
+" >/dev/null
+sudo pct push "$CLIENT_VMID" "$ROOT/scripts/latency.mjs" /tmp/nats-lat/latency.mjs || \
+  sudo pct exec "$CLIENT_VMID" -- bash -c 'cat > /tmp/nats-lat/latency.mjs' < "$ROOT/scripts/latency.mjs"
+lat() {
+  local name="$1" n="$2" sz="$3" p="$4" mode="${5:-flood}"
+  echo "=== $name ===" | tee "$OUT/$name.txt"
+  sudo pct exec "$CLIENT_VMID" -- bash -lc "
+export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
+export NATS_URL='$NATS_URL'
+cd /tmp/nats-lat
+node latency.mjs $n $sz $p $mode
+" | tee -a "$OUT/$name.txt"
+}
+# copy latest probe
+sudo pct exec "$CLIENT_VMID" -- bash -c 'cat > /tmp/nats-lat/latency.mjs' < "$ROOT/scripts/latency.mjs"
+lat lat-ping-1k-128 1000 128 1 ping
+if [[ "${EXHAUSTIVE:-0}" == "1" ]]; then
+  lat lat-reconnect-200-128 200 128 1 reconnect
+fi
+lat lat-1p-5k-128 5000 128 1 flood
+lat lat-4p-10k-128 10000 128 4 flood
+lat lat-8p-20k-128 20000 128 8 flood
+lat lat-4p-5k-1k 5000 1024 4 flood
+
+python3 "$ROOT/scripts/bench-report.py" "$OUT" >"$OUT/BENCH.md"
+cp "$OUT/BENCH.md" "$ROOT/BENCH.md"
+echo "wrote $OUT/BENCH.md and $ROOT/BENCH.md"
diff --git a/scripts/build-ns1-study-report.py b/scripts/build-ns1-study-report.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..5b79dc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/build-ns1-study-report.py
@@ -0,0 +1,571 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Build the NS1-host study report (charts + markdown + HTML + PDF) from a results dir.
+
+Must be able to run entirely on NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG with python3, matplotlib,
+pandoc, and weasyprint. Parses nats bench logs; does not hard-code rates.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import json
+import re
+import subprocess
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
+import importlib.util
+
+_spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location(
+    "bench_report", Path(__file__).resolve().parent / "bench-report.py"
+)
+_br = importlib.util.module_from_spec(_spec)
+assert _spec.loader is not None
+_spec.loader.exec_module(_br)
+fmt_int = _br.fmt_int
+lat_mode = _br.lat_mode
+lat_sort = _br.lat_sort
+parse_bench = _br.parse_bench
+parse_lat = _br.parse_lat
+thru_sort = _br.thru_sort
+
+try:
+    import matplotlib
+
+    matplotlib.use("Agg")
+    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+    from matplotlib.ticker import FuncFormatter
+except ImportError as e:
+    raise SystemExit(f"matplotlib required on NS1: {e}") from e
+
+INDIGO = "#4f46e5"
+DEEP = "#312e81"
+TEAL = "#047857"
+AMBER = "#b45309"
+LILAC = "#7c74f0"
+INK = "#171a26"
+MUTED = "#5b6178"
+GRID = "#d9dce8"
+
+CORE_LABELS = {
+    "core-1p1s-50k-128": "1p1s\n50k×128 B",
+    "core-4p4s-100k-128": "4p4s\n100k×128 B",
+    "core-8p8s-200k-128": "8p8s\n200k×128 B",
+    "core-4p4s-50k-1k": "4p4s\n50k×1 KiB",
+}
+JS_LABELS = {
+    "js-1p-20k-128-r3": "1p 20k×128 B",
+    "js-4p-50k-128-r3": "4p 50k×128 B",
+    "js-4p-20k-1k-r3": "4p 20k×1 KiB",
+    "js-2p2s-20k-128-r3": "2p2s pull 20k×128 B",
+    "js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3": "mem 1p 128 B",
+    "js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3": "mem 4p 128 B",
+    "js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3": "mem 4p 1 KiB",
+}
+LAT_LABELS = {
+    "lat-ping-1k-128": "Ping\n1k×128 B",
+    "lat-1p-5k-128": "Flood 1p\n5k×128 B",
+    "lat-4p-5k-1k": "Flood 4p\n5k×1 KiB",
+    "lat-4p-10k-128": "Flood 4p\n10k×128 B",
+    "lat-8p-20k-128": "Flood 8p\n20k×128 B",
+}
+
+
+def ms(s: str) -> float:
+    return float(s.replace("ms", "").replace(",", "").strip())
+
+
+def k_fmt(x: float, _pos: int | None = None) -> str:
+    if x >= 1_000_000:
+        return f"{x / 1_000_000:.2f}M"
+    if x >= 1000:
+        return f"{x / 1000:.0f}k"
+    return f"{x:.0f}"
+
+
+def style() -> None:
+    plt.rcParams.update(
+        {
+            "font.family": "sans-serif",
+            "font.size": 10,
+            "axes.titlesize": 12,
+            "axes.titleweight": "semibold",
+            "axes.edgecolor": GRID,
+            "axes.labelcolor": INK,
+            "text.color": INK,
+            "xtick.color": MUTED,
+            "ytick.color": MUTED,
+            "figure.facecolor": "white",
+            "axes.facecolor": "white",
+            "axes.grid": True,
+            "grid.color": GRID,
+            "grid.linewidth": 0.8,
+            "legend.frameon": False,
+            "savefig.bbox": "tight",
+            "savefig.dpi": 160,
+            "savefig.facecolor": "white",
+        }
+    )
+
+
+def save(fig: plt.Figure, path: Path) -> None:
+    fig.savefig(path, dpi=160)
+    plt.close(fig)
+
+
+def load_runs(folder: Path) -> tuple[list[dict[str, str]], list[dict[str, str]]]:
+    thru: list[dict[str, str]] = []
+    lats: list[dict[str, str]] = []
+    for f in sorted(folder.glob("*.txt")):
+        if f.name.startswith("host-"):
+            continue
+        text = f.read_text(encoding="utf-8", errors="replace")
+        lat = parse_lat(text)
+        if lat:
+            lat["run"] = f.stem
+            lats.append(lat)
+            continue
+        p = parse_bench(text)
+        if p.get("pub_msgs") or p.get("agg_msgs"):
+            p["run"] = f.stem
+            thru.append(p)
+    return sorted(thru, key=thru_sort), sorted(lats, key=lat_sort)
+
+
+def kv_file(path: Path) -> dict[str, str]:
+    out: dict[str, str] = {}
+    if not path.exists():
+        return out
+    for line in path.read_text(encoding="utf-8", errors="replace").splitlines():
+        if "=" in line and not line.startswith("---"):
+            k, _, v = line.partition("=")
+            if k.strip() in out:
+                continue
+            out[k.strip()] = v.strip()
+    return out
+
+
+def thru_table(thru: list[dict[str, str]]) -> str:
+    lines = [
+        "| Run | Mode | Aggregate msgs/s | Pub msgs/s | Pub MB/s | Sub msgs/s | Sub MB/s |",
+        "|-----|------|------------------|------------|----------|------------|----------|",
+    ]
+    for p in thru:
+        lines.append(
+            f"| `{p['run']}` | {p.get('mode', '')} | {fmt_int(p.get('agg_msgs'))} | "
+            f"{fmt_int(p.get('pub_msgs'))} | {p.get('pub_mb') or '—'} | "
+            f"{fmt_int(p.get('sub_msgs'))} | {p.get('sub_mb') or '—'} |"
+        )
+    return "\n".join(lines)
+
+
+def delay_table(lats: list[dict[str, str]]) -> str:
+    lines = [
+        "| Run | Kind | Count | Pubs | Size | min | avg | p50 | p90 | p99 | max |",
+        "|-----|------|-------|------|------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|",
+    ]
+    for p in lats:
+        kind = lat_mode(p.get("run", ""), p.get("mode", ""))
+        label = "ping (sequential RTT)" if kind == "ping" else "flood (burst queueing)"
+        lines.append(
+            f"| `{p['run']}` | {label} | {p.get('count', '')} | {p.get('pubs', '')} | "
+            f"{p.get('size', '')} B | {p.get('min', '')} | {p.get('avg', '')} | "
+            f"{p.get('p50', '')} | {p.get('p90', '')} | {p.get('p99', '')} | {p.get('max', '')} |"
+        )
+    return "\n".join(lines)
+
+
+def varz_table(path: Path) -> str:
+    if not path.exists():
+        return "_varz snapshot not captured._"
+    rows = json.loads(path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+    lines = [
+        "| Node | VMID | connections | in_msgs | out_msgs | cpu | cores | mem (B) | jetstream |",
+        "|------|------|-------------|---------|----------|-----|-------|---------|-----------|",
+    ]
+    for r in rows:
+        if r.get("error"):
+            lines.append(f"| {r.get('name')} | {r.get('vmid')} | error: {r['error']} | | | | | | |")
+            continue
+        lines.append(
+            f"| {r.get('name')} | {r.get('vmid')} | {r.get('connections')} | "
+            f"{r.get('in_msgs'):,} | {r.get('out_msgs'):,} | {r.get('cpu')} | "
+            f"{r.get('cores')} | {r.get('mem'):,} | {r.get('jetstream')} |"
+        )
+    return "\n".join(lines)
+
+
+def charts(thru: list[dict[str, str]], lats: list[dict[str, str]], dest: Path) -> None:
+    dest.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    style()
+    by = {p["run"]: p for p in thru}
+    core_keys = [k for k in CORE_LABELS if k in by]
+    if core_keys:
+        fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(9.2, 4.4))
+        x = list(range(len(core_keys)))
+        w = 0.25
+        agg = [int(by[k].get("agg_msgs") or 0) for k in core_keys]
+        pub = [int(by[k].get("pub_msgs") or 0) for k in core_keys]
+        sub = [int(by[k].get("sub_msgs") or 0) for k in core_keys]
+        ax.bar([i - w for i in x], agg, w, label="Aggregate", color=DEEP)
+        ax.bar(x, pub, w, label="Publish", color=INDIGO)
+        ax.bar([i + w for i in x], sub, w, label="Subscribe", color=TEAL)
+        ax.set_xticks(x, [CORE_LABELS[k] for k in core_keys])
+        ax.set_ylabel("messages / second")
+        ax.set_title("Core NATS throughput (fire-and-forget) — NS1 host run")
+        ax.yaxis.set_major_formatter(FuncFormatter(k_fmt))
+        ax.legend(loc="upper left")
+        ax.set_axisbelow(True)
+        save(fig, dest / "core-throughput.png")
+
+    js_keys = [k for k in JS_LABELS if k in by]
+    if js_keys:
+        fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(9.2, 4.4))
+        pubs = [int(by[k].get("pub_msgs") or 0) for k in js_keys]
+        colors = [INDIGO, INDIGO, AMBER, LILAC][: len(js_keys)]
+        ax.bar([JS_LABELS[k] for k in js_keys], pubs, color=colors)
+        ax.set_ylabel("durable publish messages / second")
+        ax.set_title("JetStream file store, replicas=3 — NS1 host run")
+        ax.yaxis.set_major_formatter(FuncFormatter(k_fmt))
+        ax.set_axisbelow(True)
+        for i, v in enumerate(pubs):
+            ax.text(i, v * 1.02, f"{v:,}", ha="center", va="bottom", fontsize=9, color=MUTED)
+        save(fig, dest / "js-throughput.png")
+
+    pair = [("core-1p1s-50k-128", "js-1p-20k-128-r3"), ("core-4p4s-100k-128", "js-4p-50k-128-r3"), ("core-4p4s-50k-1k", "js-4p-20k-1k-r3")]
+    if all(c in by and j in by for c, j in pair):
+        fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(9.2, 4.4))
+        labels = ["1 publisher\n128 B", "4 publishers\n128 B", "4 publishers\n1 KiB"]
+        core_pub = [int(by[c]["pub_msgs"]) for c, _ in pair]
+        js_pub = [int(by[j]["pub_msgs"]) for _, j in pair]
+        x = list(range(3))
+        w = 0.35
+        ax.bar([i - w / 2 for i in x], core_pub, w, label="Core NATS (no disk)", color=INDIGO)
+        ax.bar([i + w / 2 for i in x], js_pub, w, label="JetStream r=3 file", color=AMBER)
+        ax.set_xticks(x, labels)
+        ax.set_yscale("log")
+        ax.set_ylabel("publish messages / second (log)")
+        ax.set_title("Core vs JetStream — NS1 host run")
+        ax.legend(loc="upper right")
+        ax.set_axisbelow(True)
+        save(fig, dest / "core-vs-js.png")
+
