diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 09a6897..441c513 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ the part most "ZGC is faster" posts leave out.
 | [`jmh/`](jmh/src/main/java/com/ankurm/zgc/jmh) | Throughput and barrier microbenchmarks | JMH 1.37 |
 | [`jdk27-memory/`](jdk27-memory) | Spring Boot 4.1 service measured on JDK 25, 26 and 27: compact object headers (JEP 534) and G1 everywhere (JEP 523), heap footprint, container sizing with real cgroup limits. Its README and `output/` replace a `docs/` folder; the write-up is [the post](https://ankurm.com/jdk-27-compact-object-headers-g1-default-memory-spring-boot/) | Spring Boot 4.1.1, three JDKs |
 | [`flags/`](flags) | The flag-by-flag production cheat sheet: `MaxRAMPercentage` vs a hardcoded `-Xmx` (one fails safely, one gets the container SIGKILLed), `-XX:-UseContainerSupport`, the `ActiveProcessorCount` lie, and which diagnostic flags (`HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError`, `NativeMemoryTracking`) are worth leaving on in prod — on real Docker containers, JDK 25 and JDK 27. Its README and `docs/output/` replace a `docs/` folder; the write-up is [the post](https://ankurm.com/jvm-flags-for-spring-boot-in-containers-jdk-25-27/) | Spring Boot 4.1.1, Docker, two JDKs |
+| [`jdk28-zgc/`](jdk28-zgc) | ZGC startup and warmup versus initial heap size on JDK 25, 27 and 28 early access with a Spring Boot 4.1.1 server, plus a probe showing that JEP 545/546's `-XX:+ZAdaptiveHeapSizing` is not in any build yet. Its README and `output/` replace a `docs/` folder; the write-up is [the post](https://ankurm.com/zgc-jdk-28-adaptive-heap-sizing-faster-startup/) | Spring Boot 4.1.1, three JDKs |
 
 ### JMH benchmarks
 
diff --git a/jdk28-zgc/README.md b/jdk28-zgc/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..293a658
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jdk28-zgc/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+# jdk28-zgc — what ZGC startup and heap sizing look like today, and what JEP 545 / 546 propose
+
+Companion module for the ankurm.com post
+**ZGC in JDK 28: Adaptive Heap Sizing (JEP 546) and Faster Startup (JEP 545)**.
+There is no `docs/` folder: this README and the captured files in [`output/`](output) are the documentation.
+
+## The honest status
+
+On 12 October 2026 both JEPs show **"Proposed to Target"** for release 28 on openjdk.org. Neither is integrated.
+[`output/01-flag-probe.txt`](output/01-flag-probe.txt) proves it: `-XX:+ZAdaptiveHeapSizing` is an
+*Unrecognized VM option* on JDK 25.0.4.1, Temurin 27+35 and OpenJDK 28-ea+19.
+So this module does **not** benchmark the proposed features. It measures the baseline they are meant to improve,
+on three JDKs, so you can rerun it the day a build contains the flag.
