updated std

README.md

@@ -41,12 +41,13 @@ configuration or object models.
 | **ArrayShape**      | Lightweight array-shape assertions for row validation (`require`).                                     |
 | **BaseArrayHelper** | Internal shared base for consistent API across helpers.                                            |
 | **ArraySharedOps**  | Internal shared operations used by `ArraySingle` and `ArrayMulti` (`each/every/partition/skip*`). |
+| **ArrayValueSetOps** | Internal equality/set engine with exact PHP comparison semantics and collision-verified strict fingerprints. |
 
 ### Config System
 
 | Class               | Description                                                                                                         |
 |---------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
-| **Config**          | Dot-access configuration loader with explicit hook-aware variants (`getWithHooks`, `setWithHooks`, `fillWithHooks`) plus compiled cache export/load and read memoization. |
+| **Config**          | Dot-access configuration loader with explicit hook-aware variants (`getWithHooks`, `setWithHooks`, `fillWithHooks`) plus compiled cache export/load and bounded read memoization. |
 | **LazyFileConfig**  | First-segment lazy loader (`db.host` loads `db.php` on demand) with namespace cache files for structural reads and a flat leaf-index cache for exact scalar lookups.      |
 | **EnvParser**       | Strict dotenv parser with variable expansion and circular-reference detection.                                     |
 | **Environment**     | Process-environment reader and `EnvReference` factory for deferred configuration values.                           |

benchmarks/CoreBench.php

@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ final class CoreBench
 
     private array $singleAssoc = [];
 
+    private array $uniqueNestedLarge = [];
+
     public function setUp(): void
     {
         $this->single = [
@@ -81,6 +83,14 @@ public function setUp(): void
             ];
         }
 
+        $this->uniqueNestedLarge = [];
+        for ($i = 0; $i < 1000; $i++) {
+            $this->uniqueNestedLarge[] = [
+                'id' => $i % 500,
+                'payload' => str_repeat(chr(65 + ($i % 26)), 128),
+            ];
+        }
+
         $this->dot = [
             'app' => ['name' => 'ArrayKit', 'env' => 'local'],
             'db' => [
@@ -184,6 +194,12 @@ public function benchArraySingleUnique(): void
         ArraySingle::unique($this->single);
     }
 
+    #[Subject]
+    public function benchArraySingleUniqueNestedLong(): void
+    {
+        ArraySingle::unique($this->uniqueNestedLarge, true);
+    }
+
     #[Subject]
     public function benchConfigGet(): void
     {

composer.json

@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@
         }
     ],
     "require": {
-        "php": ">=8.4"
+        "php": ">=8.4",
+        "ext-hash": "*"
     },
     "require-dev": {
         "infocyph/phpforge": "dev-main"

docs/array-helpers.rst

@@ -326,6 +326,8 @@ Behavior Notes
 - ``ArraySingle::avg()``, ``sum()``, ``isPositive()``, and ``isNegative()`` ignore non-numeric values.
 - ``ArraySingle::paginate()`` requires ``$page >= 1`` and ``$perPage >= 1``.
 - ``ArrayMulti::whereIn()`` / ``whereNotIn()`` treat ``null`` as a real value when the key exists.
+- ``ArrayMulti::where()`` / ``firstWhere()`` distinguish explicit ``null`` from
+  the two-argument shorthand form.
 - ``ArrayMulti::flatten($array, 0)`` returns unchanged top-level values.
 - Use ``depthGuarded()``, ``flattenGuarded()``, and ``sortRecursiveGuarded()`` when processing untrusted/deep inputs.
 - ``ArrayMulti`` callback helpers such as ``sortBy()``, ``sum()``, ``maxBy()``, ``minBy()`` support ``($row, $key)``.

docs/config.rst

@@ -446,6 +446,9 @@ Config methods:
 - ``snapshot()``, ``restore()``, ``changed()``
 - ``readonly()``, ``isReadonly()``
 
+Read memoization is bounded to 1,024 resolved paths for predictable memory use
+in persistent workers. Mutations and reloads invalidate the memoized values.
+
 Hook-aware methods:
 
 - ``getWithHooks()``

docs/lazy-config.rst

@@ -185,6 +185,10 @@ Important lazy-cache details:
   exist or are not readable.
 - If env values change, rerun ``warmNamespaceCache()`` or flush and rebuild the
   namespace cache.
+- A namespace is marked loaded only after its source returns a valid array, so
+  a corrected file can be retried after a failed read.
+- A full cache flush removes only ``__flat.php`` and valid namespace cache
+  files; unrelated files in the configured directory are preserved.
 
 Method Summary
 --------------

src/Array/ArrayMulti.php

@@ -361,19 +361,7 @@ public static function transpose(array $matrix): array
      */
     public static function unique(array $array, bool $strict = false): array
     {
-        $seenFingerprints = [];
-        $results = [];
-        foreach ($array as $key => $row) {
-            $fingerprint = ArraySingleOps::fingerprint($row, $strict);
-            if (isset($seenFingerprints[$fingerprint])) {
-                continue;
-            }
-
-            $seenFingerprints[$fingerprint] = true;
-            $results[$key] = $row;
-        }
-
-        return $results;
+        return ArraySingleOps::unique($array, $strict);
     }
 
     /**

src/Array/ArraySingle.php

@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ public static function except(array $array, array|string $keys): array
      */
     public static function exists(array $array, int|string $key): bool
     {
-        return isset($array[$key]) || array_key_exists($key, $array);
+        return array_key_exists($key, $array);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -1008,11 +1008,7 @@ public static function where(array $array, ?callable $callback = null): array
 
     private static function invokeValueCallback(callable $callback, mixed $value, int|string $key): mixed
     {
-        try {
-            return $callback($value, $key);
-        } catch (\ArgumentCountError) {
-            return $callback($value);
-        }
+        return $callback($value, $key);
     }
 
     private static function normalizeArrayKey(mixed $value): int|string