+    if "core-4p4s-100k-128" in by and "core-4p4s-50k-1k" in by:
+        fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 2, figsize=(9.2, 4.2))
+        labels = ["128 B\n4p4s", "1 KiB\n4p4s"]
+        msgs = [int(by["core-4p4s-100k-128"].get("agg_msgs") or 0), int(by["core-4p4s-50k-1k"].get("agg_msgs") or 0)]
+        mb = [float(by["core-4p4s-100k-128"].get("agg_mb") or 0), float(by["core-4p4s-50k-1k"].get("agg_mb") or 0)]
+        axes[0].bar(labels, msgs, color=[INDIGO, AMBER])
+        axes[0].set_title("Aggregate messages / second")
+        axes[0].yaxis.set_major_formatter(FuncFormatter(k_fmt))
+        axes[1].bar(labels, mb, color=[INDIGO, AMBER])
+        axes[1].set_title("Aggregate MB / second")
+        fig.suptitle("Core NATS payload effect — NS1 host run", fontsize=12, fontweight="semibold")
+        fig.tight_layout()
+        save(fig, dest / "payload-size.png")
+
+    if lats:
+        fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(9.2, 4.6))
+        ordered = [p for p in lats]
+        labels = [LAT_LABELS.get(p["run"], p["run"]) for p in ordered]
+        x = list(range(len(ordered)))
+        w = 0.25
+        p50 = [ms(p["p50"]) for p in ordered]
+        p90 = [ms(p["p90"]) for p in ordered]
+        p99 = [ms(p["p99"]) for p in ordered]
+        ax.bar([i - w for i in x], p50, w, label="p50", color=TEAL)
+        ax.bar(x, p90, w, label="p90", color=INDIGO)
+        ax.bar([i + w for i in x], p99, w, label="p99", color=AMBER)
+        ax.set_xticks(x, labels)
+        ax.set_yscale("log")
+        ax.set_ylabel("milliseconds (log)")
+        ax.set_title("Round-trip delay — NS1 host run")
+        ax.axhline(1.0, color=GRID, linestyle="--", linewidth=1)
+        ax.legend(loc="upper left")
+        ax.set_axisbelow(True)
+        save(fig, dest / "delay-percentiles.png")
+
+
+def figure(name: str, caption: str) -> str:
+    return f"![{caption}](charts/{name})\n\n*{caption}*"
+
+
+def ratio(new: str | None, old: str | None) -> str:
+    if not new or not old:
+        return "—"
+    a, b = float(new), float(old)
+    if b == 0:
+        return "—"
+    return f"{a / b:.2f}×"
+
+
+def delay_ms_val(p: dict[str, str] | None, key: str) -> str | None:
+    if not p or not p.get(key):
+        return None
+    return str(ms(p[key]))
+
+
+def delta_table(
+    thru: list[dict[str, str]],
+    lats: list[dict[str, str]],
+    base_thru: list[dict[str, str]],
+    base_lats: list[dict[str, str]],
+    base_stamp: str,
+) -> str:
+    bt = {p["run"]: p for p in base_thru}
+    nt = {p["run"]: p for p in thru}
+    bl = {p["run"]: p for p in base_lats}
+    nl = {p["run"]: p for p in lats}
+    keys = [
+        ("core-1p1s-50k-128", "pub", "Core 1p1s 128 B pub msgs/s"),
+        ("core-8p8s-200k-128", "agg", "Core 8p8s 128 B aggregate msgs/s"),
+        ("js-1p-20k-128-r3", "pub", "JS file r=3 1p 128 B pub msgs/s"),
+        ("js-4p-50k-128-r3", "pub", "JS file r=3 4p 128 B pub msgs/s"),
+        ("js-4p-20k-1k-r3", "pub", "JS file r=3 4p 1 KiB pub msgs/s"),
+        ("js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3", "pub", "JS memory r=3 1p 128 B pub msgs/s"),
+        ("js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3", "pub", "JS memory r=3 4p 128 B pub msgs/s"),
+    ]
+    lines = [
+        f"| Metric | Baseline `{base_stamp}` | This run | Ratio |",
+        "|--------|-------------------------|----------|-------|",
+    ]
+    for run, kind, label in keys:
+        old, new = bt.get(run), nt.get(run)
+        ok = "pub_msgs" if kind == "pub" else "agg_msgs"
+        ov = old.get(ok) if old else None
+        nv = new.get(ok) if new else None
+        lines.append(f"| {label} | {fmt_int(ov)} | {fmt_int(nv)} | {ratio(nv, ov)} |")
+    old_p, new_p = bl.get("lat-ping-1k-128"), nl.get("lat-ping-1k-128")
+    if old_p or new_p:
+        ov = delay_ms_val(old_p, "p99")
+        nv = delay_ms_val(new_p, "p99")
+        # smaller delay is better — invert ratio label
+        r = "—"
+        if ov and nv and float(nv) != 0:
+            r = f"{float(ov) / float(nv):.2f}× faster" if float(nv) < float(ov) else f"{float(nv) / float(ov):.2f}× slower"
+        lines.append(
+            f"| Ping p99 (ms) | {old_p.get('p99') if old_p else '—'} | {new_p.get('p99') if new_p else '—'} | {r} |"
+        )
+    return "\n".join(lines)
+
+
+def chart_delta(
+    thru: list[dict[str, str]],
+    base_thru: list[dict[str, str]],
+    dest: Path,
+) -> None:
+    bt = {p["run"]: p for p in base_thru}
+    nt = {p["run"]: p for p in thru}
+    labels = ["Core 1p\n128 B pub", "JS file 1p\n128 B", "JS file 4p\n128 B", "JS mem 1p\n128 B"]
+    keys = ["core-1p1s-50k-128", "js-1p-20k-128-r3", "js-4p-50k-128-r3", "js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3"]
+    old = [int(bt[k]["pub_msgs"]) if k in bt and bt[k].get("pub_msgs") else 0 for k in keys]
+    new = [int(nt[k]["pub_msgs"]) if k in nt and nt[k].get("pub_msgs") else 0 for k in keys]
+    if not any(new):
+        return
+    fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(9.2, 4.4))
+    x = list(range(len(labels)))
+    w = 0.35
+    ax.bar([i - w / 2 for i in x], old, w, label="Baseline 1c/1G/ZFS", color=MUTED)
+    ax.bar([i + w / 2 for i in x], new, w, label="8c/16G/tmpfs (+ mem rows)", color=INDIGO)
+    ax.set_xticks(x, labels)
+    ax.set_yscale("log")
+    ax.set_ylabel("publish messages / second (log)")
+    ax.set_title("Measured delta vs 20260912T051237Z")
+    ax.legend(loc="upper right")
+    ax.set_axisbelow(True)
+    save(fig, dest / "delta-vs-baseline.png")
+
+
+def write_markdown(
+    folder: Path,
+    thru: list[dict[str, str]],
+    lats: list[dict[str, str]],
+    compare: Path | None = None,
+) -> str:
+    before = kv_file(folder / "host-before.txt")
+    after = kv_file(folder / "host-after.txt")
+    stamp = folder.name
+    method = (Path(__file__).resolve().parent / "ns1-study-methodology.md").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+    delta_md = ""
+    base_thru: list[dict[str, str]] = []
+    base_lats: list[dict[str, str]] = []
+    if compare and compare.is_dir():
+        base_thru, base_lats = load_runs(compare)
+        delta_md = (
+            f"## Measured delta vs `{compare.name}`\n\n"
+            "Baseline: 1 core / 1 GiB / JetStream on ZFS. This run: 8 cores / 16 GiB / "
+            "JetStream **tmpfs** (file r=3) plus extra **memory** store rows. veth/10G unchanged.\n\n"
+            + delta_table(thru, lats, base_thru, base_lats, compare.name)
+            + "\n"
+        )
+        if (folder / "charts" / "delta-vs-baseline.png").exists():
+            delta_md += "\n" + figure("delta-vs-baseline.png", "Baseline vs maximized publish rates (log)")
+            delta_md += "\n"
+    figs = []
+    charts_dir = folder / "charts"
+    if (charts_dir / "core-throughput.png").exists():
+        figs.append("### Core NATS\n\n" + figure("core-throughput.png", "Core NATS throughput at four loads (NS1 host run)"))
+    if (charts_dir / "payload-size.png").exists():
+        figs.append("### Payload size (core)\n\n" + figure("payload-size.png", "Core NATS 128 B vs 1 KiB (NS1 host run)"))
+    if (charts_dir / "js-throughput.png").exists():
+        figs.append("### JetStream r=3 file\n\n" + figure("js-throughput.png", "JetStream durable publish rate (NS1 host run)"))
+    if (charts_dir / "core-vs-js.png").exists():
+        figs.append("### Core vs JetStream\n\n" + figure("core-vs-js.png", "Core vs JetStream publish rate, log scale (NS1 host run)"))
+    if (charts_dir / "delay-percentiles.png").exists():
+        figs.append("### Delay\n\n" + figure("delay-percentiles.png", "Ping vs flood delay percentiles, log scale (NS1 host run)"))
+
+    ping = next((p for p in lats if "ping" in p.get("run", "")), None)
+    js1 = next((p for p in thru if p["run"] == "js-1p-20k-128-r3"), None)
+    core1 = next((p for p in thru if p["run"] == "core-1p1s-50k-128"), None)
+
+    md = f"""**Progress report (maximized NS1 study)** · run `{stamp}` (UTC)
+
+> **Execution provenance.** Every process for this study ran on **NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG** (`70.88.205.138`): `maximize-ns1-study.sh` (cores/RAM/`max_mem`/tmpfs), then `study-on-ns1.sh`, `nats bench`, `latency.mjs` (LXC 510), matplotlib, pandoc, weasyprint. Traffic stayed on `vmbr1`. veth/10G was **not** changed. After the ladder, JetStream was put back on ZFS and product streams were re-created; **8 cores / 16 GiB / max_mem 8G stay**.
+
+{delta_md}
+
+---
+
+## 1. Executive summary
+
+| Item | This NS1-host run |
+|------|-------------------|
+| Control plane | NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG (`70.88.205.138`), user `{before.get("whoami", "marchon")}` |
+| Bench client | LXC {before.get("client_vmid", "510")} `verae-px-worker` |
+| Brokers | LXC 511/512/513 `nats-a/b/c` on `10.10.10.21–23` |
+| Client URL | `{before.get("nats_url", "")}` |
+| Host load before | `{before.get("loadavg", "n/a")}` |
+| Host load after | `{after.get("loadavg", "n/a")}` |
+| Core 1p1s 128 B pub | {fmt_int(core1.get("pub_msgs") if core1 else None)} msgs/s |
+| JetStream 1p 128 B r=3 | {fmt_int(js1.get("pub_msgs") if js1 else None)} durable pubs/s |
+| Ping p50 / p99 | {ping.get("p50") if ping else "—"} / {ping.get("p99") if ping else "—"} |
+
+Product traffic is the JetStream row. Ping is one-message delay. Flood is mailbox catch-up after a burst.
+
+---
+
+## 2. Where it ran (and where it did not)
+
+```text
+Operator laptop  ──ssh──►  NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG  70.88.205.138
+                              study-on-ns1.sh
+                              python3 build-ns1-study-report.py
+                              sudo pct exec 510 ──► nats bench / latency.mjs
+                                                    │
+                                                    ▼ vmbr1
+                                              10.10.10.21-23 :4222
+```
+
+- **Did run on 138:** bash, python3, matplotlib, pandoc, weasyprint, `pct`, nats-server (in LXC), nats CLI and Node (in LXC 510).
+- **Did not run on the laptop:** no local `nats bench`, no local charting, no local WeasyPrint for this file.
+
+---
+
+## 3. Results (this run)
+
+### Host and brokers
+
+**Before**
+
+{varz_table(folder / "varz-before.json")}
+
+**After**
+
+{varz_table(folder / "varz-after.json")}
+
+nproc={before.get("nproc", "?")} · uname=`{before.get("uname", "")}`
+
+### Throughput
+
+{thru_table(thru)}
+
+### Round-trip delay
+
+{delay_table(lats)}
+
+{chr(10).join(figs)}
+
+---
+
+{method}
+
+---
+
+## 6. Reproducing this study
+
+On **NS1 only**:
+
+```bash
+cd ~/verae-src/verae-nats-cluster
+bash scripts/study-on-ns1.sh
+```
+
+The script exits if `hostname` is not NS1. Outputs land in `results/<utc>/` including `nats-cluster-bench-ns1.{{md,html,pdf}}` and `charts/`. Copy those into `zapier-decisions/reports/` for the progress repo and catalog.
+
+Raw logs for this run: `results/{stamp}/`.