+
+## Versions
+
+| Component | Version |
+|---|---|
+| JDK 25 | Temurin 25.0.4.1+1 (LTS) |
+| JDK 27 | Temurin 27+35 (GA 2026-09-15) |
+| JDK 28 | OpenJDK 28-ea+19 (jdk.java.net build 19, 2026-10-08) |
+| Spring Boot | 4.1.1 (`spring-boot-starter-webmvc`) |
+| Machine | 2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM Linux sandbox (a small box: absolute numbers are illustrative) |
+
+## Quick start
+
+```console
+mvn -B -DskipTests package                      # build with any JDK 25+
+export J25=/path/to/jdk-25 J27=/path/to/jdk-27 J28=/path/to/jdk-28-ea
+scripts/run-all.sh                              # regenerates everything in output/
+RUNS=10 scripts/run-all.sh                      # more runs, tighter medians
+scripts/startup.sh $J28 "my label" 5 -XX:+UseZGC -Xms1g
+```
+
+## Files
+
+| File | What it is |
+|---|---|
+| [`src/main/java/com/ankurm/zgc/DemoApplication.java`](src/main/java/com/ankurm/zgc/DemoApplication.java) | One server: `/hello` allocates 16 KB, `/heap` reports committed and max heap |
+| [`scripts/startup.sh`](scripts/startup.sh) | Wall-clock ms from process start to first HTTP 200, repeated, with min/median/max |
+| [`scripts/warmup.sh`](scripts/warmup.sh) + [`scripts/Warmup.java`](scripts/Warmup.java) | 20,000 requests, 4 threads, timing each batch of 2,000; client is always JDK 25 |
+| [`scripts/run-all.sh`](scripts/run-all.sh) | Runs all three experiments |
+
+## Results (median of 5 runs, milliseconds to first response)
+
+| Config | JDK 25 | JDK 27 | JDK 28-ea |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| ZGC defaults | 3439 | 3421 | 3420 |
+| `-Xms64m` | 3299 | 3276 | 3350 |
+| `-Xms1g` | 3478 | 3275 | 3642 |
+| `-Xms3g` | 3836 | 3618 | 3803 |
+| `-Xms3g -XX:+AlwaysPreTouch` | 4834 | 4560 | 5010 |
+
+Raw per-run lines: [`output/02-startup-vs-xms.txt`](output/02-startup-vs-xms.txt).
+
+Warmup, total ms for the first 20,000 requests (first 2,000 in brackets):
+
+| Config | JDK 25 | JDK 28-ea |
+|---|---|---|
+| defaults | 9708 (2678) | 9912 (2567) |
+| `-Xms3g` | 9193 (2606) | 9608 (2431) |
+| `-Xms64m` | 9247 (2442) | 9893 (2590) |
+
+Raw: [`output/03-warmup.txt`](output/03-warmup.txt).
+
+## What the numbers say, and do not say
+
+- A bigger initial heap costs startup time, and `AlwaysPreTouch` costs the most (about +1.2 s to +1.6 s on a 3 GB heap here).
+- On this small box the effect is a fraction of Spring Boot's own ~3.3 s startup. JEP 545 describes a much larger effect on big heaps
+  (about 0.1 s at 2 MB versus over 10 s at 32 GB). This machine cannot reproduce that, and these numbers do not test it.
+- The first batch of 2,000 requests takes about 2.4 to 2.7 s in every configuration, so for this app warmup is dominated by JIT and class loading, not heap growth.
+- Under ZGC, `InitialHeapSize` ergonomics are 98,566,144 bytes on JDK 25 but 8,388,608 bytes on JDK 27 and 28-ea
+  ([`output/01-flag-probe.txt`](output/01-flag-probe.txt)). I did not find which change causes that, so the post reports it as an observation only.
+- Timings drift between runs. Treat them as indicative, not as a result.
+
+## Licence
+
+MIT, as the parent repository.
