diff --git a/README_bilt.md b/README_bilt.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f07e3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README_bilt.md
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+# Bilt AR Wagon Fork
+
+go/arwagon
+
+This describes how to use Bilt's GCP Artifact Registry maven wagon fork, which has much improved
+performance. GCP promised they are treating poor Java AR performance as critical, but it is unclear
+when significant improvements will actually be made.
+
+Q: Would it be just as fast to use virtual with fallback to maven central in pom.xml?
+Q: Does remote API have quota problems unlike remote?
+Q: Does remote API not pull from central unlike remote?
+Q: how to do jobrunr crap?
+
+
+
+## Interface
+
+On GitHub, we use remote API; everywhere else we just use maven central. This can be overriden by:
+
+* **-Dcom.bilt.internal.arwagon.bilt-redirect=<value>**, where value is either:
+  * none
+  * standard
+* **-Dcom.bilt.internal.arwagon.other-redirect=<value>**, where value is either:
+  * none
+  * remote
+  * remote-api
+  * maven-central
+
+
+## Performance
+
+On Github ubuntu-latest, with wagon 2.2.5, mvn 3.9.11 (default), mvn go:dependency-offline took:
+
+* tests/maven-0-artifacts: 19:21 min
+* tests/quarkus-starter: 39:04 min
+* tests/payment-svc: 179 min
+
+On local dev machine in VA, maven 3.8.7, tests/maven-0-artifacts (~450 downloads, excluding SHAs):
+
+* maven central: 12s
+* wagon 2.2.5, bilt-maven (mvn will fallback to maven central): 1:27 min
+* wagon 2.2.5, bilt-maven, fallback to maven-central-cache: 5:32 min
+* wagon 2.2.5, virtual: 13:08 min
+* wagon 2.2.5 (edited), virtual, redirect non-bilt to remote AR API: 1:43min
+
+See here for more numbers: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z8XYDS-xTj2Y3EzUMFGM-lqa9zGcHnjo3B_KI-aiiBc/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.hhx1fxwzd219
+
+## Future Improvements
+
+use latest maven with parallelization flags and bf collector (2-10x)
+
+run builds in GCP network (2-10x)
+
+prefetch SHAs/JARs (or lazily verify SHAs)
+
+> Maven fetches pom, then pom.sha1, then eventually jar, then jar.sha1. We can prefetch on
+> pom request, and/or compute the SHAs ourself and verify async.
+
+better connection pooling / http2 (~15% from early experiments)
diff --git a/run_test.sh b/run_test.sh
index bf9c0e0..b3502c6 100755
--- a/run_test.sh
+++ b/run_test.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ SCRIPT_DIR=$( cd -- "$( dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" &> /dev/null && pwd )
 
 TEST_DIR=$1
 
-REPO_URL=artifactregistry://us-maven.pkg.dev/single-scholar-280421/bilt-private-and-maven-central
+REPO_URL=${REPO_URL:-artifactregistry://us-maven.pkg.dev/single-scholar-280421/bilt-private-and-maven-central}
 
 # MVN_IMAGE=maven:3.9.11-eclipse-temurin-21-alpine
 # 3.8.7-eclipse-temurin-17-alpine
@@ -45,14 +45,22 @@ SETTINGS_XML="
       <id>custom-repos</id>
       <repositories>
         <repository>
-          <id>virtual</id>
-          <url>$REPO_URL</url>
+          <id>central2</id>
+          <url>artifactregistry://us-maven.pkg.dev/single-scholar-280421/maven-central-cache</url>
+        </repository>
+        <repository>
+          <id>bilt-maven</id>
+          <url>artifactregistry://us-maven.pkg.dev/single-scholar-280421/bilt-maven</url>
         </repository>
       </repositories>
       <pluginRepositories>
         <pluginRepository>
-          <id>virtual</id>
-          <url>$REPO_URL</url>
+          <id>central2</id>
+          <url>artifactregistry://us-maven.pkg.dev/single-scholar-280421/maven-central-cache</url>
+        </pluginRepository>
+        <pluginRepository>
+          <id>bilt-maven</id>
+          <url>artifactregistry://us-maven.pkg.dev/single-scholar-280421/bilt-maven</url>
         </pluginRepository>
       </pluginRepositories>
     </profile>
@@ -73,19 +81,17 @@ function run_test() {
     repo_dir=$run_dir/_repo
     cmd="mvn $MVN_ACTION -B -Dmaven.test.skip=true $MVN_FLAGS"
 
-    touch $run_dir/settings.xml
+    mkdir -p $run_dir/.mvn        
 
     if [[ -n "$REPO_URL" ]]; then        
         echo "Building wagon..."
         (cd $SCRIPT_DIR && ./gradlew publishToMavenLocal -Dmaven.repo.local="$repo_dir")
-
-        mkdir -p $run_dir/.mvn
         echo "$EXTENSIONS_XML" > $run_dir/.mvn/extensions.xml
-
-        echo "$SETTINGS_XML" > $run_dir/settings.xml
-        cmd="$cmd -s settings.xml"
     fi
 
+    echo "$SETTINGS_XML" > $run_dir/settings.xml
+    cmd="$cmd -s settings.xml"
+
     if [[ -n "$MVN_IMAGE" ]]; then
         if [[ -n "$GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS" ]]; then
             creds="-v $GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS:/root/.config/gcloud/application_default_credentials.json:ro"
diff --git a/tests/bilt-1-artifact/pom.xml b/tests/bilt-1-artifact/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f871ccc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/bilt-1-artifact/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
+    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+    xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+    <groupId>org.acme</groupId>
+    <artifactId>slow</artifactId>
+    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+
+    <properties>
+        <compiler-plugin.version>3.14.0</compiler-plugin.version>
+        <maven.compiler.release>21</maven.compiler.release>
+        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
+        <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
+        <skipITs>true</skipITs>
+    </properties>
+
+      <dependencies>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>com.biltcard.common</groupId>
+            <artifactId>egress-proxy</artifactId>
+            <version>1.1.2</version>
+        </dependency>
+    </dependencies>
+
+    <build>
+        <plugins>
+            <plugin>
+                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>${compiler-plugin.version}</version>
+                <configuration>
+                    <parameters>true</parameters>
+                </configuration>
+            </plugin>
+        </plugins>
+    </build>
+</project>
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