+"""
+    return md
+
+
+def render(md_path: Path, html_path: Path, pdf_path: Path) -> None:
+    css = Path(__file__).resolve().parent / "docs-print.css"
+    header = html_path.with_suffix(".hdr.html")
+    banner = html_path.with_suffix(".ban.html")
+    css_text = css.read_text(encoding="utf-8") if css.exists() else ""
+    header.write_text(f"<style>{css_text}</style>\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    banner.write_text(
+        '<div class="doc-banner">'
+        '<nav class="site"><a href="/">zapier.georgelambert.org</a>'
+        ' · <a href="/index-md.html">Markdown indexes</a></nav>'
+        '<div class="kicker">Verae Time × Zapier · progress report · maximized NS1 study</div>'
+        "<h1>NATS cluster message speed — maximized (RAM disk + 8 cores)</h1>"
+        '<div class="source-path">packages/zapier-decisions/reports/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.md</div>'
+        "</div>\n",
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
+    r = subprocess.run(
+        [
+            "pandoc",
+            str(md_path),
+            "-o",
+            str(html_path),
+            "--standalone",
+            f"--resource-path={md_path.parent}",
+            "--highlight-style=breezedark",
+            "--metadata=title=NATS cluster message speed — NS1 host study",
+            f"--include-in-header={header}",
+            f"--include-before-body={banner}",
+        ],
+        capture_output=True,
+        text=True,
+    )
+    header.unlink(missing_ok=True)
+    banner.unlink(missing_ok=True)
+    if r.returncode != 0:
+        raise SystemExit(f"pandoc failed: {r.stderr[-800:]}")
+    w = subprocess.run(["weasyprint", str(html_path), str(pdf_path)], capture_output=True, text=True)
+    if w.returncode != 0:
+        raise SystemExit(f"weasyprint failed: {w.stderr[-800:]}")
+
+
+def main() -> int:
+    folder = Path(sys.argv[1] if len(sys.argv) > 1 else ".")
+    compare = Path(sys.argv[2]) if len(sys.argv) > 2 and sys.argv[2] else None
+    thru, lats = load_runs(folder)
+    charts(thru, lats, folder / "charts")
+    if compare and compare.is_dir():
+        base_thru, _base_lats = load_runs(compare)
+        chart_delta(thru, base_thru, folder / "charts")
+    md = write_markdown(folder, thru, lats, compare if compare and compare.is_dir() else None)
+    md_path = folder / "nats-cluster-bench-ns1.md"
+    md_path.write_text(md, encoding="utf-8")
+    html_path = folder / "nats-cluster-bench-ns1.html"
+    pdf_path = folder / "nats-cluster-bench-ns1.pdf"
+    render(md_path, html_path, pdf_path)
+    print(f"wrote {md_path}")
+    print(f"wrote {html_path}")
+    print(f"wrote {pdf_path}")
+    return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    raise SystemExit(main())
diff --git a/scripts/build-optimal-report.py b/scripts/build-optimal-report.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b801a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/build-optimal-report.py
@@ -0,0 +1,400 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""One large comparison report from all NS1 result folders + extras (UDP/MQTT/reconnect)."""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import importlib.util
+import json
+import re
+import subprocess
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import matplotlib
+
+matplotlib.use("Agg")
+import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+from matplotlib.ticker import FuncFormatter
+
+_spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location(
+    "bench_report", Path(__file__).resolve().parent / "bench-report.py"
+)
+_br = importlib.util.module_from_spec(_spec)
+assert _spec.loader
+_spec.loader.exec_module(_br)
+fmt_int = _br.fmt_int
+parse_bench = _br.parse_bench
+parse_lat = _br.parse_lat
+
+INDIGO, DEEP, TEAL, AMBER, MUTED = "#4f46e5", "#312e81", "#047857", "#b45309", "#5b6178"
+
+
+def k_fmt(x, _p=None):
+    if x >= 1_000_000:
+        return f"{x/1e6:.2f}M"
+    if x >= 1000:
+        return f"{x/1000:.0f}k"
+    return f"{x:.0f}"
+
+
+def load_folder(folder: Path) -> dict:
+    thru, lats, extra = {}, {}, {}
+    if not folder.is_dir():
+        return {"thru": thru, "lats": lats, "extra": extra, "stamp": folder.name}
+    for f in folder.glob("*.txt"):
+        text = f.read_text(encoding="utf-8", errors="replace")
+        if f.name.startswith("host-"):
+            continue
+        if "mqtt" in f.name or "udp-ping" in f.name:
+            for line in text.splitlines():
+                line = line.strip()
+                if line.startswith("{"):
+                    extra[f.stem] = json.loads(line)
+                    break
+            continue
+        lat = parse_lat(text)
+        if lat:
+            lats[f.stem] = lat
+            continue
+        p = parse_bench(text)
+        if p.get("pub_msgs") or p.get("agg_msgs"):
+            thru[f.stem] = p
+    return {"thru": thru, "lats": lats, "extra": extra, "stamp": folder.name}
+
+
+def pub(d, run):
+    p = d["thru"].get(run) or {}
+    return p.get("pub_msgs")
+
+
+def latp(d, run, key="p99"):
+    p = d["lats"].get(run) or {}
+    return p.get(key, "")
+
+
+def row(*cells):
+    return "| " + " | ".join(cells) + " |"
+
+
+def save(fig, path: Path):
+    fig.savefig(path, dpi=150, bbox_inches="tight", facecolor="white")
+    plt.close(fig)
+
+
+def charts(latest: dict, folders: list[dict], dest: Path):
+    dest.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    plt.rcParams.update({"font.size": 9, "axes.grid": True, "grid.color": "#d9dce8"})
+    # r=1 vs r=3 file/mem from latest
+    labels, file_r, mem_r = [], [], []
+    for lab, fr, mr in (
+        ("1p file", "js-file-1p-20k-128-r1", "js-1p-20k-128-r3"),
+        ("4p file", "js-file-4p-50k-128-r1", "js-4p-50k-128-r3"),
+        ("1p mem", "js-mem-1p-20k-128-r1", "js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3"),
+        ("4p mem", "js-mem-4p-50k-128-r1", "js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3"),
+    ):
+        a, b = pub(latest, fr), pub(latest, mr)
+        if a or b:
+            labels.append(lab)
+            file_r.append(int(a or 0))
+            mem_r.append(int(b or 0))
+    if labels:
+        fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(9.2, 4.3))
+        x = range(len(labels))
+        ax.bar([i - 0.2 for i in x], file_r, 0.4, label="replicas=1", color=TEAL)
+        ax.bar([i + 0.2 for i in x], mem_r, 0.4, label="replicas=3", color=AMBER)
+        ax.set_xticks(list(x), labels)
+        ax.set_ylabel("pub msgs/s")
+        ax.set_title("This run: replica cost (1 vs 3)")
+        ax.yaxis.set_major_formatter(FuncFormatter(k_fmt))
+        ax.legend()
+        save(fig, dest / "replicas.png")
+    # historical JS 1p file
+    names, vals = [], []
+    for d, label in zip(
+        folders,
+        [d["stamp"] for d in folders],
+    ):
+        v = pub(d, "js-1p-20k-128-r3")
+        if v:
+            names.append(label[-7:] if len(label) > 8 else label)
+            vals.append(int(v))
+    if names:
+        fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(9.2, 4.0))
+        ax.bar(names, vals, color=INDIGO)
+        ax.set_title("JS file r=3 1p 128 B across studies")
+        ax.set_ylabel("pub msgs/s")
+        ax.yaxis.set_major_formatter(FuncFormatter(k_fmt))
+        save(fig, dest / "history-js1p.png")
+
+
+def write_md(latest: dict, hist: list[dict], charts_rel: str) -> str:
+    t = latest["thru"]
+    e = latest["extra"]
+    mqtt = e.get("mqtt-qos0-5k-128") or {}
+    udp = e.get("udp-ping-1k-128") or {}
+    ping = latest["lats"].get("lat-ping-1k-128") or {}
+    recon = latest["lats"].get("lat-reconnect-200-128") or {}
+
+    def js_table():
+        runs = [
+            ("js-file-1p-20k-128-r1", "file r=1 1p 128 B"),
+            ("js-file-4p-50k-128-r1", "file r=1 4p 128 B"),
+            ("js-1p-20k-128-r3", "file r=3 1p 128 B"),
+            ("js-4p-50k-128-r3", "file r=3 4p 128 B"),
+            ("js-4p-20k-1k-r3", "file r=3 4p 1 KiB"),
+            ("js-file-1p-20k-4k-r3", "file r=3 1p 4 KiB"),
+            ("js-mem-1p-20k-128-r1", "memory r=1 1p 128 B"),
+            ("js-mem-4p-50k-128-r1", "memory r=1 4p 128 B"),
+            ("js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3", "memory r=3 1p 128 B"),
+            ("js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3", "memory r=3 4p 128 B"),
+            ("js-mem-4p-20k-1k-r3", "memory r=3 4p 1 KiB"),
+        ]
+        lines = [
+            row("Run", "What", "Pub msgs/s", "Pub MB/s"),
+            row("---", "---", "---", "---"),
+        ]
+        for k, lab in runs:
+            p = t.get(k)
+            if not p:
+                continue
+            lines.append(row(f"`{k}`", lab, fmt_int(p.get("pub_msgs")), p.get("pub_mb") or "—"))
+        return "\n".join(lines)
+
+    hist_lines = [
+        row("Study", "Env", "Core 1p pub", "JS file r=3 1p", "JS mem r=3 4p", "Ping p99"),
+        row("---", "---", "---", "---", "---", "---"),
+    ]
+    labels_env = {
+        "20260912T045131Z": "1c/1G ZFS (off-box orch.)",
+        "20260912T051237Z": "1c/1G ZFS (NS1 orch.)",
+        "20260912T053120Z": "8c/16G tmpfs + mem extra",
+    }
+    for d in hist + [latest]:
+        env = labels_env.get(d["stamp"], f"8c/16G ZFS exhaustive `{d['stamp']}`")
+        hist_lines.append(
+            row(
+                f"`{d['stamp']}`",
+                env,
+                fmt_int(pub(d, "core-1p1s-50k-128")),
+                fmt_int(pub(d, "js-1p-20k-128-r3")),
+                fmt_int(pub(d, "js-mem-4p-50k-128-r3")),
+                latp(d, "lat-ping-1k-128"),
+            )
+        )
+
+    r1 = int(pub(latest, "js-file-1p-20k-128-r1") or 0)
+    r3 = int(pub(latest, "js-1p-20k-128-r3") or 0)
+    mem1 = int(pub(latest, "js-mem-1p-20k-128-r1") or 0)
+    mem3 = int(pub(latest, "js-mem-1p-20k-128-r3") or 0)
+    replica_cost = f"{r1/r3:.2f}×" if r3 else "—"
+    mem_gain = f"{mem1/r3:.2f}×" if r3 and mem1 else "—"
+
+    mqtt_rate = mqtt.get("pubs_per_sec", "—")
+    udp_p99 = udp.get("p99", "—")
+
+    return f"""**Progress report — optimal configuration study** · `{latest['stamp']}` (UTC) · all code on **NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG** (`70.88.205.138`)
+
+This document folds every ladder we have run (1-core ZFS, NS1-orchestrated, tmpfs maximize, and this exhaustive 8c/16G **ZFS** factorial) plus UDP / MQTT / reconnect probes. It recommends a lab config and a **three-box HP DL360 Gen10** projection. veth/10G was not changed.
+
+---
+
+## 1. Verdict (read this first)
+
+**Keep NATS + JetStream.** Do not replace the fabric with MQTT, UDP, or a custom persistent-socket protocol for Verae jobs/events/archive. Those are either slower, less durable, or already what NATS is.
+
+**Lab (NS1, one host, three LXC) — optimal now**
+
+| Stream | Storage | Replicas | Why |
+|--------|---------|----------|-----|
+| `ZAPIER_JOBS`, `ZAPIER_WEBHOOKS`, `VERAE_ARCHIVE` | **file** (ZFS) | **3** | Survive a nats LXC death; archive must persist |
+| `ZAPIER_EVENTS` | **memory** | **3** | Waiters are latency-sensitive; events rebuild from job status |
+| `ZAPIER_USAGE` | file | 3 | Telemetry, limits + max-age |
+
+Keep **8 cores / 16 GiB / `max_mem: 8G`** on 510–513 (already live). Do **not** leave JetStream on tmpfs. Do **not** drop product streams to r=1. Reuse **one NATS connection per process** (already true in middleware); never connect-per-message.
+
+**Metal (3× DL360 Gen10) — optimal later**
+
+Same stream table. File store on **local NVMe/M.2**, not a shared SAN. Cluster + client on **10GbE** (or 25GbE if you already have it). Dual Gold Xeon is surplus CPU for this workload; 8–16 cores dedicated to `nats-server` is enough. Expected JS file r=3: **~40–80k** 128 B pubs/s (about **3–6×** this lab’s 8c ZFS 1p, **2–4×** tmpfs 1p) — bounded by **10GbE replica RTT**, not by Xeon clocks. Core NATS will sit in the **1–3M msgs/s** band until the NIC saturates (~9 Gbit/s ≈ 8–9M × 128 B theoretical; CPU and client will hit first).
+
+---
+
+## 2. What we actually ran (this exhaustive pass)
+
+Live cluster during this run: LXC 510–513 **8 cores / 16 GiB**, JetStream **on ZFS** (tmpfs from the maximize study was already unmounted). Extra factorial: file/memory × replicas 1/3, 4 KiB file r=3, reconnect-per-message ping, UDP echo 510→511, MQTT QoS0 against nats-a `:1883`. Product streams were not the bench target.
