diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 665ad060..8df13b0b 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ DrawCraft is a clean-room, open-source, Rust-native vector illustration app targ
 - `cargo run --release -p drawcraft -- --control 7979 [file.svg|file.drawcraft]`
 - Drive it: JSON lines on `127.0.0.1:7979`, e.g. `{"id":1,"method":"engine.execute","params":{"command":"shape.rectangle","params":{"x":10,"y":10,"width":100,"height":50}}}` then `{"id":2,"method":"ui.screenshot","params":{"path":"/tmp/shot.png"}}`. Methods: `crates/ui-egui/src/control.rs`.
 - **For UI work, look at the result** (take `ui.screenshot`, read the PNG) and compare with `plan/illustrator/02-ui-ux.md` / `10-observed-ui.md`. `ui.screenshot` needs a presented frame: if it errors (screen locked), check the art with `ui.render` / `drawcraft-cli run … --export x.png`, and cover panels with a headless egui frame test (see `panels/transparency.rs` tests).
-- **Performance:** `drawcraft-cli bench FILE [--size WxH] [--iters N]` prints ms/frame (multi- and single-threaded). Check it before and after renderer changes.
+- **Performance:** `drawcraft-cli perf` checks the budgets (render/pan/zoom, hit test, save/open, SVG, Pathfinder) on a synthetic 50k-path document; `drawcraft-cli bench FILE` times one file. Run them before and after renderer, format or geometry changes, on an idle machine (the report warns when the load average makes timings noise).
 - MCP: `drawcraft-cli mcp` (see `docs/mcp.md`).
 - Shell gotcha: `mv`/`cp` are aliased interactive here — use `/bin/mv -f` / `/bin/cp -f`.
 - Parallel agents: separate `CARGO_TARGET_DIR` per agent; edit only the crates you own; write manifests atomically. Each target dir grows to ~30 GB: delete yours when you finish (a full disk fails links with `errno=28`).
diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 665ad060..8df13b0b 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ DrawCraft is a clean-room, open-source, Rust-native vector illustration app targ
 - `cargo run --release -p drawcraft -- --control 7979 [file.svg|file.drawcraft]`
 - Drive it: JSON lines on `127.0.0.1:7979`, e.g. `{"id":1,"method":"engine.execute","params":{"command":"shape.rectangle","params":{"x":10,"y":10,"width":100,"height":50}}}` then `{"id":2,"method":"ui.screenshot","params":{"path":"/tmp/shot.png"}}`. Methods: `crates/ui-egui/src/control.rs`.
 - **For UI work, look at the result** (take `ui.screenshot`, read the PNG) and compare with `plan/illustrator/02-ui-ux.md` / `10-observed-ui.md`. `ui.screenshot` needs a presented frame: if it errors (screen locked), check the art with `ui.render` / `drawcraft-cli run … --export x.png`, and cover panels with a headless egui frame test (see `panels/transparency.rs` tests).
-- **Performance:** `drawcraft-cli bench FILE [--size WxH] [--iters N]` prints ms/frame (multi- and single-threaded). Check it before and after renderer changes.
+- **Performance:** `drawcraft-cli perf` checks the budgets (render/pan/zoom, hit test, save/open, SVG, Pathfinder) on a synthetic 50k-path document; `drawcraft-cli bench FILE` times one file. Run them before and after renderer, format or geometry changes, on an idle machine (the report warns when the load average makes timings noise).
 - MCP: `drawcraft-cli mcp` (see `docs/mcp.md`).
 - Shell gotcha: `mv`/`cp` are aliased interactive here — use `/bin/mv -f` / `/bin/cp -f`.
 - Parallel agents: separate `CARGO_TARGET_DIR` per agent; edit only the crates you own; write manifests atomically. Each target dir grows to ~30 GB: delete yours when you finish (a full disk fails links with `errno=28`).
diff --git a/apps/drawcraft-cli/Cargo.toml b/apps/drawcraft-cli/Cargo.toml
index 980866a9..b2908fa9 100644
--- a/apps/drawcraft-cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/apps/drawcraft-cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -14,7 +14,12 @@ path = "src/main.rs"
 workspace = true
 
