Why the Benchmark Gate Is Called jvq for Just Very Quickly

jvq stands for just very quickly. It’s what you say when someone asks whether a change will slow things down. “It only adds a check, it’ll run just very quickly.” Most of the time that’s true. Sometimes it isn’t, and nobody finds out until the dashboards turn red a month later.

The tool exists for the second case. It takes the words at face value and checks them, on every pull request, against the code before the change.

Three Letters on Purpose

A command you type in a terminal and paste into CI files should be short. jvq run is seven characters. It reads like the other small tools in a pipeline, and it doesn’t collide with a common command on Linux, macOS or Windows.

The letters are also unusual enough to search for. jvq.net, the GitHub organisation just-very-quickly and the binary all share the name, so there’s one thing to remember.

What the Name Promises

Two things. The check itself should be quick to set up: one line in a workflow file, no server, no account. And the code it guards should stay very quick, within a budget you set, such as 5% slower at most.

What it doesn’t promise is certainty on a noisy machine. When the numbers can’t tell a real slowdown from the runner having a bad minute, jvq says inconclusive and adds rounds instead of guessing. The explainer has the reasons.