---
id: governance.benchmark-versioning
title: Benchmark Versioning
summary: Preserve benchmark snapshots so evidence can be compared across target and standard changes.
kind: reference
product_area: governance
status: stable
updated: 2026-08-23
canonical: /docs/governance/benchmark-versioning
---

# Benchmark Versioning

## Definition

A Benchmark Version is the immutable evidence boundary used by Runs. It identifies the frozen dataset state and admitted evaluator relationships that make a result interpretable. The Benchmark remains a durable program; its versions preserve successive evidence boundaries as Cases, materials, coverage, Policies, or Rubrics change.

## Fields, states, or lifecycle rules

- Create a new Snapshot and resulting Benchmark Version when changed evidence would alter what a Run claims to test.
- Existing Runs remain attached to their original Benchmark Version.
- Current Dataset edits do not mutate a historical version.
- A new Harness Version alone does not require a new Benchmark Version; candidate and evidence versions move independently.
- Comparisons within one Benchmark Version isolate candidate differences more cleanly.
- Cross-version comparisons must name the changed Cases, evaluators, or representation boundary.
- Version identity does not prove that coverage is sufficient or that every admitted Rubric is correct.

## Related objects

Use [Dataset Snapshots](/docs/benchmark-datasets/snapshots) to create the frozen dataset boundary. Use [Benchmark Evaluations](/docs/benchmark-evaluations) to inspect Runs inside one exact version, and [Compare Harness Versions](/docs/benchmark-evaluations/compare) to interpret candidate movement without hiding version changes.

{% example-demo title="Separating candidate change from standard change" %}
Harness Version 12 improves retrieval and is evaluated against Benchmark Version 4, the same boundary used for Version 11. That comparison isolates candidate behavior. Later, experts approve a stricter source-authority Rubric and the dataset gains conflict Cases. The team creates Benchmark Version 5 and reports subsequent Runs under that new boundary instead of presenting the lower score as a regression against unchanged evidence.
{% /example-demo %}

## Source confidence

Code-backed: Benchmark Datasets → Snapshots preserves immutable Dataset boundaries, and the version-scoped Evaluation route binds Runs to one selected Benchmark Version. Coverage quality and downstream decisions remain outside version identity itself.

## Related task pages

{% related-card-grid title="Related task pages" %}
- [Benchmark snapshots](/docs/coverage-engineering/benchmark-snapshots)
- [Benchmarks](/docs/object-model/benchmarks)
- [Compare Harness Versions](/docs/benchmark-evaluations/compare)
- [Product quickstart](/docs/quickstart)
- [Task index](/docs/operating-manual/task-index)
{% /related-card-grid %}