+
+### 2.1 Cross-study history
+
+{chr(10).join(hist_lines)}
+
+![JS 1p file r=3 history]({charts_rel}/history-js1p.png)
+
+### 2.2 This run — JetStream factorial
+
+{js_table()}
+
+Replica **1 vs 3** on this stand (file 1p 128 B): r=1 is {fmt_int(str(r1) if r1 else None)} vs r=3 {fmt_int(str(r3) if r3 else None)} ({replica_cost} if r=3 is the slower one). Memory r=1 1p {fmt_int(str(mem1) if mem1 else None)} vs memory r=3 {fmt_int(str(mem3) if mem3 else None)}.
+
+![Replica cost]({charts_rel}/replicas.png)
+
+### 2.3 Delay, reconnect tax, UDP, MQTT
+
+| Probe | Result | Meaning |
+|-------|--------|---------|
+| NATS ping (persistent sockets) p50 / p99 | {ping.get('p50','—')} / {ping.get('p99','—')} | Quiet hop with a long-lived TCP conn |
+| NATS **reconnect-per-message** p50 / p99 | {recon.get('p50','—')} / {recon.get('p99','—')} | TCP+NATS handshake on every pub — this is the tax to avoid |
+| UDP echo 510→511 p99 | {udp_p99} | Raw datagram ceiling on the same veth (no NATS) |
+| MQTT QoS0 5k×128 B | {mqtt_rate} pubs/s | nats-server MQTT gateway on `:1883` |
+
+Core 1p1s 128 B this run: {fmt_int(pub(latest, 'core-1p1s-50k-128'))} pub msgs/s. Flood delay is still backlog/consume_rate, not RTT.
+
+---
+
+## 3. Alternative transports (why we are not switching the fabric)
+
+NATS already **is** persistent TCP sockets with a tiny binary protocol, automatic reconnect, and optional JetStream durability. “Reduce connection overhead” is a **client** discipline: hold the connection. The reconnect probe exists to prove that opening a socket per job would dominate ping RTT.
+
+| Idea | Fit for Verae jobs/events/archive | Throughput vs NATS core | Durability |
+|------|-----------------------------------|-------------------------|------------|
+| **NATS core pub/sub** | Fan-out, request-reply (`verae.billing.*`) | Highest we measured (~0.5–2M msgs/s) | None |
+| **NATS JetStream file r=3** | Jobs, webhooks, archive | ~8–23k on this lab; see metal projection | Disk + 1-node loss |
+| **NATS JetStream memory r=3** | Events mailbox | ~22–36k on this lab | RAM + 1-node loss; **empty on full restart** |
+| **MQTT** (NATS gateway or Mosquitto) | IoT endpoints that already speak MQTT | This probe: {mqtt_rate} pubs/s QoS0 — typically **well below** NATS core; QoS1 ≈ JetStream-ish with more chatter | QoS1/2 session state; not our WORM model |
+| **UDP** | Telemetry that may drop | RTT {udp_p99} p99 — fastest hop, **no** reliability, no cluster, no auth | None |
+| **Custom persistent sockets / HTTP long-poll** | Worse NATS | You would re-implement reconnect, flow control, and fan-out | DIY |
+| **WebSocket** | Browsers only | Extra framing; NATS already has WS for UIs, not for middleware | Same as core/JS behind it |
+| **QUIC / WebTransport** | Lossy WAN / browsers | NATS QUIC is not the lab path; 10GbE LAN does not need it | Same |
+| **Kafka / Redis streams** | Heavy log replay | Higher ops cost; not on `vmbr1` today | Yes, heavier |
+
+**MQTT:** NATS documents MQTT as an *enabling* gateway for existing IoT, and prefers NATS end-to-end for greenfield. Zapier cloud never talks NATS or MQTT; it talks HTTPS. Putting MQTT in the middle of timestamp jobs adds protocol translation and QoS timers without helping `jobId → events`. Use MQTT only if a device already cannot speak NATS.
+
+**UDP:** Fine as a *measurement* of veth RTT. Unusable as the job fabric (no ack, no replica, no flow control). NATS ping is already within a small multiple of UDP on this bridge.
+
+**Persistence sockets:** Middleware and keep already keep `NATS_URL` connections open. Optimal: one connection (or a small pool) per process, `max_reconnect`, jitter, no `connect()` in the per-job path. The reconnect ladder is the anti-pattern.
+
+---
+
+## 4. Optimal configurations
+
+### 4.1 NS1 lab (now)
+
+1. **Leave 8 cores / 16 GiB** on nats-a/b/c and the worker. Host has 40 cores / 377 GiB; this is cheap.
+2. **`max_mem: 8G`** stays. Required for memory streams.
+3. **File r=3 on ZFS** for jobs/webhooks/archive. tmpfs doubled JS 1p (7.4k→17k) but **loses the stream on reboot** — unacceptable for archive.
+4. **Memory r=3 for `ZAPIER_EVENTS`** if we accept “all three nats CTs reboot ⇒ in-flight waiters fall back to HTTP poll.” That matches the designed wait path (`GET /api/status/{{jobId}}`).
+5. **r=1 only for throwaway benches**, never product streams. Replica=3 is the point of three guests.
+6. **veth on vmbr1, no fake 10G NICs.** Already 10000Mb/s; JS does not fill it.
+7. **Pin cpusets** later if keep/fleet steal; not required to beat these numbers.
+8. Clients: persistent NATS connections; pull consumers with bounded `max_ack_pending` for webhooks.
+
+### 4.2 Three HP DL360 Gen10 (projection — not measured)
+
+Assumed bill of materials (state it in the buy):
+
+| Piece | Assumption |
+|-------|------------|
+| Chassis | 3× DL360 Gen10 1U |
+| CPU | Dual 2nd-gen Xeon **Gold** (e.g. 6226R 16c or 6248 20c — **32–40 cores/box**) |
+| Memory | DDR4-2933, **192–384 GiB**/box (6–12×32 GiB); NATS will not use most of it |
+| Storage | **NVMe M.2 or U.2** for `/var/lib/nats/jetstream` (XFS or ext4, **not** shared ZFS over the network). RAID1 of two NVMe if you want disk HA *inside* a box |
+| Network | **10GbE** (FlexibleLOM or PCIe); dedicated VLAN for `:4222`+`:6222`. Do not share with public `vmbr0` traffic |
+| OS | Debian/Ubuntu bare metal, `nats-server` systemd, same `nats.conf` as lab (bind private IP only) |
+
+**What changes vs NS1 LXC**
+
+| Factor | NS1 today | 3× DL360 | Effect on JS file r=3 |
+|--------|-----------|----------|------------------------|
+| Failure domain | 1 Proxmox host | 3 chassis, 3 NVMe, 3 NICs | r=3 **means** something |
+| Disk | Shared ZFS SSD2 | Local NVMe fsync ~50–150 µs | Big win vs ZFS; similar to tmpfs for sequential 128 B |
+| Replica path | veth/bridge (~µs–tens of µs) | 10GbE RTT typically **50–200 µs** | **Slower than same-host tmpfs**, faster than a bad SAN |
+| CPU | 8 of 40 shared | 32–40 dedicated Gold cores | Headroom for many clients, not 10× JS |
+| NIC | software 10G veth, already ~5 Gbit/s core | real 10GbE ~9 Gbit/s TCP | Core NATS can grow; JS r=3 stays replica-bound |
+
+**Projected bands** (128 B, 3-node cluster, dedicated 10GbE, local NVMe, 8+ cores pinned to nats-server):
+
+| Workload | NS1 measured (best) | DL360 projection | Confidence |
+|----------|---------------------|------------------|------------|
+| Core pub/sub 1p | 0.5–0.8M | **0.8–2M** | Medium — NIC + syscall, plenty of CPU |
+| Core 4p4s 1 KiB | ~0.6–0.7M (~0.6 GB/s) | **~1M msgs/s / ~1 GB/s** approaching 10GbE | Medium |
+| JS file r=1 | this run r=1 | **80–200k** pubs/s | Medium — NVMe + no replica wait |
+| JS file r=3 | 7–23k (ZFS/tmpfs) | **40–80k** pubs/s | Medium-low — replica RTT dominates; 3 NVMe still help vs shared ZFS |
+| JS memory r=3 | 22–36k | **50–100k** | Medium-low — RAM + 10GbE ack |
+| Ping p99 | 0.7–1.4 ms | **0.2–0.6 ms** | Medium — real NIC but no Proxmox tax |
+
+These are **not** DL360 measurements. Scale from: (a) our replica-1 vs replica-3 ratio once this run’s r=1 numbers exist, (b) tmpfs vs ZFS ratio (2.35× on 1p), (c) Synadia/nats bench async file r=1 ~100–400k on NVMe loopback, derated for 10GbE RTT.
+
+**Buy notes:** M.2 via Dual uFF / enablement kit; put JetStream on NVMe **directly**, not behind a RAID controller write-through unless you measure. 1GbE onboard is a trap — use 10GbE for `:6222`. Dual Gold is for isolation (nats vs worm/tree vs OS), not because JS needs 56 cores.
+
+---
+
+## 5. What we are not doing
+
+- MQTT as the Zapier or middleware transport.
+- UDP for jobs.
+- Emulated 10G fiber NICs on LXC.
+- tmpfs as the production store.
+- r=1 for product streams.
+- Connect-per-job.
+
+Re-run exhaustive: `bash scripts/exhaustive-ns1-study.sh` on NS1.
+"""
+
+
+def render(md_path: Path, html_path: Path, pdf_path: Path) -> None:
+    css = Path(__file__).resolve().parent / "docs-print.css"
+    header = html_path.with_suffix(".hdr.html")
+    banner = html_path.with_suffix(".ban.html")
+    header.write_text(f"<style>{css.read_text() if css.exists() else ''}</style>\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    banner.write_text(
+        '<div class="doc-banner">'
+        '<nav class="site"><a href="/">zapier.georgelambert.org</a></nav>'
+        '<div class="kicker">Verae Time × Zapier · progress report</div>'
+        "<h1>NATS optimal configuration study</h1>"
+        '<div class="source-path">packages/zapier-decisions/reports/optimal-config/REPORT.md</div>'
+        "</div>\n",
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
+    r = subprocess.run(
+        [
+            "pandoc",
+            str(md_path),
+            "-o",
+            str(html_path),
+            "--standalone",
+            f"--resource-path={md_path.parent}",
+            "--highlight-style=breezedark",
+            "--metadata=title=NATS optimal configuration study",
+            f"--include-in-header={header}",
+            f"--include-before-body={banner}",
+        ],
+        capture_output=True,
+        text=True,
+    )
+    header.unlink(missing_ok=True)
+    banner.unlink(missing_ok=True)
+    if r.returncode != 0:
+        raise SystemExit(f"pandoc failed: {r.stderr[-600:]}")
+    w = subprocess.run(["weasyprint", str(html_path), str(pdf_path)], capture_output=True, text=True)
+    if w.returncode != 0:
+        raise SystemExit(f"weasyprint failed: {w.stderr[-600:]}")
+
+
+def main() -> int:
+    latest = Path(sys.argv[1])
+    hist_dirs = [Path(p) for p in sys.argv[2:] if p and Path(p).is_dir()]
+    data_latest = load_folder(latest)
+    hist = [load_folder(p) for p in hist_dirs]
+    charts_dir = latest / "charts-optimal"
+    charts(data_latest, hist + [data_latest], charts_dir)
+    md = write_md(data_latest, hist, "charts-optimal")
+    md_path = latest / "optimal-config.md"
+    md_path.write_text(md, encoding="utf-8")
+    html_path = latest / "optimal-config.html"
+    pdf_path = latest / "optimal-config.pdf"
+    render(md_path, html_path, pdf_path)
+    print(f"wrote {md_path}")
+    print(f"wrote {html_path}", file=sys.stderr)
+    print(f"wrote {pdf_path}", file=sys.stderr)
+    return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    raise SystemExit(main())
diff --git a/scripts/create-cluster.sh b/scripts/create-cluster.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..bb42239
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/create-cluster.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Create three distinct Proxmox LXC guests and start a JetStream cluster on vmbr1.
+# Does not touch host loopback NATS (127.0.0.1:4222) or vmbr0.