diff --git a/jdk28-zgc/output/01-flag-probe.txt b/jdk28-zgc/output/01-flag-probe.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e63704d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jdk28-zgc/output/01-flag-probe.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+== JDK 25
+openjdk version "25.0.4.1" 2026-08-18 LTS
+ size_t InitialHeapSize = 98566144 {product} {ergonomic}
+ size_t MaxHeapSize = 1568669696 {product} {ergonomic}
+ size_t SoftMaxHeapSize = 1411802726 {manageable} {ergonomic}
+ bool ZUncommit = true {product} {default}
+ uintx ZUncommitDelay = 300 {product} {default}
+-- probing -XX:+ZAdaptiveHeapSizing
+Unrecognized VM option 'ZAdaptiveHeapSizing'
+
+== JDK 27
+openjdk version "27" 2026-09-15
+ size_t InitialHeapSize = 8388608 {product} {ergonomic}
+ size_t MaxHeapSize = 1568669696 {product} {ergonomic}
+ size_t SoftMaxHeapSize = 1411802726 {manageable} {ergonomic}
+ bool ZUncommit = true {product} {default}
+ uintx ZUncommitDelay = 300 {product} {default}
+-- probing -XX:+ZAdaptiveHeapSizing
+Unrecognized VM option 'ZAdaptiveHeapSizing'
+
+== JDK 28-ea
+openjdk version "28-ea" 2027-03-23
+ size_t InitialHeapSize = 8388608 {product} {ergonomic}
+ size_t MaxHeapSize = 1568669696 {product} {ergonomic}
+ size_t SoftMaxHeapSize = 1411802726 {manageable} {ergonomic}
+ bool ZUncommit = true {product} {default}
+ uintx ZUncommitDelay = 300 {product} {default}
+-- probing -XX:+ZAdaptiveHeapSizing
+Unrecognized VM option 'ZAdaptiveHeapSizing'
+
diff --git a/jdk28-zgc/output/02-startup-vs-xms.txt b/jdk28-zgc/output/02-startup-vs-xms.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a5494c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jdk28-zgc/output/02-startup-vs-xms.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+jdk25 zgc default run 1: first-response 3439 ms, committed heap 156 MiB
+jdk25 zgc default run 2: first-response 3596 ms, committed heap 154 MiB
+jdk25 zgc default run 3: first-response 3325 ms, committed heap 154 MiB
+jdk25 zgc default run 4: first-response 3529 ms, committed heap 154 MiB
+jdk25 zgc default run 5: first-response 3251 ms, committed heap 154 MiB
+jdk25 zgc default SUMMARY: min 3251 ms, median 3439 ms, max 3596 ms (n=5)
+jdk25 zgc Xms64m run 1: first-response 3291 ms, committed heap 158 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms64m run 2: first-response 3233 ms, committed heap 154 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms64m run 3: first-response 3299 ms, committed heap 154 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms64m run 4: first-response 3488 ms, committed heap 156 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms64m run 5: first-response 3396 ms, committed heap 156 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms64m SUMMARY: min 3233 ms, median 3299 ms, max 3488 ms (n=5)
+jdk25 zgc Xms1g run 1: first-response 3502 ms, committed heap 1024 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms1g run 2: first-response 3475 ms, committed heap 1024 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms1g run 3: first-response 3478 ms, committed heap 1024 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms1g run 4: first-response 3728 ms, committed heap 1024 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms1g run 5: first-response 3395 ms, committed heap 1024 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms1g SUMMARY: min 3395 ms, median 3478 ms, max 3728 ms (n=5)
+jdk25 zgc Xms3g run 1: first-response 3836 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms3g run 2: first-response 4070 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms3g run 3: first-response 3886 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms3g run 4: first-response 3717 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms3g run 5: first-response 3827 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms3g SUMMARY: min 3717 ms, median 3836 ms, max 4070 ms (n=5)
+jdk25 zgc Xms3g pretouch run 1: first-response 5058 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms3g pretouch run 2: first-response 4941 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms3g pretouch run 3: first-response 4801 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms3g pretouch run 4: first-response 4834 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms3g pretouch run 5: first-response 4626 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk25 zgc Xms3g pretouch SUMMARY: min 4626 ms, median 4834 ms, max 5058 ms (n=5)
+jdk27 zgc default run 1: first-response 3598 ms, committed heap 148 MiB
+jdk27 zgc default run 2: first-response 3421 ms, committed heap 148 MiB
+jdk27 zgc default run 3: first-response 3510 ms, committed heap 148 MiB
+jdk27 zgc default run 4: first-response 3280 ms, committed heap 152 MiB
+jdk27 zgc default run 5: first-response 3239 ms, committed heap 150 MiB
+jdk27 zgc default SUMMARY: min 3239 ms, median 3421 ms, max 3598 ms (n=5)
