Performance benchmarking framework and CI gating

[jonathannorris]

Context

At KubeCon EU 2026, the flagd discussion (recap) identified the need for a structured approach to performance testing.

Problem

There's currently no standard way to measure flagd performance across changes, and no CI mechanism to catch performance regressions before they're merged.

Proposal

• Establish a performance benchmarking suite for flagd core evaluation paths
• Integrate benchmarks into CI so PRs can be gated on performance regressions
• Define baseline metrics for evaluation latency, throughput, and memory usage
• Explore CNCF support for running benchmarks on dedicated machines to get consistent results

Related

• [CHORE] Set coverage thresholds for bug-fixes and new features #1772: Set coverage thresholds for bug-fixes and new features
• [CHORE] Review gherkin suite and test-harness for missing test coverage #1774: Review gherkin suite and test-harness for missing test coverage