+set -euo pipefail
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)"
+# shellcheck disable=SC1091
+. "$ROOT/cluster.env"
+# shellcheck disable=SC1091
+. "$ROOT/scripts/lib-ct.sh"
+ct_require_proxmox
+
+mapfile -t rows < <(printf '%s\n' "$NODES" | awk 'NF==3 {print}')
+[[ ${#rows[@]} -eq 3 ]] || { echo "need exactly 3 nodes in cluster.env" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+declare -a VMIDS NAMES IPS
+for row in "${rows[@]}"; do
+  # shellcheck disable=SC2086
+  set -- $row
+  VMIDS+=("$1"); NAMES+=("$2"); IPS+=("$3")
+done
+
+i=0
+for i in 0 1 2; do
+  ct_ensure "${VMIDS[$i]}" "${NAMES[$i]}" "${IPS[$i]}"
+  ct_bootstrap_user "${VMIDS[$i]}"
+done
+
+# Install nats-server + conf + systemd on each guest
+for i in 0 1 2; do
+  routes=""
+  for j in 0 1 2; do
+    [[ $i -eq $j ]] && continue
+    routes="${routes}    nats-route://${IPS[$j]}:6222"$'\n'
+  done
+  tmpconf="$(mktemp)"
+  NAME="${NAMES[$i]}" IP="${IPS[$i]}" CLUSTER="$CLUSTER_NAME" ROUTES="$routes" \
+    python3 - "$ROOT/conf/nats.conf.tmpl" "$tmpconf" <<'PY'
+import os, pathlib, sys
+t = pathlib.Path(sys.argv[1]).read_text()
+out = t.replace("{{NAME}}", os.environ["NAME"]).replace("{{IP}}", os.environ["IP"]).replace("{{CLUSTER}}", os.environ["CLUSTER"]).replace("{{ROUTES}}", os.environ["ROUTES"])
+pathlib.Path(sys.argv[2]).write_text(out)
+PY
+  sudo pct exec "${VMIDS[$i]}" -- bash -c 'cat > /tmp/nats.conf' < "$tmpconf"
+  sudo pct exec "${VMIDS[$i]}" -- bash -c 'cat > /tmp/nats-server.service' < "$ROOT/systemd/nats-server.service"
+  rm -f "$tmpconf"
+  sudo pct exec "${VMIDS[$i]}" -- bash -lc "
+set -e
+export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+id nats >/dev/null 2>&1 || useradd -r -s /usr/sbin/nologin nats
+install -d -m 755 -o nats -g nats /var/lib/nats/jetstream /etc/nats
+mv /tmp/nats.conf /etc/nats/nats.conf
+chown root:root /etc/nats/nats.conf
+chmod 644 /etc/nats/nats.conf
+if [[ ! -x /usr/local/bin/nats-server ]]; then
+  curl -fsSL https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/download/v${NATS_VER}/nats-server-v${NATS_VER}-linux-amd64.tar.gz -o /tmp/nats.tgz
+  tar -xzf /tmp/nats.tgz -C /tmp
+  install -m 0755 /tmp/nats-server-v${NATS_VER}-linux-amd64/nats-server /usr/local/bin/nats-server
+  rm -rf /tmp/nats.tgz /tmp/nats-server-v${NATS_VER}-linux-amd64
+fi
+install -m 644 /tmp/nats-server.service /etc/systemd/system/nats-server.service
+systemctl daemon-reload
+systemctl enable --now nats-server
+"
+  echo "nats-server ${NAMES[$i]} ${IPS[$i]}:4222 cluster ${IPS[$i]}:6222"
+done
+
+echo "cluster client URL: nats://${IPS[0]}:4222,nats://${IPS[1]}:4222,nats://${IPS[2]}:4222"
+echo "lab loopback NATS on the host is unchanged (127.0.0.1:4222)"
+echo "next: bash $ROOT/scripts/test.sh"
diff --git a/scripts/cutover-ns1.sh b/scripts/cutover-ns1.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..6fa073c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/cutover-ns1.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Point NS1 test modules at the 3-node vmbr1 cluster. Does not change MOCK_VERAE or Zapier.
+set -euo pipefail
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)"
+# shellcheck disable=SC1091
+. "$ROOT/client.env"
+export PATH="/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:$PATH"
+bash "$ROOT/scripts/ensure-streams.sh"
+echo "NATS_URL=$NATS_URL"
+echo "streams ensured. restart keep + fleet on the host after copying overlay/service JSON."
diff --git a/scripts/docs-print.css b/scripts/docs-print.css
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..99256e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/docs-print.css
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+/* Colored print + screen stylesheet for zapier.georgelambert.org */
+:root {
+  --ink: #171a26;
+  --muted: #5b6178;
+  --line: #d9dce8;
+  --bg: #f4f5fb;
+  --paper: #ffffff;
+  --accent: #4f46e5;
+  --accent-deep: #312e81;
+  --accent-soft: #eef0fe;
+  --ok: #047857;
+  --warn: #8a5a00;
+  --code-bg: #1b1f33;
+  --code-fg: #e8ecff;
+}
+html { background: var(--bg); }
+body {
+  margin: 0 auto;
+  padding: 1.5rem 1.25rem 3rem;
+  max-width: 48rem;
+  font: 15px/1.55 -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Georgia, serif;
+  color: var(--ink);
+  background: var(--paper);
+}
+.doc-banner {
+  background: linear-gradient(160deg, #312e81 0%, #4f46e5 60%, #7c74f0 100%);
+  color: #eef0fe;
+  margin: -1.5rem -1.25rem 1.5rem;
+  padding: 1.1rem 1.25rem 1rem;
+}
+.doc-banner a { color: #fff; }
+.doc-banner .kicker {
+  letter-spacing: 0.12em;
+  text-transform: uppercase;
+  font: 700 10px system-ui, sans-serif;
+  opacity: 0.8;
+}
+.doc-banner h1 { margin: 0.25rem 0 0; font-size: 1.45rem; color: #fff; }
+h1, h2, h3, h4 { color: var(--accent-deep); page-break-after: avoid; }
+h1 { font-size: 1.7rem; }
+h2 {
+  font-size: 1.2rem;
+  border-bottom: 2px solid var(--accent);
+  padding-bottom: 0.2rem;
+  margin-top: 1.6rem;
+}
+h3 { font-size: 1.05rem; color: var(--accent); }
+a { color: var(--accent); }
+p, li { orphans: 3; widows: 3; }
+code {
+  font-family: ui-monospace, Menlo, Consolas, monospace;
+  font-size: 0.86em;
+  background: var(--accent-soft);
+  color: var(--accent-deep);
+  padding: 0.08em 0.28em;
+  border-radius: 4px;
+}
+pre, div.sourceCode, div.sourceCode pre {
+  background: var(--code-bg) !important;
+  color: var(--code-fg) !important;
+  padding: 0.85rem 1rem;
+  border-radius: 10px;
+  overflow: auto;
+  font-size: 0.78rem;
+  line-height: 1.4;
+  page-break-inside: avoid;
+}
+pre code { background: transparent; color: inherit; padding: 0; }
+#title-block-header, header#title-block-header, h1.title { display: none; }
+.doc-banner + h1 { display: none; }
+table {
+  border-collapse: collapse;
+  width: 100%;
+  margin: 0.8rem 0 1.2rem;
+  font-size: 0.9rem;
+  page-break-inside: avoid;
+}
+th, td { border: 1px solid var(--line); padding: 0.38rem 0.55rem; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; }
+th {
+  background: var(--accent);
+  color: #fff;
+  font: 650 12px system-ui, sans-serif;
+}
+tr:nth-child(even) td { background: var(--accent-soft); }
+blockquote {
+  margin: 1rem 0;
+  padding: 0.4rem 0.9rem;
+  border-left: 4px solid var(--accent);
+  background: var(--accent-soft);
+  color: var(--accent-deep);
+}
+img { max-width: 100%; height: auto; border-radius: 8px; page-break-inside: avoid; }
+hr { border: 0; border-top: 1px solid var(--line); }
+ul, ol { padding-left: 1.25rem; }
+nav.site { font: 13px system-ui, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.4rem; }
+.source-path { font: 11px ui-monospace, Menlo, monospace; color: var(--muted); }
+
+@page {
+  size: letter;
+  margin: 0.65in 0.7in 0.8in 0.7in;
+  @top-left {
+    content: "Verae Time × Zapier";
+    font: 700 8pt system-ui, sans-serif;
+    color: #4f46e5;
+  }
+  @top-right {
+    content: "zapier.georgelambert.org";
+    font: 8pt system-ui, sans-serif;
+    color: #6b7186;
+  }
+  @bottom-center {
+    content: counter(page) " / " counter(pages);
+    font: 8pt system-ui, sans-serif;
+    color: #6b7186;
+  }
+}
+@media print {
+  html, body { background: #fff; max-width: none; padding: 0; }
+  .doc-banner { margin: 0 0 1rem; border-radius: 8px; -webkit-print-color-adjust: exact; print-color-adjust: exact; }
+  a { text-decoration: none; }
+  th, tr:nth-child(even) td, pre, blockquote, code { -webkit-print-color-adjust: exact; print-color-adjust: exact; }
+}
diff --git a/scripts/ensure-streams.sh b/scripts/ensure-streams.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..4b661be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/ensure-streams.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Create product JetStream streams with replicas=3 on the Proxmox cluster.
+set -euo pipefail
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)"
+# shellcheck disable=SC1091
+. "$ROOT/client.env"
+export PATH="/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH"
+VMID="${1:-511}"
+sudo pct exec "$VMID" -- bash -lc "
+set -e
+export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
+export NATS_URL=nats://10.10.10.21:4222
+if [[ ! -x /usr/local/bin/nats ]]; then
+  apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends unzip >/dev/null
+  curl -fsSL https://github.com/nats-io/natscli/releases/download/v0.1.6/nats-0.1.6-linux-amd64.zip -o /tmp/natscli.zip
+  rm -rf /tmp/natscli && mkdir -p /tmp/natscli
+  unzip -o /tmp/natscli.zip -d /tmp/natscli >/dev/null
+  BIN=\$(find /tmp/natscli -type f -name nats | head -1)
+  install -m 0755 \"\$BIN\" /usr/local/bin/nats
+fi
+add() {
+  local name=\$1 subj=\$2
+  nats stream info \"\$name\" >/dev/null 2>&1 && return 0
+  nats stream add \"\$name\" --subjects=\"\$subj\" --replicas=3 --storage=file --retention=limits --discard=old --max-msgs=-1 --max-bytes=-1 --max-age=24h --dupe-window=2m --defaults
+}
+add ZAPIER_JOBS 'verae.zapier.jobs.watch'
+add ZAPIER_EVENTS 'verae.zapier.jobs.events'
+add ZAPIER_WEBHOOKS 'verae.zapier.webhooks.deliver'
+add ZAPIER_USAGE 'verae.zapier.usage'
+add VERAE_ARCHIVE 'verae.archive.>'
+nats stream ls
+"
+echo "streams ready on cluster (replicas=3)"
diff --git a/scripts/exhaustive-ns1-study.sh b/scripts/exhaustive-ns1-study.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..f369570
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/exhaustive-ns1-study.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Exhaustive NS1 ladder on the *current* 8c/16G cluster with JetStream on ZFS.
+# Adds r=1 vs r=3, file vs memory, reconnect tax, UDP echo, MQTT gateway probe.
+# Does not tmpfs (product streams stay). Must run on NS1.
+set -euo pipefail
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)"
+export PATH="/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH"
+HOST="$(hostname -f 2>/dev/null || hostname)"
+case "$HOST" in
+  NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG|NS1|ns1.georgelambert.org|ns1) ;;
+  *) echo "refusing: exhaustive-ns1-study.sh must run on NS1, got '$HOST'" >&2; exit 1 ;;
+esac
+
+export EXHAUSTIVE=1
+export JS_EXTRA_MEMORY=1
+export COMPARE_DIR="${COMPARE_DIR:-$ROOT/results/20260912T051237Z}"
+STAMP="$(date -u +%Y%m%dT%H%M%SZ)"
+export BENCH_OUT="$ROOT/results/$STAMP"
+mkdir -p "$BENCH_OUT"
+
+# MQTT gateway on nats-a only (vmbr1). Restored after.
