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+# Protocol modes
+
+The benchmark supports two application-layer modes over TLS:
+
+## 1) `raw` (custom protocol) -- primary
+
+Goal: minimal overhead and full control over request/response sizes.
+
+### Wire format
+
+Client -> Server:
+
+- 8 bytes unsigned LE: requested response size `N`
+
+Server -> Client:
+
+- `N` bytes payload (deterministic pattern)
+
+Properties:
+
+- easy TTLB measurement (client reads exactly `N`)
+- minimal parsing and allocation noise (can pre-allocate)
+- stable across HTTP stacks
+
+## 2) `http1` (hyper) -- secondary
+
+Goal: realistic request/response behavior.
+
+Client sends:
+
+- `GET /bytes/N` (or `GET /?n=N`)
+
+Server replies:
+
+- HTTP/1.1 200 with Content-Length = N
+- body = N bytes payload (deterministic)
+
+Properties:
+
+- closer to real-world web traffic
+- introduces HTTP parsing/headers overhead (acceptable for realism tests)
+- TTLB becomes “time to full response body”