diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 9c5ce3b..2aef96e 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -49,9 +49,33 @@
         {
           frigate = pkgs.frigate;
           default = pkgs.frigate;
+
+          # frigate-bench: measure bitcoind RPC cost with frigate's actual
+          # call patterns and HTTP keep-alive (no fresh-curl-per-call TCP
+          # handshake artifacts). Run via `nix run .#frigate-bench` — see
+          # `apps.<system>.frigate-bench` below.
+          #
+          # Style/whitespace warnings (E501 line length, E226/E241 spacing,
+          # E265 block-comment style) are ignored — they fight with the
+          # script's print-table alignment and aren't worth contorting for.
+          frigate-bench = pkgs.writers.writePython3Bin "frigate-bench" {
+            flakeIgnore = [
+              "E501"
+              "E226"
+              "E241"
+              "E265"
+            ];
+          } (builtins.readFile ./tools/frigate-bench/bench.py);
         }
       );
 
+      apps = forAllSystems (system: {
+        frigate-bench = {
+          type = "app";
+          program = "${self.packages.${system}.frigate-bench}/bin/frigate-bench";
+        };
+      });
+
       nixosModules = {
         frigate = ./modules/frigate.nix;
         hetzner-bare-metal = ./modules/presets/hetzner-bare-metal.nix;
diff --git a/tools/frigate-bench/README.md b/tools/frigate-bench/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1e65ad9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/frigate-bench/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+# frigate-bench
+
+A small benchmark that measures bitcoind RPC cost the way Frigate experiences
+it: HTTP keep-alive on one persistent TCP connection, hitting the call patterns
+Frigate's hot loops actually use. Useful for comparing a loopback deployment
+against a remote-backend deployment (e.g. `frigate-edge` over WireGuard) and
+seeing how much network latency the deployment actually pays.
+
+## Why this exists
+
+A naive benchmark like `for i in 1..100; do curl ... ; done` measures TCP
+handshakes more than it measures RPC cost — every `curl` invocation opens a
+fresh connection and pays the 1.5-RTT 3-way-handshake before any data moves.
+Frigate's Java HTTP client doesn't do that; it keeps one connection open and
+streams requests. This script mirrors that behavior so the numbers reflect
+what Frigate actually sees.
+
+## What it measures
+
+| Test | Method | Why |
+|---|---|---|
+| `getbestblockhash` × 1000 | small in, small out | pure roundtrip latency on a warm connection |
+| `getblockcount` × 1000 | small in, small out | same — sanity-check pure latency |
+| `getblockhash(tip)` × 1000 | small in, small out | reorg-detection style call |
+| `getblockheader(tip, verbose)` × 1000 | small in, ~600 B out | header-fetch style call |
+| `getblock(tip, 0)` × 10 | small in, ~1-2 MB raw block hex | initial block sync per-block cost |
+| `getblock(tip, 1)` × 10 | small in, ~50-100 KB | block + txids form |
+| `getrawmempool` × 1 | small in, ~6 MB on mainnet | bulk mempool listing |
+| `getrawtransaction` × 1000 | small in, ~200-2000 B per tx | the inner loop of mempool init / steady-state new-tx scan |
+
+Then extrapolates the per-tx cost across the *full* current mempool to predict
+how long a from-scratch mempool init would take.
+
+## Usage
+
+The script reads `user:password` from stdin (so the password doesn't show up in
+process listings or shell history) and takes the RPC URL as its only argument.
+
+```sh
+# Run directly with python3:
+sudo cat /run/agenix/bitcoind-rpc-creds | python3 bench.py http://127.0.0.1:8332/
+
+# Or via the roost flake (uses the python3 in the closure, no host deps):
+sudo cat /run/agenix/bitcoind-rpc-creds | nix run github:2140-dev/roost#frigate-bench -- http://127.0.0.1:8332/
+```
+
+For an A/B comparison between a loopback consumer and a remote-mesh consumer,
+run the same script from both hosts pointing at the same bitcoind instance:
+
+```sh
+# Loopback (on the box running bitcoind)
+sudo cat /run/agenix/bitcoind-rpc-creds \
+  | nix run github:2140-dev/roost#frigate-bench -- http://127.0.0.1:8332/
+
+# Over mesh (on the edge consumer box)
+sudo cat /run/agenix/bitcoind-rpc-creds \
+  | nix run github:2140-dev/roost#frigate-bench -- http://10.42.0.1:8332/
+```
+
+The two outputs are directly comparable per-line.