+jdk27 zgc Xms64m run 1: first-response 3276 ms, committed heap 152 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms64m run 2: first-response 3252 ms, committed heap 146 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms64m run 3: first-response 3348 ms, committed heap 150 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms64m run 4: first-response 3479 ms, committed heap 146 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms64m run 5: first-response 3156 ms, committed heap 152 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms64m SUMMARY: min 3156 ms, median 3276 ms, max 3479 ms (n=5)
+jdk27 zgc Xms1g run 1: first-response 3165 ms, committed heap 1024 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms1g run 2: first-response 3475 ms, committed heap 1024 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms1g run 3: first-response 3412 ms, committed heap 1024 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms1g run 4: first-response 3275 ms, committed heap 1024 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms1g run 5: first-response 3237 ms, committed heap 1024 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms1g SUMMARY: min 3165 ms, median 3275 ms, max 3475 ms (n=5)
+jdk27 zgc Xms3g run 1: first-response 4142 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms3g run 2: first-response 3846 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms3g run 3: first-response 3618 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms3g run 4: first-response 3563 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms3g run 5: first-response 3593 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms3g SUMMARY: min 3563 ms, median 3618 ms, max 4142 ms (n=5)
+jdk27 zgc Xms3g pretouch run 1: first-response 4782 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms3g pretouch run 2: first-response 4560 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms3g pretouch run 3: first-response 4385 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms3g pretouch run 4: first-response 4532 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms3g pretouch run 5: first-response 4623 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk27 zgc Xms3g pretouch SUMMARY: min 4385 ms, median 4560 ms, max 4782 ms (n=5)
+jdk28ea zgc default run 1: first-response 3439 ms, committed heap 144 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc default run 2: first-response 3918 ms, committed heap 144 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc default run 3: first-response 3290 ms, committed heap 144 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc default run 4: first-response 3420 ms, committed heap 146 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc default run 5: first-response 3170 ms, committed heap 146 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc default SUMMARY: min 3170 ms, median 3420 ms, max 3918 ms (n=5)
+jdk28ea zgc Xms64m run 1: first-response 3350 ms, committed heap 146 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms64m run 2: first-response 3217 ms, committed heap 148 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms64m run 3: first-response 3367 ms, committed heap 148 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms64m run 4: first-response 3274 ms, committed heap 150 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms64m run 5: first-response 3522 ms, committed heap 150 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms64m SUMMARY: min 3217 ms, median 3350 ms, max 3522 ms (n=5)
+jdk28ea zgc Xms1g run 1: first-response 3458 ms, committed heap 1024 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms1g run 2: first-response 3733 ms, committed heap 1024 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms1g run 3: first-response 3478 ms, committed heap 1024 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms1g run 4: first-response 3642 ms, committed heap 1024 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms1g run 5: first-response 4136 ms, committed heap 1024 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms1g SUMMARY: min 3458 ms, median 3642 ms, max 4136 ms (n=5)
+jdk28ea zgc Xms3g run 1: first-response 3590 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms3g run 2: first-response 3871 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms3g run 3: first-response 3803 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms3g run 4: first-response 3691 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms3g run 5: first-response 3857 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms3g SUMMARY: min 3590 ms, median 3803 ms, max 3871 ms (n=5)
+jdk28ea zgc Xms3g pretouch run 1: first-response 5010 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms3g pretouch run 2: first-response 4882 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms3g pretouch run 3: first-response 5040 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms3g pretouch run 4: first-response 5283 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms3g pretouch run 5: first-response 4764 ms, committed heap 3072 MiB