 [dependencies]
+drawcraft-color = { workspace = true }
+drawcraft-doc = { workspace = true }
+drawcraft-engine = { workspace = true }
+drawcraft-format = { workspace = true }
 drawcraft-geom = { workspace = true }
+drawcraft-svg = { workspace = true }
 drawcraft-mcp = { workspace = true }
 drawcraft-render = { workspace = true }
 serde_json = { workspace = true }
diff --git a/apps/drawcraft-cli/src/main.rs b/apps/drawcraft-cli/src/main.rs
index ddea5fc5..2deab0b7 100644
--- a/apps/drawcraft-cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/apps/drawcraft-cli/src/main.rs
@@ -5,12 +5,15 @@
 //! drawcraft-cli run [--in file.drawcraft|file.svg] [--cmd id [--params '{json}']]... [--export out.svg|.png|.pdf|.jpg|.webp|.drawcraft]... [--scale 2]
 //! drawcraft-cli commands
 //! drawcraft-cli bench FILE [--size 2880x1800] [--iters 5]
+//! drawcraft-cli perf [--paths 50000]
 //! ```
 #![forbid(unsafe_code)]
 
 use std::io::Write;
 use std::process::ExitCode;
 
+mod perf;
+
 use drawcraft_mcp::{Backend, DEFAULT_ADDR, Headless, Remote, Server};
 use serde_json::{Value, json};
 
@@ -32,6 +35,10 @@ USAGE:
   drawcraft-cli bench FILE [--size WxH] [--iters N]
       Render FILE (.drawcraft/.svg) fitted to WxH (default 2880x1800) and print ms per frame
       (warm), multithreaded and single-threaded.
+
+  drawcraft-cli perf [--paths N]
+      Check the performance budgets (render, pan, hit test, save/load, SVG, Pathfinder) on a
+      synthetic N-path document (default 50000). Exits non-zero if a budget is exceeded.
 ";
 