+
+## Interpreting the numbers
+
+- The **pure-latency tests** show TCP+HTTP overhead per call on the link. With
+  keep-alive, this is approximately one RTT per call — so an inter-DC link at
+  ~25 ms RTT gives ~25-30 ms per call, while loopback gives ~1 ms.
+- The **big-payload tests** are dominated by bandwidth, not latency. The ratio
+  between local and remote here tells you how much link throughput hurts.
+- The **`getrawtransaction` sample** is the single most relevant signal for
+  predicting Frigate startup cost — frigate calls this per mempool entry on
+  first start. The summary extrapolates to the current mempool size.
+
+A multi-box arrangement where the edge has a fast link to the backend will
+look fine on pure-latency tests but pay ~100-300x in mempool-init wall time
+compared to loopback. That's a one-time cost per Frigate restart, not a
+steady-state cost.
+
+## Not measured
+
+- **Fulcrum/Electrum protocol** — Frigate proxies non-SP queries to fulcrum,
+  but client-driven traffic is low volume in normal operation. If that becomes
+  a concern, this script could be extended to probe Electrum over TCP/TLS.
+- **ZMQ `sequence` delivery latency** — Frigate's steady-state path receives
+  bitcoind tx/block events over ZMQ, then fetches each new tx via RPC. ZMQ
+  delivery is push-based and not amenable to synthetic benchmarking; measure
+  it from frigate's own logs (`INFO Subscribed to ZMQ sequence publisher`
+  appears once subscribed; live tx ingestion latency is visible by comparing
+  the bitcoind mempool-accept time with frigate's processing time).
diff --git a/tools/frigate-bench/bench.py b/tools/frigate-bench/bench.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..518b2b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/frigate-bench/bench.py
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Measure bitcoind RPC cost as the Frigate workload experiences it.
+
+Frigate's hot loops on bitcoind, in order of how much they show up:
+
+  - mempool-init: `getrawmempool` once, then `getrawtransaction(txid, false)`
+    per mempool entry. On mainnet that's tens of thousands of small sequential
+    RPCs. This phase dominates the latency a frigate consumer notices on
+    first startup or after a service restart.
+  - block sync: `getblockhash(h)` + `getblock(hash, 0)` per height. Big payload
+    per call (~1-2 MB raw block hex on mainnet), bandwidth-bound rather than
+    latency-bound.
+  - reorg/probe: `getblockchaininfo`, `getblockhash`, `getblockheader` —
+    small calls, infrequent in steady state.
+  - steady-state per new tx (with ZMQ active): one `getrawtransaction` per
+    transaction frigate is notified about.
+
+This benchmark uses HTTP keep-alive on a single persistent TCP connection,
+matching what frigate's Java HTTP client actually does. Naive curl-per-call
+benchmarks measure TCP handshake more than RPC cost, which overstates the
+latency penalty of a remote backend dramatically.
+
+USAGE
+    frigate-bench <rpc-url>   # reads `user:password` from stdin
+
+EXAMPLES
+    sudo cat /run/agenix/bitcoind-rpc-creds \\
+      | frigate-bench http://127.0.0.1:8332/    # loopback baseline
+
+    sudo cat /run/agenix/bitcoind-rpc-creds \\
+      | frigate-bench http://10.42.0.1:8332/   # over a mesh (edge consumer)
+
+OUTPUT
+    Per-test: total wall time, calls/sec, ms per call. A final summary
+    extrapolates current mempool-init cost from the per-tx sample.