+jdk28ea zgc Xms3g pretouch SUMMARY: min 4764 ms, median 5010 ms, max 5283 ms (n=5)
diff --git a/jdk28-zgc/output/03-warmup.txt b/jdk28-zgc/output/03-warmup.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2c69430
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jdk28-zgc/output/03-warmup.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+== jdk25 zgc default
+batch ms: 2678 1147 993 749 829 667 715 591 745 588
+total ms: 9708
+committed after load: 342 MiB (max 1496 MiB)
+== jdk25 zgc Xms3g
+batch ms: 2606 1155 909 958 748 674 546 409 637 548
+total ms: 9193
+committed after load: 3072 MiB (max 3072 MiB)
+== jdk25 zgc Xms64m
+batch ms: 2442 1221 971 810 997 689 648 548 480 437
+total ms: 9247
+committed after load: 312 MiB (max 1496 MiB)
+== jdk28ea zgc default
+batch ms: 2567 1217 977 979 907 826 730 590 602 512
+total ms: 9912
+committed after load: 284 MiB (max 1496 MiB)
+== jdk28ea zgc Xms3g
+batch ms: 2431 1282 1112 947 716 709 651 631 566 559
+total ms: 9608
+committed after load: 3072 MiB (max 3072 MiB)
+== jdk28ea zgc Xms64m
+batch ms: 2590 1182 1076 886 796 704 779 717 561 598
+total ms: 9893
+committed after load: 414 MiB (max 1496 MiB)
diff --git a/jdk28-zgc/pom.xml b/jdk28-zgc/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a84ea0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jdk28-zgc/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+  <parent>
+    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
+    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
+    <version>4.1.1</version>
+    <relativePath/>
+  </parent>
+  <groupId>com.ankurm</groupId>
+  <artifactId>jdk28-zgc</artifactId>
+  <version>1.0.0</version>
+  <name>jdk28-zgc</name>
+  <description>Startup and heap-sizing harness for ZGC across JDK 25, 27 and 28 early access</description>
+  <properties>
+    <java.version>25</java.version>
+  </properties>
+  <dependencies>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
+      <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-webmvc</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
+  </dependencies>
+  <build>
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
+        <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
+</project>
diff --git a/jdk28-zgc/scripts/Warmup.java b/jdk28-zgc/scripts/Warmup.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d2ba4d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jdk28-zgc/scripts/Warmup.java
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.net.http.*;
+import java.util.*;
+import java.util.concurrent.*;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.*;
+
+/** Fires TOTAL requests with THREADS threads and reports how long each batch of BATCH took. */
+public class Warmup {
+    public static void main(String[] a) throws Exception {
+        int port = Integer.parseInt(a[0]);
+        int total = 20_000, batch = 2_000, threads = 4;
+        HttpClient c = HttpClient.newBuilder().version(HttpClient.Version.HTTP_1_1).build();
+        HttpRequest rq = HttpRequest.newBuilder(URI.create("http://localhost:" + port + "/hello")).build();
+        AtomicInteger done = new AtomicInteger();
+        long[] batchEnd = new long[total / batch];
+        long t0 = System.nanoTime();
+        ExecutorService ex = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(threads);
+        List<Future<?>> fs = new ArrayList<>();
+        for (int t = 0; t < threads; t++) fs.add(ex.submit(() -> {
+            try {
+                while (true) {
+                    int n = done.incrementAndGet();
+                    if (n > total) return null;
+                    c.send(rq, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.discarding());
+                    if (n % batch == 0) batchEnd[n / batch - 1] = System.nanoTime();
+                }
+            } catch (Exception e) { throw new RuntimeException(e); }
+        }));
+        for (Future<?> f : fs) f.get();
+        ex.shutdown();
+        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder("batch ms:");
+        long prev = t0;
+        for (long e : batchEnd) { sb.append(' ').append((e - prev) / 1_000_000); prev = e; }
+        System.out.println(sb);
+        System.out.println("total ms: " + (prev - t0) / 1_000_000);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/jdk28-zgc/scripts/run-all.sh b/jdk28-zgc/scripts/run-all.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..f1e40d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jdk28-zgc/scripts/run-all.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Regenerates every file in output/. Set J25, J27, J28 to the three JDK home directories.
+# Timing results drift between runs and machines; treat them as indicative, not exact.