+MQTT_CONF=/etc/nats/nats.conf
+enable_mqtt() {
+  sudo pct exec 511 -- bash -lc '
+set -e
+f=/etc/nats/nats.conf
+grep -q "^mqtt {" "$f" && exit 0
+cat >> "$f" <<EOF
+
+mqtt {
+  host: 10.10.10.21
+  port: 1883
+}
+EOF
+systemctl kill -s HUP nats-server || systemctl restart nats-server
+'
+  sleep 2
+}
+disable_mqtt() {
+  sudo pct exec 511 -- bash -lc '
+f=/etc/nats/nats.conf
+python3 - "$f" <<'"'"'PY'"'"'
+from pathlib import Path
+import re, sys
+p = Path(sys.argv[1])
+t = re.sub(r"\nmqtt \{[^}]*\}\n", "\n", p.read_text(), flags=re.S)
+p.write_text(t)
+PY
+systemctl kill -s HUP nats-server || true
+' || true
+}
+
+enable_mqtt
+trap disable_mqtt EXIT
+
+bash "$ROOT/scripts/study-on-ns1.sh"
+OUT="$BENCH_OUT"
+echo "exhaustive extras into $OUT"
+
+# UDP echo: server in 511, client in 510
+sudo pct exec 511 -- bash -lc 'pkill -f "udp-probe.mjs server" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true'
+sudo pct exec 511 -- bash -c 'cat > /tmp/udp-probe.mjs' < "$ROOT/scripts/udp-probe.mjs"
+sudo pct exec 510 -- bash -c 'cat > /tmp/nats-lat/udp-probe.mjs' < "$ROOT/scripts/udp-probe.mjs"
+sudo pct exec 511 -- bash -lc 'setsid node /tmp/udp-probe.mjs server 9999 >/tmp/udp-echo.log 2>&1 < /dev/null &'
+sleep 1
+echo "=== udp-ping-1k-128 ===" | tee "$OUT/udp-ping-1k-128.txt"
+sudo pct exec 510 -- bash -lc 'node /tmp/nats-lat/udp-probe.mjs client 10.10.10.21 1000 9999 128' | tee -a "$OUT/udp-ping-1k-128.txt"
+sudo pct exec 511 -- bash -lc 'pkill -f "udp-probe.mjs server" || true'
+
+# MQTT QoS0
+sudo pct exec 510 -- bash -lc '
+set -e
+cd /tmp/nats-lat
+if [[ ! -d node_modules/mqtt ]]; then npm install --no-audit --no-fund mqtt@10 >/dev/null; fi
+'
+sudo pct exec 510 -- bash -c 'cat > /tmp/nats-lat/mqtt-probe.mjs' < "$ROOT/scripts/mqtt-probe.mjs"
+echo "=== mqtt-qos0-5k-128 ===" | tee "$OUT/mqtt-qos0-5k-128.txt"
+sudo pct exec 510 -- bash -lc 'cd /tmp/nats-lat && node mqtt-probe.mjs mqtt://10.10.10.21:1883 5000 128' | tee -a "$OUT/mqtt-qos0-5k-128.txt" || echo '{"error":"mqtt probe failed"}' | tee -a "$OUT/mqtt-qos0-5k-128.txt"
+
+python3 "$ROOT/scripts/build-optimal-report.py" "$OUT" \
+  "$ROOT/results/20260912T045131Z" \
+  "$ROOT/results/20260912T051237Z" \
+  "$ROOT/results/20260912T053120Z"
+echo "exhaustive complete $OUT"
diff --git a/scripts/latency.mjs b/scripts/latency.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d15ae95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/latency.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+/**
+ * Pub→sub round trip through the cluster (two connections).
+ * Usage: NATS_URL=... node latency.mjs [count] [payloadBytes] [publishers] [ping|flood|reconnect]
+ * ping       = sequential publish-wait on persistent sockets (one-message RTT)
+ * flood      = publish the batch then drain (queueing under burst)
+ * reconnect  = connect, one publish, wait, close — measures handshake tax
+ */
+import { connect, headers } from "nats";
+
+const url = process.env.NATS_URL || "nats://10.10.10.21:4222";
+const count = Number(process.argv[2] || 5000);
+const size = Number(process.argv[3] || 128);
+const pubs = Number(process.argv[4] || 1);
+const mode = process.argv[5] || "flood";
+const servers = url.split(",").map((s) => s.trim());
+const subject = `bench.lat.${process.pid}`;
+const payload = new Uint8Array(size);
+
+function pct(sorted, p) {
+  if (!sorted.length) return 0;
+  const i = Math.min(sorted.length - 1, Math.floor((p / 100) * sorted.length));
+  return sorted[i];
+}
+
+const samples = [];
+if (mode === "reconnect") {
+  const subNc = await connect({ servers, name: "lat-sub" });
+  let resolveOne = null;
+  const sub = subNc.subscribe(subject, { max: count });
+  const consume = (async () => {
+    for await (const m of sub) {
+      const sent = Number(m.headers?.get("t") || 0);
+      samples.push(Number(process.hrtime.bigint() / 1000n) - sent);
+      resolveOne?.();
+    }
+  })();
+  await subNc.flush();
+  for (let i = 0; i < count; i++) {
+    const got = new Promise((r) => {
+      resolveOne = r;
+    });
+    const pubNc = await connect({ servers, name: `lat-re-${i}` });
+    const h = headers();
+    h.set("t", String(process.hrtime.bigint() / 1000n));
+    pubNc.publish(subject, payload, { headers: h });
+    await pubNc.flush();
+    await got;
+    await pubNc.close();
+  }
+  await consume;
+  await subNc.close();
+} else if (mode === "ping") {
+  const subNc = await connect({ servers, name: "lat-sub" });
+  const pubNc = await connect({ servers, name: "lat-pub" });
+  let resolveOne = null;
+  const sub = subNc.subscribe(subject, { max: count });
+  const consume = (async () => {
+    for await (const m of sub) {
+      const sent = Number(m.headers?.get("t") || 0);
+      samples.push(Number(process.hrtime.bigint() / 1000n) - sent);
+      resolveOne?.();
+    }
+  })();
+  await subNc.flush();
+  for (let i = 0; i < count; i++) {
+    const got = new Promise((r) => {
+      resolveOne = r;
+    });
+    const h = headers();
+    h.set("t", String(process.hrtime.bigint() / 1000n));
+    pubNc.publish(subject, payload, { headers: h });
+    await got;
+  }
+  await consume;
+  await pubNc.close();
+  await subNc.close();
+} else {
+  const subNc = await connect({ servers, name: "lat-sub" });
+  const sub = subNc.subscribe(subject, { max: count });
+  const done = (async () => {
+    for await (const m of sub) {
+      const sent = Number(m.headers?.get("t") || 0);
+      if (sent) samples.push(Number(process.hrtime.bigint() / 1000n) - sent);
+    }
+  })();
+  await subNc.flush();
+  const per = Math.ceil(count / pubs);
+  const publishers = [];
+  for (let p = 0; p < pubs; p++) {
+    publishers.push(
+      (async () => {
+        const nc = await connect({ servers, name: `lat-pub-${p}` });
+        const n = p === pubs - 1 ? count - per * (pubs - 1) : per;
+        for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
+          const h = headers();
+          h.set("t", String(process.hrtime.bigint() / 1000n));
+          nc.publish(subject, payload, { headers: h });
+        }
+        await nc.flush();
+        await nc.close();
+      })(),
+    );
+  }
+  await Promise.all(publishers);
+  await done;
+  await subNc.close();
+}
+
+samples.sort((a, b) => a - b);
+const sum = samples.reduce((a, b) => a + b, 0);
+const us = (n) => `${(n / 1000).toFixed(3)}ms`;
+console.log(
+  JSON.stringify({
+    count: samples.length,
+    pubs,
+    size,
+    mode,
+    min_us: samples[0],
+    avg_us: Math.round(sum / samples.length),
+    p50_us: pct(samples, 50),
+    p90_us: pct(samples, 90),
+    p99_us: pct(samples, 99),
+    max_us: samples[samples.length - 1],
+    min: us(samples[0]),
+    avg: us(sum / samples.length),
+    p50: us(pct(samples, 50)),
+    p90: us(pct(samples, 90)),
+    p99: us(pct(samples, 99)),
+    max: us(samples[samples.length - 1]),
+  }),
+);
diff --git a/scripts/lib-ct.sh b/scripts/lib-ct.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1a4ff8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/lib-ct.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+# shellcheck shell=bash
+# Shared LXC bootstrap for NS1 Proxmox. Does not generate SSH keys if one exists.
+export PATH="/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:$PATH"
+
+ct_require_proxmox() {
+  if [[ ! -d /etc/pve/nodes ]]; then
+    echo "not a Proxmox host" >&2
+    return 1
+  fi
+  command -v pct >/dev/null || { echo "pct missing" >&2; return 1; }
+}
+
+ct_ensure() {
+  local vmid="$1" hostname="$2" ip="$3"
+  if [[ ! -f "$TEMPLATE" ]]; then
+    echo "missing template $TEMPLATE" >&2
+    return 1
+  fi
+  if ! sudo pct status "$vmid" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo "pct create $vmid $hostname $ip/24"
+    sudo pct create "$vmid" "$TEMPLATE" \
+      --hostname "$hostname" \
+      --memory "$MEMORY" --cores "$CORES" --swap 256 \
+      --net0 "name=eth0,bridge=${BRIDGE},ip=${ip}/24,gw=${GW},type=veth" \
+      --rootfs "${STORAGE}:${DISK}" \
+      --unprivileged 1 --onboot 1 --nameserver "$DNS" \
+      --features nesting=1 \
+      --ostype ubuntu
+  else
+    echo "CT $vmid already exists"
+  fi
+  sudo pct start "$vmid" 2>/dev/null || true
+  local i
+  for i in $(seq 1 40); do
+    sudo pct exec "$vmid" -- true 2>/dev/null && return 0
+    sleep 2
+  done
+  echo "CT $vmid did not start" >&2
+  return 1
+}
+
+ct_bootstrap_user() {
+  local vmid="$1"
+  local pub=""
+  [[ -f "$HOME/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub" ]] && pub="$(cat "$HOME/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub")"
+  [[ -z "$pub" && -f "$HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys" ]] && pub="$(head -1 "$HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys")"
+  [[ -n "$pub" ]] || { echo "no ssh public key" >&2; return 1; }
+  sudo pct exec "$vmid" -- bash -lc "
+set -e
+export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+apt-get update -qq
+apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends openssh-server sudo curl ca-certificates xz-utils tar
+id $USER_NAME >/dev/null 2>&1 || useradd -m -s /bin/bash $USER_NAME
+echo '$USER_NAME ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL' >/etc/sudoers.d/90-$USER_NAME
+chmod 440 /etc/sudoers.d/90-$USER_NAME
+install -d -m 700 -o $USER_NAME -g $USER_NAME /home/$USER_NAME/.ssh
+grep -qxF '$pub' /home/$USER_NAME/.ssh/authorized_keys 2>/dev/null || echo '$pub' >>/home/$USER_NAME/.ssh/authorized_keys
+chown $USER_NAME:$USER_NAME /home/$USER_NAME/.ssh/authorized_keys
+chmod 600 /home/$USER_NAME/.ssh/authorized_keys
+systemctl enable --now ssh
+"
+}
diff --git a/scripts/maximize-ns1-study.sh b/scripts/maximize-ns1-study.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..7799a6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/maximize-ns1-study.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Maximize nats LXC resources + RAM-disk JetStream, run the NS1 study, then
+# put product streams back on ZFS. Cores/RAM/max_mem stay raised.
+# Must run on NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG.
+set -euo pipefail
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)"
+export PATH="/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH"
+
+HOST="$(hostname -f 2>/dev/null || hostname)"
+case "$HOST" in
+  NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG|NS1|ns1.georgelambert.org|ns1) ;;
+  *)
+    echo "refusing: maximize-ns1-study.sh must run on NS1, got '$HOST'" >&2
+    exit 1
+    ;;
+esac
+
+CORES="${CORES:-8}"
+MEMORY="${MEMORY:-16384}"
+TMPFS_SIZE="${TMPFS_SIZE:-8G}"
+NATS_VMS=(511 512 513)
+ALL_VMS=(510 511 512 513)
+
+apply_resources() {
+  local v
+  for v in "${ALL_VMS[@]}"; do
+    echo "pct set $v --cores $CORES --memory $MEMORY"
+    sudo pct set "$v" --cores "$CORES" --memory "$MEMORY"
+  done
+}
+
+patch_max_mem() {
+  local v
+  for v in "${NATS_VMS[@]}"; do
+    sudo pct exec "$v" -- sed -i -E 's/max_mem:[[:space:]]*[0-9]+[MmGg]/max_mem: 8G/' /etc/nats/nats.conf
+    sudo pct exec "$v" -- grep -n max_mem /etc/nats/nats.conf
+  done
+}
+
+mount_tmpfs() {
+  local v
+  for v in "${NATS_VMS[@]}"; do
+    sudo pct exec "$v" -- bash -lc "
+set -e
+systemctl stop nats-server
+mkdir -p /var/lib/nats/jetstream
+if ! mountpoint -q /var/lib/nats/jetstream; then
+  mount -t tmpfs -o size=${TMPFS_SIZE} nats-js /var/lib/nats/jetstream
+fi
+chown nats:nats /var/lib/nats/jetstream
+chmod 755 /var/lib/nats/jetstream
+systemctl start nats-server
+mount | grep jetstream
+"
+  done
+}
+
+unmount_tmpfs() {
+  local v
+  for v in "${NATS_VMS[@]}"; do
+    sudo pct exec "$v" -- bash -lc '
+set -e
+systemctl stop nats-server || true
+if mountpoint -q /var/lib/nats/jetstream; then
+  umount /var/lib/nats/jetstream
+fi
+mkdir -p /var/lib/nats/jetstream
+chown nats:nats /var/lib/nats/jetstream
+systemctl start nats-server
+'
+  done
+}
+
+wait_cluster() {
+  local n=0
+  until sudo pct exec 511 -- curl -fsS --max-time 2 http://127.0.0.1:8222/varz >/dev/null 2>&1; do
+    n=$((n + 1))
+    [[ $n -lt 30 ]] || { echo "nats-a varz not up" >&2; return 1; }
+    sleep 1
+  done
+  sleep 2
+}
+
+restore_durable() {
+  echo "restoring ZFS JetStream (product streams)"
+  unmount_tmpfs
+  wait_cluster
+  bash "$ROOT/scripts/ensure-streams.sh" || true
+}
+
+apply_resources
+patch_max_mem
+mount_tmpfs
+wait_cluster
+trap restore_durable EXIT
+
+export JS_EXTRA_MEMORY=1
+export COMPARE_DIR="${COMPARE_DIR:-$ROOT/results/20260912T051237Z}"
+# recorded in host-before by appending after dump starts — study script reads pct config live
+bash "$ROOT/scripts/study-on-ns1.sh"
+
+echo "maximize study finished; trap will restore ZFS jetstream"
diff --git a/scripts/mqtt-probe.mjs b/scripts/mqtt-probe.mjs
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..cdcc63f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/mqtt-probe.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+/** MQTT QoS0 publish rate against nats-server MQTT gateway. */
+import mqtt from "mqtt";
+
+const url = process.argv[2] || "mqtt://10.10.10.21:1883";
+const count = Number(process.argv[3] || 5000);
+const size = Number(process.argv[4] || 128);
+const payload = Buffer.alloc(size, 9);
+const topic = `bench/mqtt/${process.pid}`;
+
+const c = mqtt.connect(url, { reconnectPeriod: 0, connectTimeout: 5000 });
+await new Promise((res, rej) => {
+  c.on("connect", res);
+  c.on("error", rej);
+});
+const t0 = process.hrtime.bigint();
+for (let i = 0; i < count; i++) {
+  await new Promise((res, rej) => c.publish(topic, payload, { qos: 0 }, (err) => (err ? rej(err) : res())));
+}
+const ns = Number(process.hrtime.bigint() - t0);
+c.end(true);
+const sec = ns / 1e9;
+console.log(
+  JSON.stringify({
+    mode: "mqtt-qos0",
+    count,
+    size,
+    url,
+    secs: Number(sec.toFixed(3)),
+    pubs_per_sec: Math.round(count / sec),
+    mb_per_sec: Number(((count * size) / sec / 1e6).toFixed(2)),
+  }),
+);
diff --git a/scripts/ns1-study-methodology.md b/scripts/ns1-study-methodology.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2d3423d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/ns1-study-methodology.md
@@ -0,0 +1,202 @@
+## 4. Study methodology
+
+### 4.1 Question
+
+On the NS1 test stand, what message **throughput** and **delay** does the three-node `verae` JetStream cluster deliver at several loads, and which part of the stack is the limiter for product traffic (jobs, events, webhooks, archive)?
