mobench

Command-line tool for building, running, reporting, and profiling Rust mobile benchmarks on Android and iOS.

Current release: 0.1.43.

Install

cargo binstall mobench

Or build with Cargo:

cargo install mobench

The package installs both direct and Cargo-subcommand entry points:

mobench --help
cargo mobench --help

Quick Start

# Scaffold a config
cargo mobench init --target android --output bench-config.toml

# Validate local prerequisites and config
cargo mobench doctor --target both
cargo mobench config validate --config bench-config.toml
cargo mobench check --target android
cargo mobench check --target ios

# Build mobile artifacts
cargo mobench build --target android --progress
cargo mobench build --target ios --progress

# List and verify discovered benchmarks
cargo mobench list
cargo mobench verify --target android --check-artifacts

# Host-only smoke run
cargo mobench run --target android --function my_crate::my_benchmark --local-only

# BrowserStack run
cargo mobench run \
  --target android \
  --function my_crate::my_benchmark \
  --devices "Google Pixel 7-13.0" \
  --release

Always use --release for BrowserStack runs unless you are intentionally debugging large development artifacts.

Core Commands

Configuration

mobench.toml controls project-level build settings:

[project]
crate = "zk-mobile-bench"
library_name = "zk_mobile_bench"
output_dir = "target/mobench"
ffi_backend = "uniffi" # default; also supports "native-c-abi" and "boltffi"

# FFI backend for generated mobile runners: "uniffi" (default), "native-c-abi", or "boltffi".
# Use "boltffi" for BoltFFI-generated bindings, or "native-c-abi" for direct C ABI calls.
# ffi_backend = "uniffi"

[android]
package = "com.example.bench"
min_sdk = 24
target_sdk = 34

[ios]
bundle_id = "com.example.bench"
deployment_target = "15.0"

[benchmarks]
default_function = "my_crate::my_benchmark"
default_iterations = 100
default_warmup = 10

ffi_backend = "native-c-abi" selects generated runners that call mobench's direct JSON C ABI. Benchmark crates using that backend should export:

mobench_sdk::export_native_c_abi!();

ffi_backend = "boltffi" selects generated runners that call BoltFFI-generated Kotlin/Swift bindings. Benchmark crates using that backend should export a JSON entrypoint with #[boltffi::export].

bench-config.toml controls a run:

target = "android"
function = "my_crate::my_benchmark"
iterations = 100
warmup = 10
device_matrix = "device-matrix.yaml"
device_tags = ["default"]

[browserstack]
app_automate_username = "${BROWSERSTACK_USERNAME}"
app_automate_access_key = "${BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY}"
project = "my-project-benchmarks"

[ios_xcuitest]
app = "target/mobench/ios/BenchRunner.ipa"
test_suite = "target/mobench/ios/BenchRunnerUITests.zip"

Resolution precedence is explicit CLI flags, explicit --config, discovered mobench.toml, Cargo workspace metadata, git root, then legacy bench-mobile/.

CI Contract

cargo mobench ci run \
  --target android \
  --function my_crate::my_benchmark \
  --devices "Google Pixel 7-13.0" \
  --release \
  --plots auto

Outputs default to target/mobench/ci/:

• summary.json
• summary.md
• results.csv
• plots/*.svg when plot rendering is enabled

Use report helpers to publish or re-render outputs:

cargo mobench report summarize \
  --summary target/mobench/ci/summary.json \
  --plots auto

cargo mobench report github \
--pr 123 \
--summary target/mobench/ci/summary.json

Long or fragile CI lanes can run one measured sample per BrowserStack invocation and merge sample-*/summary.json outputs back into the same contract:

cargo mobench ci merge-split-runs \
--samples-dir target/mobench/ci/android/my_crate__my_benchmark/device/split \
--output-dir target/mobench/ci/android/my_crate__my_benchmark/device \
--function my_crate::my_benchmark \
--device "Google Pixel 7-13.0" \
--iterations 5 \
--warmup 1

BrowserStack

Credentials are read from config, environment, or .env.local:

export BROWSERSTACK_USERNAME="your_username"
export BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY="your_access_key"

Useful device commands:

cargo mobench devices --platform android
cargo mobench devices --platform ios
cargo mobench devices --validate "Google Pixel 7-13.0"
cargo mobench devices resolve \
  --platform android \
  --profile default \
  --device-matrix device-matrix.yaml

Local Native Profiling

cargo mobench profile run \
  --target android \
  --function my_crate::my_benchmark \
  --provider local \
  --backend android-native \
  --trace-events-output target/mobench/profile/trace-events.json

cargo mobench profile summarize --profile target/mobench/profile/profile.json
cargo mobench profile diff \
  --baseline target/mobench/profile/baseline/profile.json \
  --candidate target/mobench/profile/candidate/profile.json \
  --normalize

Supported local backends:

• local + android-native: attempts simpleperf capture, symbolization, folded stacks, native report, SVGs, and flamegraph.html.
• local + ios-instruments: attempts simulator-host sample capture, folded stacks, native report, SVGs, and flamegraph.html.
• local + rust-tracing: planned trace contract only.

BrowserStack native profiling is unsupported in this release; use normal BrowserStack benchmark runs for timing, CPU, and memory metrics.

Programmatic CLI API

The crate exposes typed integration helpers:

• RunRequest
• RunResult
• DeviceSelection
• Report
• run_request
• render_summary_markdown_from_json
• render_profile_markdown_from_json

License

MIT licensed, World Foundation 2026.