+"""
+import http.client
+import json
+import sys
+import time
+import base64
+import random
+from urllib.parse import urlparse
+
+
+def main() -> None:
+    if len(sys.argv) < 2 or sys.argv[1] in ("-h", "--help"):
+        print(__doc__, file=sys.stderr)
+        sys.exit(0 if {"-h", "--help"} & set(sys.argv) else 1)
+
+    url = sys.argv[1]
+    creds_line = sys.stdin.readline().strip()
+    if ":" not in creds_line:
+        sys.exit("error: stdin must be a single `user:password` line")
+    user, pw = creds_line.split(":", 1)
+    auth_header = "Basic " + base64.b64encode(f"{user}:{pw}".encode()).decode()
+
+    parsed = urlparse(url)
+    host = parsed.hostname
+    port = parsed.port or 8332
+    if host is None:
+        sys.exit(f"error: could not parse host from {url!r}")
+
+    conn = http.client.HTTPConnection(host, port, timeout=60)
+
+    def call(method, params, rid=0):
+        body = json.dumps({"jsonrpc": "1.0", "id": str(rid), "method": method, "params": params})
+        conn.request("POST", "/", body, {
+            "Authorization": auth_header,
+            "Content-Type": "application/json",
+            "Connection": "keep-alive",
+        })
+        resp = conn.getresponse()
+        data = resp.read()
+        if resp.status != 200:
+            raise RuntimeError(f"HTTP {resp.status}: {data[:200]!r}")
+        decoded = json.loads(data)
+        if decoded.get("error"):
+            raise RuntimeError(f"RPC error: {decoded['error']}")
+        return decoded.get("result")
+
+    def bench(label, n, fn):
+        t0 = time.monotonic()
+        for i in range(n):
+            fn(i)
+        dt = time.monotonic() - t0
+        per_ms = dt * 1000 / n
+        rate = n / dt if dt > 0 else float("inf")
+        print(f"  {label:45} n={n:5}  total={dt:7.3f}s   {per_ms:7.3f} ms/call   {rate:7.1f} call/s")
+        return per_ms
+
+    # Warm the persistent connection — first call pays TCP+TLS setup, not RPC.
+    call("uptime", [])
+
+    print(f"target: {url}")
+    print()
+
+    print("[1] pure latency — small request, small response")
+    bench("getbestblockhash", 1000, lambda i: call("getbestblockhash", [], i))
+    bench("getblockcount",    1000, lambda i: call("getblockcount", [], i))
+    print()
+
+    tip_hash = call("getbestblockhash", [])
+    tip_height = call("getblockcount", [])
+
+    print("[2] chain meta — frigate calls these during reorg detection")
+    bench("getblockhash(tip)",            1000, lambda i: call("getblockhash", [tip_height], i))
+    bench("getblockheader(tip, verbose)", 1000, lambda i: call("getblockheader", [tip_hash, True], i))
+    print()
+
+    print("[3] big payload — what initial block sync transfers")
+    bench("getblock(tip, 0)  raw block hex", 10, lambda i: call("getblock", [tip_hash, 0], i))
+    bench("getblock(tip, 1)  txids only",    10, lambda i: call("getblock", [tip_hash, 1], i))
+    print()
+
+    print("[4] mempool-init hot loop — the actual frigate startup bottleneck")
+    t0 = time.monotonic()
+    mempool = call("getrawmempool", [])
+    dt = time.monotonic() - t0
+    n_mempool = len(mempool)
+    print(f"  getrawmempool                                 n=    1  total={dt:7.3f}s   ({n_mempool} txids returned)")
+
+    sample_n = min(1000, n_mempool)
+    if sample_n == 0:
+        print("  (mempool empty — skipping getrawtransaction sample)")
+        return
+    sample = random.sample(mempool, sample_n)
+    per_tx_ms = bench("getrawtransaction (random sample)", sample_n,
+                      lambda i: call("getrawtransaction", [sample[i], False], i))
+    print()
+
+    extrapolated = per_tx_ms * n_mempool / 1000.0
+    print("[summary] extrapolated mempool init cost on this link:")
+    print(f"  current mempool: {n_mempool} transactions")
+    print(f"  at {per_tx_ms:.2f} ms/call → ~{extrapolated:.0f} seconds = {extrapolated/60:.1f} minutes")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()