 fn main() -> ExitCode {
@@ -41,6 +48,7 @@ fn main() -> ExitCode {
         Some("run") => run(&args[1..]),
         Some("commands") => commands(),
         Some("bench") => bench(&args[1..]),
+        Some("perf") => perf::run(&args[1..]),
         Some("-h" | "--help" | "help") | None => {
             print!("{USAGE}");
             Ok(())
diff --git a/apps/drawcraft-cli/src/perf.rs b/apps/drawcraft-cli/src/perf.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8cfa4149
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/drawcraft-cli/src/perf.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+//! `drawcraft-cli perf`: the performance budgets (plan §4) measured on a synthetic document.
+//!
+//! Each row is the median of several runs. Timings are wall-clock: on a busy machine (load
+//! average above the core count) they are noise, and the report says so.
+
+use std::time::Instant;
+
+use drawcraft_color::{Color, Paint};
+use drawcraft_doc::{Appearance, Document, Node, hit};
+use drawcraft_geom::{Affine, Point, Rect, shapes};
+use drawcraft_render::{RenderOptions, Renderer};
+use serde_json::json;
+
+/// Deterministic xorshift in 0..1.
+struct Rng(u64);
+impl Rng {
+    fn next(&mut self) -> f64 {
+        self.0 ^= self.0 << 13;
+        self.0 ^= self.0 >> 7;
+        self.0 ^= self.0 << 17;
+        (self.0 % 1_000_000) as f64 / 1_000_000.0
+    }
+}
+
+/// `n` mixed paths (ellipses with strokes, translucent rectangles, stroked stars) on a 1600×1200 page.
+pub fn synthetic(n: usize) -> Document {
+    let mut d = Document::new(1600.0, 1200.0);
+    let l = d.layers[0].id;
+    let mut r = Rng(42);
+    for i in 0..n {
+        let (x, y, s) = (r.next() * 1600.0, r.next() * 1200.0, 3.0 + r.next() * 22.0);
+        let c = Color::rgb(r.next() as f32, r.next() as f32, r.next() as f32);
+        let id = d.alloc_id();
+        let mut node = match i % 3 {
+            0 => Node::path(
+                id,
+                shapes::ellipse(Rect::from_center_size(Point::new(x, y), (2.0 * s, 2.0 * s))),
+                Appearance::basic(Paint::solid(c), Paint::solid(Color::BLACK), 0.5),
+            ),
+            1 => Node::path(id, shapes::rectangle(Rect::new(x, y, x + 2.0 * s, y + s)), Appearance::basic(Paint::solid(c), Paint::None, 0.0)),
+            _ => Node::path(id, shapes::star(Point::new(x, y), s, s / 2.0, 5, 0.0), Appearance::basic(Paint::None, Paint::solid(c), 2.0)),
+        };
+        if i % 3 == 1 {
+            node.opacity = 0.8;
+        }
+        d.insert(Some(l), usize::MAX, node).expect("insert");
+    }
+    d
+}
+
+fn median_ms(runs: usize, mut f: impl FnMut()) -> f64 {
+    let mut v: Vec<f64> = (0..runs)
+        .map(|_| {
+            let t = Instant::now();
+            f();
+            t.elapsed().as_secs_f64() * 1000.0
+        })
+        .collect();
+    v.sort_by(f64::total_cmp);
+    v[v.len() / 2]
+}
+
+/// 1-minute load average (macOS / Linux), if available.
+fn load_average() -> Option<f64> {
+    let out = std::process::Command::new("sysctl").args(["-n", "vm.loadavg"]).output().ok().filter(|o| o.status.success());
+    let text = match out {
+        Some(o) => String::from_utf8_lossy(&o.stdout).to_string(),
+        None => std::fs::read_to_string("/proc/loadavg").ok()?,
+    };
+    text.split_whitespace().map(|t| t.trim_matches(|c| c == '{' || c == '}')).find_map(|t| t.parse().ok())
+}
+
+pub fn run(args: &[String]) -> Result<(), String> {
+    let mut n = 50_000usize;
+    let mut it = args.iter();
+    while let Some(a) = it.next() {
+        match a.as_str() {
+            "--paths" => n = it.next().and_then(|v| v.parse().ok()).ok_or("--paths needs a number")?,
+            other => return Err(format!("unknown perf option `{other}`")),
+        }
+    }
+    let cores = std::thread::available_parallelism().map_or(1, |c| c.get());
+    let load = load_average();
+    println!("DrawCraft performance budgets — {n} paths, {cores} cores, load average {}", load.map_or("?".into(), |l| format!("{l:.1}")));
+    let noisy = load.is_some_and(|l| l > cores as f64 * 0.75);
+    if noisy {
+        println!("WARNING: the machine is busy; wall-clock timings below are not trustworthy.");
+    }
+    let t = Instant::now();
+    let doc = synthetic(n);
+    println!("  (built in {:.0} ms)", t.elapsed().as_secs_f64() * 1000.0);
+
+    let mut rows: Vec<(&str, f64, f64)> = vec![];
+    let opts = RenderOptions::default();
+    let mut r = Renderer::new();
+    let fit = Affine::scale(1.6);
+    r.render(&doc, 2880, 1800, fit, &opts);
+    rows.push(("render: fit page, 2880×1800", median_ms(5, || drop(r.render(&doc, 2880, 1800, fit, &opts))), 16.0));
+    let mut dx = 0.0;
+    rows.push((
+        "render: pan frame (view moves 7 px)",
+        median_ms(9, || {
+            dx += 7.0;
+            drop(r.render(&doc, 2880, 1800, Affine::translate((dx, 0.0)) * fit, &opts));
+        }),
+        16.0,
+    ));
+    let zoom = Affine::scale(6.4) * Affine::translate((-600.0, -400.0));
+    r.render(&doc, 2880, 1800, zoom, &opts);
+    rows.push(("render: 400% zoom, 2880×1800", median_ms(5, || drop(r.render(&doc, 2880, 1800, zoom, &opts))), 16.0));
+
+    let mut rng = Rng(7);
+    let points: Vec<Point> = (0..200).map(|_| Point::new(rng.next() * 1600.0, rng.next() * 1200.0)).collect();
+    let hits = median_ms(3, || {
+        for p in &points {
+            drop(hit::hit_test(&doc, *p, hit::HitOptions::default()));
+        }
+    }) / points.len() as f64;
+    rows.push(("hit test (per click)", hits, 2.0));
+
+    let mut bytes = vec![];
+    rows.push(("save .drawcraft", median_ms(3, || bytes = drawcraft_format::save_file(&doc)), 300.0));
+    rows.push(("open .drawcraft", median_ms(3, || drop(drawcraft_format::load(&bytes).expect("load"))), 300.0));
+    let svg_opts = drawcraft_svg::ExportOptions::default();
+    rows.push(("export SVG", median_ms(3, || drop(drawcraft_svg::export(&doc, &svg_opts))), 500.0));
+
+    // Pathfinder Unite on 1,000 overlapping paths.
+    let unite = median_ms(3, || {
+        let mut s = drawcraft_engine::Session::new();
+        s.add_document(synthetic(1000), None);
+        s.execute("select.all", &json!({})).expect("select");
+        s.execute("object.pathfinder.unite", &json!({})).expect("unite");
+    });
+    rows.push(("Pathfinder Unite, 1,000 paths", unite, 150.0));
+
+    let mut over = 0;
+    println!("  {:<40} {:>10} {:>10}", "", "measured", "budget");
+    for (name, ms, budget) in &rows {
+        let ok = ms <= budget;
+        over += usize::from(!ok);
+        println!("  {name:<40} {ms:>8.2} ms {budget:>7.0} ms  {}", if ok { "ok" } else { "OVER" });
+    }
+    match (over, noisy) {
+        (0, _) => Ok(()),
+        (_, true) => {
+            println!("{over} over budget, but the machine is busy: re-run when idle.");
+            Ok(())
+        }
+        _ => Err(format!("{over} budget(s) exceeded")),
+    }
+}