During August 2025, Sam McCarthy focused on enhancing the reliability of CPU topology reporting in the google/perfetto repository. He addressed a critical issue in traced_perf by ensuring always-on CPUs were correctly detected, particularly on x86 systems where missing '/online' files previously led to false offline signals. Using C++ and leveraging his expertise in Linux kernel interaction and system programming, Sam implemented robust handling for absent system files, improving the accuracy of performance tracing data. This work increased the trustworthiness of perf metrics and reduced debugging time, demonstrating a deep understanding of performance profiling and cross-platform trace data integrity.