+set -u
+HERE="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
+OUT="$HERE/../output"; mkdir -p "$OUT"
+: "${J25:?}" "${J27:?}" "${J28:?}"
+export JDK_CLIENT="$J25"
+RUNS=${RUNS:-5}
+
+# 01 - what does each JDK say about the ZGC flags the two JEPs talk about?
+{
+  for p in "25|$J25" "27|$J27" "28-ea|$J28"; do
+    v=${p%%|*}; h=${p#*|}
+    echo "== JDK $v"
+    "$h/bin/java" -version 2>&1 | grep -v Picked | sed -n 1p
+    "$h/bin/java" -XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions -XX:+UseZGC -XX:+PrintFlagsFinal -version 2>&1 \
+      | grep -E ' (InitialHeapSize|MaxHeapSize|SoftMaxHeapSize|ZUncommit|ZUncommitDelay) ' | sed 's/ \{2,\}/ /g'
+    echo "-- probing -XX:+ZAdaptiveHeapSizing"
+    "$h/bin/java" -XX:+UseZGC -XX:+ZAdaptiveHeapSizing -version 2>&1 | grep -v Picked | sed -n 1p
+    echo
+  done
+} > "$OUT/01-flag-probe.txt"
+
+# 02 - startup versus initial heap size
+{
+  for p in "jdk25|$J25" "jdk27|$J27" "jdk28ea|$J28"; do
+    l=${p%%|*}; h=${p#*|}
+    "$HERE/startup.sh" "$h" "$l zgc default"      "$RUNS" -XX:+UseZGC
+    "$HERE/startup.sh" "$h" "$l zgc Xms64m"       "$RUNS" -XX:+UseZGC -Xms64m
+    "$HERE/startup.sh" "$h" "$l zgc Xms1g"        "$RUNS" -XX:+UseZGC -Xms1g
+    "$HERE/startup.sh" "$h" "$l zgc Xms3g"        "$RUNS" -XX:+UseZGC -Xms3g
+    "$HERE/startup.sh" "$h" "$l zgc Xms3g pretouch" "$RUNS" -XX:+UseZGC -Xms3g -XX:+AlwaysPreTouch
+  done
+} > "$OUT/02-startup-vs-xms.txt" 2>&1
+
+# 03 - warmup: how long do the first 20,000 requests take?
+{
+  for p in "jdk25|$J25" "jdk28ea|$J28"; do
+    l=${p%%|*}; h=${p#*|}
+    "$HERE/warmup.sh" "$h" "$l zgc default"  -XX:+UseZGC
+    "$HERE/warmup.sh" "$h" "$l zgc Xms3g"    -XX:+UseZGC -Xms3g
+    "$HERE/warmup.sh" "$h" "$l zgc Xms64m"   -XX:+UseZGC -Xms64m
+  done
+} > "$OUT/03-warmup.txt" 2>&1
diff --git a/jdk28-zgc/scripts/startup.sh b/jdk28-zgc/scripts/startup.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..60ce355
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jdk28-zgc/scripts/startup.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Usage: startup.sh <java-home> <label> <runs> [jvm args...]
+# Starts the Spring Boot jar, polls /hello until HTTP 200, and prints wall-clock ms from
+# process start to first response plus the committed heap one second later. One line per run,
+# then a summary line (min / median / max).
+set -u
+JH=$1; LABEL=$2; RUNS=$3; shift 3
+JAR="$(dirname "$0")/../target/jdk28-zgc-1.0.0.jar"
+PORT=${PORT:-18080}
+times=()
+for r in $(seq 1 "$RUNS"); do
+  t0=$(date +%s%N)
+  "$JH/bin/java" "$@" -jar "$JAR" --server.port=$PORT --spring.main.banner-mode=off \
+      --logging.level.root=WARN > /dev/null 2>&1 &
+  PID=$!