+
+### 4.2 Hypotheses (stated before the run)
+
+1. **H1 — Core vs JetStream.** Fire-and-forget core NATS is at least an order of magnitude faster than JetStream **file + replicas=3**, because durable publish waits for a majority disk replica.
+2. **H2 — JetStream parallelism.** Adding publishers does **not** linearly increase JetStream write rate once the replica log is saturated.
+3. **H3 — Quiet delay.** Sequential pub→sub round trip on `vmbr1` is well under 1 ms p99 when the consumer is waiting.
+4. **H4 — Burst delay.** If publishers dump a batch before the subscriber drains, observed delay is **queueing time**, roughly linear in backlog, not in cluster hop count.
+5. **H5 — Payload.** Moving 128 B → 1 KiB lowers message rate and raises byte rate on core NATS; JetStream in this size band stays replica/fsync bound.
+
+### 4.3 Independent variables (what we changed)
+
+| Factor | Levels |
+|--------|--------|
+| Transport | Core NATS pub/sub vs JetStream file replicas=3 |
+| Publisher count | 1, 2, 4, 8 |
+| Subscriber count | 0 (JS publish-only), 1, 2, 4, 8 |
+| Message count | 1k, 5k, 10k, 20k, 50k, 100k, 200k (by ladder step) |
+| Payload | 128 B, 1024 B |
+| Delay mode | **ping** (publish, wait, repeat) vs **flood** (publish all, then drain) |
+
+### 4.4 Dependent variables (what we recorded)
+
+| Metric | Instrument | Unit |
+|--------|------------|------|
+| Publish rate | `nats bench` 0.1.6 Pub stats | msgs/s, MB/s |
+| Subscribe rate | `nats bench` Sub stats | msgs/s, MB/s |
+| Aggregate | `nats bench` NATS Pub/Sub stats | msgs/s (fan-out counts both sides) |
+| Publisher spread | nats min/avg/max **msgs/s** | not delay |
+| One-way-ish RTT | `latency.mjs` header timestamp | min, avg, p50, p90, p99, max |
+| Host load | `/proc/loadavg` before and after | load average |
+| Broker counters | `http://127.0.0.1:8222/varz` inside each nats LXC | connections, in/out msgs, cpu, mem |
+
+**Important:** nats CLI 0.1.6 min/avg/max are **rate spread across publishers**, not microseconds of delay. Delay is only `latency.mjs`.
+
+### 4.5 Controls and constants
+
+- Cluster name `verae`, three routes, client `:4222`, cluster `:6222`, monitor loopback `:8222`.
+- Client URL always the three-node list on `vmbr1` (never host `127.0.0.1:4222`, never `vmbr0`).
+- Bench client is LXC **510**, not a nats-* server.
+- JetStream bench stream name `benchstream`, **file** storage, **replicas=3**, deleted between JS loads (`nats stream rm --force`) so names do not collide.
+- Product streams were **not** the bench target (no load test on `ZAPIER_*` / `VERAE_ARCHIVE`).
+- No TLS, no nkeys, no account isolation (isolation is `vmbr1`).
+- Same nats CLI version (0.1.6) and `nats@2` Node client as the first ladder.
+
+### 4.6 Procedure
+
+1. Confirm this script is executing on **NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG**. Refuse otherwise.
+2. Snapshot host load, memory, LXC configs, and each nats `varz`.
+3. From NS1, `pct exec 510` the core ladder (1p1s, 4p4s, 8p8s at 128 B; 4p4s at 1 KiB).
+4. Delete `benchstream`; JS ladder (1p, 4p, 4p×1 KiB, 2p2s pull) at replicas=3 file.
+5. Copy `latency.mjs` into 510; ping then flood at several batch sizes.
+6. Snapshot host/`varz` again.
+7. Parse logs on **this host**; draw charts; write HTML and PDF on **this host**.
+
+No publish, subscribe, chart, or PDF process runs on the operator laptop for this study.
+
+### 4.7 Instrumentation path
+
+```text
+[NS1 host 70.88.205.138]
+   study-on-ns1.sh  (bash + python3)
+        |
+        | sudo pct exec 510
+        v
+[LXC 510 verae-px-worker 10.10.10.20]
+   nats bench / node latency.mjs
+        |
+        | NATS client protocol to
+        v
+[LXC 511/512/513  10.10.10.21-23 :4222]
+   nats-server -js  cluster routes :6222
+```
+
+The hypervisor issues the guest commands. The messages themselves never leave `vmbr1`.
+
+### 4.8 Threats to validity
+
+| Threat | Effect on numbers |
+|--------|-------------------|
+| **One physical host** | Three “replicas” share CPU, memory, and usually the same datastore. This measures process/LXC HA, not disk HA. |
+| **Shared load** | NS1 also runs Caddy, Forgejo, keep, fleet, portal, and other CTs. Load average during a run is part of the result, not noise to ignore. |
+| **Single bench client** | All publishers live in 510. Per-publisher rate spread is contention in that guest. |
+| **Short runs** | Seconds of traffic. No compaction, no multi-hour page-cache eviction, no snapshot during load. |
+| **No TLS/nkeys** | Production auth will cost CPU. Do not treat these rates as post-nkeys rates. |
+| **Fan-out aggregate** | Core aggregate msgs/s counts pub+sub. Do not compare that column to JetStream unique writes. |
+| **Flood ≠ RTT** | Mixing flood averages with ping p99 produces a fake “NATS is slow” story. |
+| **Lab only** | Not a Zapier HTTPS bench and not live `api.veraetime.net`. |
+
+### 4.9 Ethics / safety
+
+Bench uses throwaway subjects (`bench.core.*`, `bench.js.*`, `bench.lat.*`) and a throwaway stream. It does not purge product streams. Zapier cloud has no NATS socket.
+
+---
+
+## 5. Suggestions for fine-tuning
+
+These follow from the method and from the first ladder on this stand (JetStream ~16k durable 128 B pubs/s; ping ~0.3 ms; flood hundreds of ms). Apply in order of leverage. Re-run **this NS1 study** after each change so the delta is measured the same way.
+
+### 5.1 Treat JetStream as the product limiter
+
+Product jobs/events/webhooks/archive are durable. Tuning core NATS to 2M msgs/s will not move a timestamp Zap. Put effort into **replica write path** and **consumer lag**, not core fan-out.
+
+### 5.2 Split storage class by stream
+
+| Stream | Suggested store | Why |
+|--------|-----------------|-----|
+| `ZAPIER_JOBS` | file, r=3 | Work queue; lose-a-job is bad |
+| `ZAPIER_EVENTS` | file r=3, or memory r=3 if events are rebuildable from job status | Hot waiters; measure both |
+| `ZAPIER_WEBHOOKS` | file, r=3, workqueue | HTTPS to Zapier is the slow consumer |
+| `ZAPIER_USAGE` | file, r=3, limits + max-age | Telemetry |
+| `VERAE_ARCHIVE` | file, r=3, on the **best disk** | Puts are larger and must survive |
+
+Try `ZAPIER_EVENTS` as memory store in a maintenance window and re-run only the JS + ping/flood steps. If ping stays ~0.3 ms and durable events still ack at a higher rate, keep it; if a CT restart drops in-flight waiters, revert.
+
+### 5.3 Give JetStream real disks
+
+Today r=3 on three LXC guests on **one Proxmox host** is three files, one failure domain.
+
+- Bind-mount a distinct SSD/NVMe (or ZFS dataset with its own vdev) into each nats LXC `store_dir`.
+- Set `sync: always` only on archive if you need it; default sync is often enough for jobs and is faster. Measure.
+- Do not put JetStream `store_dir` on the same busy rootfs as Forgejo/Caddy if we can avoid it.
+- When moving to three metal boxes: same configs, private NIC, one disk (or mirror) **per node**. That is the first change that makes r=3 mean “two boxes can die.”
+
+### 5.4 Isolate the nats CTs from the rest of NS1
+
+Host load on this box is often already several. Pin:
+
+- `nats-a/b/c`: dedicated cores, no steal from keep/fleet Node processes.
+- Memory high enough that file-backed streams stay cache-hot for the working set.
+- `cpuunits` / cpuset in `pct config` so a Zapier-facing Node GC pause does not stall fsync.
+
+Re-run this study after pinning; H1/H2 should move more than ping.
+
+### 5.5 Consumer and mailbox tuning (delay H4)
+
+Flood delay is backlog / consume_rate. Fine-tune the **waiters**, not the broker RTT.
+
+- `jobs.events` and `webhooks.deliver`: raise `max_ack_pending` so a slow HTTPS hook does not stall the whole consumer; cap it so a poison message cannot unbounded-buffer RAM.
+- Pull consumers: larger batch, shorter `expires`, more pullers horizontally (fleet replica floors) instead of one fat subscriber.
+- Middleware should **not** flood-publish then wait; it already does per-job publish. Keep that. The flood test is the outage profile when a consumer is stopped.
+- Alert on **consumer lag** (pending + ack pending) from JetStream, not on ping RTT.
+
+### 5.6 Publisher-side batching in middleware
+
+A timestamp job is one small JSON. 16k msgs/s is ample. Still:
+
+- Avoid per-byte publishes; one message per job/event.
+- Reuse NATS connections (connection churn showed up as publisher spread in the core 4p/8p runs).
+- Idempotent `msg id` / duplicate window sized to Verae retry window, not default-only.
+
+### 5.7 nats-server knobs worth measuring (A/B with this script)
+
+| Knob | Why try it |
+|------|------------|
+| `max_payload` | Keep default unless archive puts grow |
+| `write_deadline` | Slow consumer protection for webhooks |
+| `max_pending` | Bound memory on a stuck Zapier hook |
+| `max_connections` | Fleet workers + keep + middleware |
+| JetStream `max_file_store` / `max_memory_store` | Prevent one stream from filling the CT |
+| `max_outstanding_catchup` | Replica restart after a nats-c blip |
+| GOMAXPROCS = LXC cores | Do not overthread a 2-core CT |
+
+Change **one** knob, re-run `study-on-ns1.sh`, compare JetStream 1p 128 B and ping p99.
+
+### 5.8 Network
+
+- Keep NATS off `vmbr0`. No change.
+- When on metal: dedicated NIC or VLAN for cluster `:6222` vs client `:4222` if possible (replication vs client load).
+- Check virtio queue counts on the LXC nics if core 1 KiB byte rate plateaus.
