diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 13711af..7f1027c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -42,6 +42,25 @@ jobs:
         with:
           token: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
 
+  benchmarks:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    env:
+      UV_NO_SYNC: "1"
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v6
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.13"
+          enable-cache: true
+
+      - name: install
+        run: uv sync --no-dev --group test-codspeed
+
+      - name: Run benchmarks
+        uses: CodSpeedHQ/action@v3
+        with:
+          run: uv run pytest -W ignore --codspeed -v --color=yes
+
   deploy:
     name: Deploy
     needs: test
diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 8539dc9..3b25a42 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ repos:
   - repo: https://github.com/astral-sh/ruff-pre-commit
     rev: v0.12.2
     hooks:
-      - id: ruff
+      - id: ruff-check
         args: [--fix, --unsafe-fixes]
       - id: ruff-format
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d34d020..437e8b5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 [![Python Version](https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/spatial-graph.svg?color=green)](https://python.org)
 [![CI](https://github.com/funkelab/spatial_graph/actions/workflows/ci.yaml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/funkelab/spatial_graph/actions/workflows/ci.yaml)
 [![codecov](https://codecov.io/gh/funkelab/spatial_graph/branch/main/graph/badge.svg)](https://codecov.io/gh/funkelab/spatial_graph)
+[![CodSpeed](https://img.shields.io/endpoint?url=https://codspeed.io/badge.json)](https://codspeed.io/funkelab/spatial_graph)
 
 `spatial_graph` provides a data structure for directed and undirected graphs,
 where each node has an nD position (in time or space).
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 6438ed3..fbc9efb 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -31,11 +31,13 @@ dependencies = ["witty>=v0.2.1", "CT3>=3.3.3", "numpy", "setuptools>=75.8.0"]
 
 [dependency-groups]
 test = ["pytest>=8.3.5", "pytest-cov>=6.1.1"]
+test-codspeed = [{ include-group = "test" }, "pytest-codspeed >=3.2.0"]
 dev = [
   { include-group = "test" },
   "ipython>=8.18.1",
   "mypy>=1.15.0",
   "pre-commit>=4.2.0",
+  "pytest-benchmark>=5.1.0",  # specifically excluded from test group for ci
   "ruff>=0.11.10",
 ]
 docs = [
diff --git a/tests/test_bench.py b/tests/test_bench.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a31e36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_bench.py
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+import sys
+
+import numpy as np
+import pytest
+
+from spatial_graph import SpatialGraph
+
+# either run this file directly or with pytest --codspeed
+if all(x not in {"--codspeed", "tests/test_bench.py"} for x in sys.argv):
+    pytest.skip(
+        "use 'pytest tests/test_bench.py' to run benchmark", allow_module_level=True
+    )
+
+
+def _make_graph(
+    ndims=3,
+    node_dtype="uint64",
+    node_attr_dtypes=None,
+    edge_attr_dtypes=None,
+    directed=False,
+    n_nodes=100_000,
+):
+    """Helper to create a SpatialGraph instance with default parameters."""
+    if node_attr_dtypes is None:
+        node_attr_dtypes = {"position": "double[3]"}
+    if edge_attr_dtypes is None:
+        edge_attr_dtypes = {"score": "float32"}
+
+    graph = SpatialGraph(
+        ndims=ndims,
+        node_dtype=node_dtype,
+        node_attr_dtypes=node_attr_dtypes,
+        edge_attr_dtypes=edge_attr_dtypes,
+        position_attr="position",
+        directed=directed,
+    )
+    nodes = np.arange(n_nodes, dtype="uint64")
+    positions = np.random.random((n_nodes, ndims))
+    graph.add_nodes(nodes, position=positions)
+
+    return graph
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("num_queries", [100])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("k", [1000, 10000])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("n_nodes", [100_000, 1_000_000])
+def test_bench_query_nearest_nodes(n_nodes: int, k: int, num_queries: int, benchmark):
+    """Benchmark query_nearest_nodes."""
+    graph = _make_graph(n_nodes=n_nodes)
+    query_points = np.random.random((num_queries, 3))
+
+    def _run():
+        for i in range(num_queries):
+            # Query nearest nodes
+            closest, distances = graph.query_nearest_nodes(
+                query_points[i], k=k, return_distances=True
+            )
+            positions = graph.node_attrs[closest].position
+        return closest, distances, positions
+
+    closest, distances, positions = benchmark(_run)
+
+    # Verify results
+    assert len(distances) == len(closest)
+    assert positions.shape[1] == 3
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("n_nodes", [100_000, 1_000_000])
+def test_roi_query_performance(n_nodes, benchmark):
+    """Benchmark ROI (region of interest) queries."""
+    large_graph = _make_graph(n_nodes=n_nodes)
+    # Define a ROI that should contain a reasonable number of nodes
+    roi = np.array([[0.25, 0.25, 0.25], [0.75, 0.75, 0.75]])
+
+    nodes_in_roi = benchmark(lambda: large_graph.query_nodes_in_roi(roi))
+
+    # Verify results
+    assert len(nodes_in_roi) > 0
+    assert len(nodes_in_roi) < n_nodes  # Should be subset
+
+    # Verify nodes are actually in ROI
+    positions = large_graph.node_attrs[nodes_in_roi].position
+    assert np.all(positions >= roi[0])
+    assert np.all(positions <= roi[1])