+  while :; do
+    code=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -m 1 -w '%{http_code}' "localhost:$PORT/hello")
+    [ "$code" = 200 ] && break
+    kill -0 $PID 2>/dev/null || { echo "$LABEL run $r: JVM exited early"; break; }
+    sleep 0.02
+  done
+  t1=$(date +%s%N)
+  ms=$(( (t1 - t0) / 1000000 ))
+  sleep 1
+  committed=$(curl -s "localhost:$PORT/heap" | sed -n 's/.*"committedMiB":\([0-9]*\).*/\1/p')
+  echo "$LABEL run $r: first-response ${ms} ms, committed heap ${committed} MiB"
+  times+=("$ms")
+  kill $PID 2>/dev/null; wait $PID 2>/dev/null
+done
+sorted=($(printf '%s\n' "${times[@]}" | sort -n))
+n=${#sorted[@]}
+echo "$LABEL SUMMARY: min ${sorted[0]} ms, median ${sorted[$((n/2))]} ms, max ${sorted[$((n-1))]} ms (n=$n)"
diff --git a/jdk28-zgc/scripts/warmup.sh b/jdk28-zgc/scripts/warmup.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1a35bfc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jdk28-zgc/scripts/warmup.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Usage: warmup.sh <java-home> <label> [jvm args...]
+# Starts the server, waits for the first response, then runs Warmup.java (always on the same
+# client JDK, JDK_CLIENT) so only the server JVM changes between runs.
+set -u
+JH=$1; LABEL=$2; shift 2
+HERE="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
+JAR="$HERE/../target/jdk28-zgc-1.0.0.jar"
+PORT=${PORT:-18080}
+CLIENT=${JDK_CLIENT:-$JH}
+"$JH/bin/java" "$@" -jar "$JAR" --server.port=$PORT --spring.main.banner-mode=off \
+    --logging.level.root=WARN > /dev/null 2>&1 &
+PID=$!
+until [ "$(curl -s -o /dev/null -m 1 -w '%{http_code}' localhost:$PORT/hello)" = 200 ]; do sleep 0.02; done
+echo "== $LABEL"
+"$CLIENT/bin/java" "$HERE/Warmup.java" $PORT 2>&1 | grep -v Picked
+curl -s "localhost:$PORT/heap" | sed -n 's/.*"committedMiB":\([0-9]*\),"maxMiB":\([0-9]*\).*/committed after load: \1 MiB (max \2 MiB)/p'; echo
+kill $PID 2>/dev/null; wait $PID 2>/dev/null
diff --git a/jdk28-zgc/src/main/java/com/ankurm/zgc/DemoApplication.java b/jdk28-zgc/src/main/java/com/ankurm/zgc/DemoApplication.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1d19290
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jdk28-zgc/src/main/java/com/ankurm/zgc/DemoApplication.java
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+package com.ankurm.zgc;
+
+import java.lang.management.ManagementFactory;
+import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
+import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;
+import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;
+import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;
+
+/** Smallest useful server: one cheap endpoint, one endpoint that reports heap state. */
+@SpringBootApplication
+public class DemoApplication {
+
+    public static void main(String[] args) {
+        SpringApplication.run(DemoApplication.class, args);
+    }
+
+    @RestController
+    static class Api {
+        private final byte[][] garbage = new byte[64][];
+        private int i;
+
+        /** Allocates a little so ZGC has something to do. */
+        @GetMapping("/hello")
+        String hello() {
+            garbage[i++ & 63] = new byte[16 * 1024];
+            return "ok";
+        }
+
+        @GetMapping("/heap")
+        Map<String, Object> heap() {
+            Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();
+            Map<String, Object> m = new LinkedHashMap<>();
+            m.put("javaVersion", System.getProperty("java.version"));
+            m.put("committedMiB", rt.totalMemory() >> 20);
+            m.put("maxMiB", rt.maxMemory() >> 20);
+            m.put("gc", ManagementFactory.getGarbageCollectorMXBeans().stream().map(b -> b.getName()).toList());
+            m.put("jvmUptimeMs", ManagementFactory.getRuntimeMXBean().getUptime());
+            return m;
+        }
+    }
+}