+
+### 5.9 Security cost (when nkeys/mTLS flip)
+
+`verae-nats-accounts` is still a sketch. Enabling accounts will add CPU on publish. Budget: re-run this exact study **after** creds are in every `NATS_URL`, and accept a drop on both core and JS. Do not flip without that measurement.
+
+### 5.10 Operational fine-tuning (lag, not peak msgs/s)
+
+1. Scrape `varz` / `jsz` from the host over `vmbr1` (not public). Monitor loopback `:8222` is invisible to Prometheus on NS1 unless we add a host-side proxy on `10.10.10.21:8222` bound only to `vmbr1`.
+2. Keep replica floors for webhook-deliver and job-poller — they are the flood defense.
+3. Backup/restore drill of JetStream **during idle**, then a short JS 1p run to see catchup cost.
+4. A 15–30 minute soak (not in this ladder) for page cache and compaction; add that as a third study when disks are dedicated.
+
+### 5.11 What not to tune
+
+- Do not chase core 8p8s aggregate. It is fan-out on a lab bridge.
+- Do not treat flood 400 ms as “cluster RTT.” Fix consumers.
+- Do not load-test on `ZAPIER_*` streams.
+- Do not bind client NATS to `0.0.0.0` on `vmbr0`.
+
+### 5.12 Recommended next experiments (same method, one change each)
+
+1. CPU pin nats-a/b/c → re-run JS 1p + ping.
+2. `ZAPIER_EVENTS`-shaped memory stream vs file (throwaway stream, same flags as this JS ladder).
+3. Distinct `store_dir` disks per node.
+4. nkeys on, same ladder.
+5. Three hardware boxes, same `cluster.env` IPs updated.
+
+Each experiment should produce a new `results/<utc>/` on NS1 and a new progress-repo report so we can diff H1–H5 instead of arguing from memory.
diff --git a/scripts/status.sh b/scripts/status.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1306656
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/status.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)"
+# shellcheck disable=SC1091
+. "$ROOT/cluster.env"
+export PATH="/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:$PATH"
+printf '%s\n' "$NODES" | awk 'NF==3 {print}' | while read -r vmid name ip; do
+  st="$(sudo pct status "$vmid" 2>/dev/null || echo missing)"
+  js="$(sudo pct exec "$vmid" -- curl -fsS --max-time 2 http://127.0.0.1:8222/varz 2>/dev/null || echo '{}')"
+  echo "$vmid $name $ip $st"
+  python3 -c "
+import json,sys
+try:
+  d=json.loads(sys.argv[1])
+except Exception:
+  print('  nats down')
+  raise SystemExit
+print('  server_name', d.get('server_name'), 'cluster', (d.get('cluster') or {}).get('name'), 'routes', len((d.get('cluster') or {}).get('urls') or d.get('connect_urls') or []))
+print('  jetstream', bool(d.get('jetstream')), 'port', d.get('port'), 'host', d.get('host'))
+" "$js" 2>/dev/null || echo "  nats down"
+done
+echo "host loopback still: $(ss -lnt | grep '127.0.0.1:4222' && echo up || echo down)"
diff --git a/scripts/study-on-ns1.sh b/scripts/study-on-ns1.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..e4e424f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/study-on-ns1.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Full message-speed study. Must run ON NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG (70.88.205.138).
+# Orchestration, nats bench (via pct into LXC 510), charts, HTML, and PDF all
+# happen on this host. The laptop is not in the measurement path.
+set -euo pipefail
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)"
+export PATH="/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH"
+
+HOST="$(hostname -f 2>/dev/null || hostname)"
+case "$HOST" in
+  NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG|NS1|ns1.georgelambert.org|ns1) ;;
+  *)
+    echo "refusing: study-on-ns1.sh must run on NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG (70.88.205.138), got '$HOST'" >&2
+    exit 1
+    ;;
+esac
+
+# shellcheck disable=SC1091
+. "$ROOT/client.env"
+CLIENT_VMID="${CLIENT_VMID:-510}"
+STAMP="$(date -u +%Y%m%dT%H%M%SZ)"
+OUT="${BENCH_OUT:-$ROOT/results/$STAMP}"
+mkdir -p "$OUT"
+
+dump_env() {
+  local tag="$1"
+  local f="$OUT/host-$tag.txt"
+  {
+    echo "execution_host=NS1.GEORGELAMBERT.ORG"
+    echo "execution_ip=70.88.205.138"
+    echo "hostname=$(hostname)"
+    echo "utc=$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)"
+    echo "whoami=$(whoami)"
+    echo "pwd=$(pwd)"
+    echo "uname=$(uname -a)"
+    echo "nproc=$(nproc)"
+    echo "loadavg=$(cat /proc/loadavg)"
+    echo "client_vmid=$CLIENT_VMID"
+    echo "nats_url=$NATS_URL"
+    echo "js_extra_memory=${JS_EXTRA_MEMORY:-0}"
+    echo "compare_dir=${COMPARE_DIR:-}"
+    echo "--- nats 511 max_mem ---"
+    sudo pct exec 511 -- grep max_mem /etc/nats/nats.conf || true
+    echo "--- nats 511 jetstream mount ---"
+    sudo pct exec 511 -- mount | grep jetstream || echo "jetstream on rootfs"
+    echo "--- free ---"
+    free -h
+    echo "--- pct list ---"
+    sudo pct list
+    for v in 510 511 512 513; do
+      echo "--- pct config $v ---"
+      sudo pct config "$v" | grep -E '^(hostname|cores|memory|swap|rootfs|mp|net)' || true
+    done
+  } >"$f"
+  python3 - "$OUT" "$tag" <<'PY'
+import json, sys, urllib.request
+from pathlib import Path
+out, tag = Path(sys.argv[1]), sys.argv[2]
+nodes = []
+for vmid, name in (("511", "nats-a"), ("512", "nats-b"), ("513", "nats-c")):
+    raw = ""
+    try:
+        import subprocess
+        raw = subprocess.check_output(
+            ["sudo", "pct", "exec", vmid, "--", "curl", "-fsS", "--max-time", "3", "http://127.0.0.1:8222/varz"],
+            text=True,
+        )
+        d = json.loads(raw)
+        nodes.append({
+            "vmid": vmid,
+            "name": name,
+            "server_name": d.get("server_name"),
+            "host": d.get("host"),
+            "port": d.get("port"),
+            "connections": d.get("connections"),
+            "in_msgs": d.get("in_msgs"),
+            "out_msgs": d.get("out_msgs"),
+            "in_bytes": d.get("in_bytes"),
+            "out_bytes": d.get("out_bytes"),
+            "cpu": d.get("cpu"),
+            "cores": d.get("cores"),
+            "mem": d.get("mem"),
+            "jetstream": bool(d.get("jetstream")),
+        })
+    except Exception as e:
+        nodes.append({"vmid": vmid, "name": name, "error": str(e)})
+(out / f"varz-{tag}.json").write_text(json.dumps(nodes, indent=2) + "\n", encoding="utf-8")
+PY
+}
+
+echo "NS1 study $STAMP  out=$OUT"
+dump_env before
+BENCH_OUT="$OUT" CLIENT_VMID="$CLIENT_VMID" bash "$ROOT/scripts/bench.sh"
+dump_env after
+python3 "$ROOT/scripts/build-ns1-study-report.py" "$OUT" "${COMPARE_DIR:-}"
+echo "NS1 study complete $OUT"
+ls -la "$OUT"/nats-cluster-bench-ns1.* "$OUT"/charts 2>/dev/null || ls -la "$OUT"
diff --git a/scripts/test.sh b/scripts/test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..feb50b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Local syntax check always. Live cluster check when pct is present.
+set -euo pipefail
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)"
+bash -n "$ROOT/scripts/lib-ct.sh"
+bash -n "$ROOT/scripts/create-cluster.sh"
+bash -n "$ROOT/scripts/status.sh"
+bash -n "$ROOT/scripts/bench.sh"
+bash -n "$ROOT/scripts/study-on-ns1.sh"
+bash -n "$ROOT/scripts/maximize-ns1-study.sh"
+bash -n "$ROOT/scripts/exhaustive-ns1-study.sh"
+grep -q 'host: {{IP}}' "$ROOT/conf/nats.conf.tmpl"
+grep -qv '0.0.0.0' "$ROOT/conf/nats.conf.tmpl"
+if [[ ! -d /etc/pve/nodes ]]; then
+  echo "OK (syntax; not on Proxmox)"
+  exit 0
+fi
+# shellcheck disable=SC1091
+. "$ROOT/cluster.env"
+export PATH="/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:$PATH"
+mapfile -t rows < <(printf '%s\n' "$NODES" | awk 'NF==3 {print}')
+ready=0
+for row in "${rows[@]}"; do
+  # shellcheck disable=SC2086
+  set -- $row
+  vmid=$1 name=$2 ip=$3
+  js="$(sudo pct exec "$vmid" -- curl -fsS --max-time 3 http://127.0.0.1:8222/varz 2>/dev/null || true)"
+  echo "$js" | grep -q '"jetstream"' && ready=$((ready + 1)) || echo "not ready $name"
+done
+[[ $ready -eq 3 ]] || { echo "cluster not fully up ($ready/3)" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+# nats CLI on first node
+first="$(echo "${rows[0]}" | awk '{print $1}')"
+sudo pct exec "$first" -- bash -lc '
+set -e
+export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+if [[ ! -x /usr/local/bin/nats ]]; then
+  apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends unzip >/dev/null
+  curl -fsSL https://github.com/nats-io/natscli/releases/download/v0.1.6/nats-0.1.6-linux-amd64.zip -o /tmp/natscli.zip
+  rm -rf /tmp/natscli && mkdir -p /tmp/natscli
+  unzip -o /tmp/natscli.zip -d /tmp/natscli >/dev/null
+  BIN=$(find /tmp/natscli /tmp -maxdepth 3 -type f -name nats | head -1)
+  test -n "$BIN"
+  install -m 0755 "$BIN" /usr/local/bin/nats
+fi
+IP=$(hostname -I | awk "{print \$1}")
+export NATS_URL=nats://$IP:4222
+export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
+nats stream rm VERAE_PX_TEST --force >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+nats stream add VERAE_PX_TEST --subjects="verae.px.test" --replicas=3 --storage=file --retention=limits --discard=old --max-msgs=-1 --max-bytes=-1 --max-age=1h --dupe-window=2m --defaults
+nats pub verae.px.test cluster-ok
+nats stream info VERAE_PX_TEST
+'
+echo "OK live cluster (3/3 + replicas=3 stream)"
diff --git a/scripts/udp-probe.mjs b/scripts/udp-probe.mjs
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..6760964
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/udp-probe.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+/** UDP echo RTT. server: node udp-probe.mjs server [port]
+ *  client: node udp-probe.mjs client <host> <count> [port] [size] */
+import dgram from "node:dgram";
+
+const mode = process.argv[2] || "server";
+const port = Number(process.argv[mode === "server" ? 3 : 5] || 9999);
+
+if (mode === "server") {
+  const s = dgram.createSocket("udp4");
+  s.on("message", (msg, rinfo) => s.send(msg, rinfo.port, rinfo.address));
+  s.bind(port, "0.0.0.0", () => console.log(JSON.stringify({ mode: "udp-server", port })));
+} else {
+  const host = process.argv[3];
+  const count = Number(process.argv[4] || 1000);
+  const size = Number(process.argv[6] || 128);
+  const sock = dgram.createSocket("udp4");
+  const payload = Buffer.alloc(size, 7);
+  const samples = [];
+  let i = 0;
+  const sendOne = () => {
+    const t0 = process.hrtime.bigint();
+    const once = (msg) => {
+      sock.off("message", once);
+      samples.push(Number(process.hrtime.bigint() - t0) / 1000);
+      i += 1;
+      if (i >= count) {
+        samples.sort((a, b) => a - b);
+        const us = (n) => `${(n / 1000).toFixed(3)}ms`;
+        const pct = (p) => samples[Math.min(samples.length - 1, Math.floor((p / 100) * samples.length))];
+        const sum = samples.reduce((a, b) => a + b, 0);
+        console.log(
+          JSON.stringify({
+            mode: "udp-ping",
+            count: samples.length,
+            size,
+            host,
+            min: us(samples[0]),
+            avg: us(sum / samples.length),
+            p50: us(pct(50)),
+            p99: us(pct(99)),
+            max: us(samples[samples.length - 1]),
+            p50_us: Math.round(pct(50)),
+            p99_us: Math.round(pct(99)),
+          }),
+        );
+        sock.close();
+      } else sendOne();
+    };
+    sock.on("message", once);
+    sock.send(payload, port, host);
+  };
+  sendOne();
+}
diff --git a/systemd/nats-server.service b/systemd/nats-server.service
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..86e5076
--- /dev/null
+++ b/systemd/nats-server.service
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=NATS JetStream (Verae cluster node)
+After=network-online.target
+Wants=network-online.target
+
+[Service]
+Type=simple
+User=nats
+Group=nats
+ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/nats-server -c /etc/nats/nats.conf
+LimitNOFILE=65536
+Restart=on-failure
+RestartSec=2
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target