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+# Benchmarks for the rust-sdk crypto layer
+
+This directory contains various benchmarks that test critical functionality in
+the crypto layer in the rust-sdk.
+
+We're using [Criterion] for the benchmarks, the full documentation for Criterion
+can be found [here](https://bheisler.github.io/criterion.rs/book/criterion_rs.html).
+
+## Running the benchmarks
+
+The benchmark can be simply run by using the `bench` command of `cargo`:
+
+```bash
+$ cargo bench
+```
+
+This will work from the workspace directory of the rust-sdk.
+
+If you want to pass options to the benchmark [you'll need to specify the name of
+the benchmark](https://bheisler.github.io/criterion.rs/book/faq.html#cargo-bench-gives-unrecognized-option-errors-for-valid-command-line-options):
+
+```bash
+$ cargo bench --bench crypto_bench -- # Your options go here
+```
+
+If you want to run only a specific benchmark, simply pass the name of the
+benchmark as an argument:
+
+```bash
+$ cargo bench --bench crypto_bench "Room key sharing/"
+```
+
+After the benchmarks are done, a HTML report can be found in `target/criterion/report/index.html`.
+
+### Using a baseline for the benchmark
+
+The benchmarks will by default compare the results to the previous run of the
+benchmark. If you are improving the performance of a specific feature and run
+the benchmark many times, it may be useful to store a baseline to compare
+against instead.
+
+The `--save-baseline` switch can be used to create a baseline for the benchmark.
+
+```bash
+$ cargo bench --bench crypto_bench -- --save-baseline libolm
+```
+
+After you make your changes you can use the baseline to compare the results like
+so:
+
+```bash
+$ cargo bench --bench crypto_bench -- --baseline libolm
+```
+
+### Generating Flame Graphs for the benchmarks
+
+The benchmarks support profiling and generating [Flame Graphs] while they run in
+profiling mode using [pprof].
+
+Profiling usually requieres root permissions, to avoid the need for root
+permissions you can adjust the value of `perf_event_paranoid`, e.g. the most
+permisive value is `-1`:
+
+```bash
+$ echo -1 | sudo tee /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid
+```
+
+To generate flame graphs feature simply enable the profiling mode using the
+`--profile-time` command line flag:
+
+```bash
+$ cargo bench --bench crypto_bench -- --profile-time=5
+```
+
+After the benchmarks are done, a flame graph for each individual benchmark can be
+found in `target/criterion/<name-of-benchmark>/profile/flamegraph.svg`.
+
+[pprof]: https://docs.rs/pprof/0.5.0/pprof/index.html#
+[Criterion]: https://docs.rs/criterion/0.3.5/criterion/
+[Flame Graphs]: https://www.brendangregg.com/flamegraphs.html