---
configs:
- config_name: default
  data_files:
  - split: train
    path: data/train-*
pretty_name: Mercury (verl efficiency eval set)
license: cc-by-nc-4.0
language:
- en
task_categories:
- text-generation
tags:
- code
- code-generation
- code-efficiency
- benchmark
- evaluation
- verl
---

# Mercury (verl efficiency eval set)

The **eval** split of [Elfsong/Mercury](https://huggingface.co/datasets/Elfsong/Mercury)
(arXiv [2402.07844](https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.07844); 256 LeetCode-style tasks;
the train split ships no test cases and is not gradable), converted to the verl
rule-reward schema by `verl/scripts/data/mercury.py`. Source license
**CC-BY-NC-4.0** (non-commercial) -- this conversion keeps that license.

Every row's ground truth carries the full official scoring contract: entry
point, the task's `convert_offline`/`evaluate_offline` hooks (lctk linked-list /
binary-tree conversions included), the materialised test cases, and the
reference solution pool. All 256 rows verified at build time: at least one
reference solution passes the grading harness locally.

**Scoring** (`verl/verl/utils/reward_score/mercury.py`): the extracted
`class Solution` runs all test cases through the task's own hooks in ONE timed
firejail execution, reproducing the official sandbox
(github.com/Elfsong/Mercury `src/sandbox.py`). On a full pass, the official
**Beyond** percentile is computed against the task's reference solutions
**re-executed on the same machine** (cached per task);
`reward = 0.5*pass + 0.5*beyond`. Eval recipe: `verl/recipe/run_mercury_eval.sh`.

## Known compromises vs the official evaluator

- At most `MERCURY_MAX_REFS` (default 8) of the ~18 reference solutions are
  measured per task, sampled evenly across the LeetCode-runtime ordering, to
  bound reward-time cost.
- `Beyond = clip((max_rt - rt)/(max_rt - min_rt), 0, 1)` -- the paper's formula.
  The reference implementation clamps the numerator at 1 second *before*
  dividing (treated here as a bug).
- Runtimes come from a single un-repeated pass (official parity); on this
  benchmark's small generated inputs, sub-millisecond loop times make Beyond
  noisy at the per-task level. Aggregate Beyond@1 over 256 tasks is stable.
- Execution runs under firejail rlimits, not the official in-process
  reliability guard.