npm install to first boolean

# in the NativeCAD build tree
bash tools/build_packages.sh   # build packages/kernel/dist (only needed once, or after a kernel change)
node tools/bench_ttfb.js       # packs, installs into a fresh dir, requires, runs one boolean — 5 runs, prints the median

1. The number — median of — runs, install through watertight solid

Time from a fresh npm install of the packed kernel, through Node cold-starting the freshly-installed module, through ops.boxBool.unionBoxes() producing a solid that Topology.validate() confirms is closed and watertight. Every run starts in a brand-new project directory with no shared node_modules and no warm require() cache, so no run gets a head start on any other.

2. Why the clock stops at a boolean — what the number claims

Mechanical CAD work is mostly booleans, so the bar is a real modeling operation: ops.boxBool.unionBoxes unions two overlapping boxes into one watertight solid, and the same closed-shell validator the repo's test suite gates on (Topology.validate()) confirms it. A parsed STEP file or a non-null return would stop the clock earlier; this page does not.

3. Self-serve install vs. sales-gated evaluation — sourced from vendor pages

The timing above is measured by this repo's script. How competing kernels gate any evaluation is sourced from the vendors' own public pages, so the two kinds of claim sit in separate boxes.

4. What the number does not include