diff --git a/docs/roadmap/implementation.md b/docs/roadmap/implementation.md
index f9fcd6b..1af761a 100644
--- a/docs/roadmap/implementation.md
+++ b/docs/roadmap/implementation.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Performance implementation plan
 
-Status: implementation in progress; Stages 1–2 are complete, Stages 3–11 have not started.
+Status: implementation in progress; Stages 1–3 are complete, Stages 4–11 have not started.
 
 Date: 2026-10-09.
 
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ they are not fixed thresholds or speedup claims.
 
 ## Stage 3: render only the selected PromptKit format
 
-**Status:** not started. **Prerequisite:** Stage 2.
+**Status:** complete. **Prerequisite:** Stage 2.
 
 **Files:** [promptkit.go](../../promptkit.go),
 [promptkit_test.go](../../promptkit_test.go), relevant report benchmarks, and
@@ -342,7 +342,37 @@ report confidentiality; this change introduces no redaction policy.
 **Completion:** YAML requests do not construct text reports, and text delivery
 has no redundant intermediate builder.
 
-**Evidence:** pending.
+**Evidence:** `go test -mod=readonly -count=1 .` passed with the workspace,
+local toolchain, and offline environment settings from the measurement protocol.
+The same five-sample report fixtures passed with:
+`GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local GOPROXY=off GONOPROXY=none GOSUMDB=off go test -mod=readonly -run '^$' -bench '^BenchmarkPerformancePromptReports$' -benchmem -benchtime=200ms -count=5 .`.
+The environment matched Stage 2: Go 1.26.8, linux/amd64, Linux
+6.17.0-41-generic, Intel Core i5-7260U CPU @ 2.20 GHz. The measured source was
+revision `a431540` plus the `promptkit.go` working-tree change committed with
+this evidence. Raw output is in `/tmp/commandkit-performance-prompt-after.txt`.
+
+Every five-sample report case reduced allocation count. Prompt, 4 inputs, text
+changed from 41,287–52,115 ns/op, 26,160–26,161 B/op, 294 allocs/op to
+29,898–35,259 ns/op, 25,280–25,282 B/op, 291 allocs/op; YAML changed from
+88,991–104,671 ns/op, 74,730–74,733 B/op, 557 allocs/op to 83,454–91,286
+ns/op, 71,853–71,855 B/op, 505 allocs/op. Prompt, 128 inputs, text changed
+from 169,155–198,281 ns/op, 145,524–145,531 B/op, 1,171 allocs/op to
+161,185–185,023 ns/op, 128,960–128,966 B/op, 1,168 allocs/op; YAML changed
+from 1,418,692–1,490,181 ns/op, 1,393,508–1,393,568 B/op, 6,039–6,040
+allocs/op to 1,255,623–1,360,926 ns/op, 1,264,474–1,264,486 B/op, 5,104
+allocs/op.
+
+Profile, small extra map, text changed from 74,109–89,337 ns/op,
+70,914–70,918 B/op, 462 allocs/op to 75,818–88,197 ns/op, 69,955–69,959
+B/op, 459 allocs/op; the timing ranges overlap. YAML changed from
+161,470–368,813 ns/op, 162,688–162,717 B/op, 755 allocs/op to 107,244–127,744
+ns/op, 114,793–114,795 B/op, 533 allocs/op. Profile, large extra map, text
+changed from 1,277,396–2,583,950 ns/op, 836,141–836,296 B/op, 3,027–3,028
+allocs/op to 839,692–936,229 ns/op, 826,407–826,448 B/op, 3,024 allocs/op;
+YAML changed from 1,756,571–2,377,499 ns/op, 1,586,728–1,586,849 B/op,
+5,878–5,879 allocs/op to 796,779–976,685 ns/op, 780,391–780,436 B/op,
+3,086 allocs/op. These results confirm that YAML requests avoid text-report
+construction; text requests retain their report semantics and formatting errors.
 
 ## Stage 4: index backend declarations and traverse parents
 
diff --git a/promptkit.go b/promptkit.go
index 2efadca..a813b82 100644
--- a/promptkit.go
+++ b/promptkit.go
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 package commandkit
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"io"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -290,7 +290,17 @@ func runPromptKitPrompt[C any](invocation Invocation, suite PromptKitSuite[C], i
 		return promptKitFailure(fmt.Errorf("PromptKit prompt inspection returned no result"), acquired.Diagnostics)
 	}
 	report := promptReportFromInspection(acquired.Value)
-	return writePromptKitReport(invocation, input.Format, report, formatPromptText(report), acquired.Diagnostics)
+	var output []byte
+	if input.Format == "yaml" {
+		var buffer bytes.Buffer
+		if err := encodeYAML(&buffer, report); err != nil {
+			return promptKitFailure(err, acquired.Diagnostics)
+		}
+		output = buffer.Bytes()
+	} else {
+		output = []byte(formatPromptText(report))
+	}
+	return writePromptKitReport(invocation, output, acquired.Diagnostics)
 }
 
 func runPromptKitProfile[C any](invocation Invocation, suite PromptKitSuite[C], input promptKitInput[C]) Outcome {
@@ -312,11 +322,21 @@ func runPromptKitProfile[C any](invocation Invocation, suite PromptKitSuite[C],
 		return promptKitFailure(fmt.Errorf("PromptKit profile inspection returned no result"), acquired.Diagnostics)
 	}
 	report := profileReportFromInspection(acquired.Value)
-	textReport, err := formatProfileText(report)
-	if err != nil {
-		return promptKitFailure(err, acquired.Diagnostics)
+	var output []byte
+	if input.Format == "yaml" {
+		var buffer bytes.Buffer
+		if err := encodeYAML(&buffer, report); err != nil {
+			return promptKitFailure(err, acquired.Diagnostics)
+		}
+		output = buffer.Bytes()
+	} else {
+		textReport, err := formatProfileText(report)
+		if err != nil {
+			return promptKitFailure(err, acquired.Diagnostics)
+		}
+		output = []byte(textReport)
 	}
-	return writePromptKitReport(invocation, input.Format, report, textReport, acquired.Diagnostics)
+	return writePromptKitReport(invocation, output, acquired.Diagnostics)
 }
 
 func promptKitFailure(err error, diagnostics []Diagnostic) Outcome {
@@ -325,19 +345,11 @@ func promptKitFailure(err error, diagnostics []Diagnostic) Outcome {
 	return outcome
 }
 
-func writePromptKitReport(invocation Invocation, format string, report any, textReport string, diagnostics []Diagnostic) Outcome {
-	var output strings.Builder
-	if format == "yaml" {
-		if err := encodeYAML(&output, report); err != nil {
-			return promptKitFailure(err, diagnostics)
-		}
-	} else if _, err := io.WriteString(&output, textReport); err != nil {
-		return promptKitFailure(err, diagnostics)
-	}
+func writePromptKitReport(invocation Invocation, output []byte, diagnostics []Diagnostic) Outcome {
 	if err := invocation.Context.Err(); err != nil {
 		return promptKitFailure(err, diagnostics)
 	}
-	if err := writeReport(invocation.Streams.Out, []byte(output.String())); err != nil {
+	if err := writeReport(invocation.Streams.Out, output); err != nil {
 		outcome := incompleteReport(err)
 		outcome.Diagnostics = diagnostics
 		return outcome