Export of internal Abseil changes

--
83e4cdf03a4d702b30e69204060de09e462e23c6 by Greg Falcon <gfalcon@google.com>:

Revert the crc addition to RefcountAndFlags, and restore related comments to their original state.

In development, the implementation of SetExpectedCrc() changed, and there is no longer a need to track the CRC status in the refcount.

Since the distinction between IsOne() and IsMutable() is subtle *and unused*, removing it now can help avoid subtle bugs in the future.  This distinction can always be added back later, if it proves necessary.

Keep the reserved bit for now; all it costs is one extra mask instruction in the refcount checks, and space for extra state in Cord is always hard to find.

PiperOrigin-RevId: 408647038

--
ee67585cf66954176615271f50f8b278119dd138 by Greg Falcon <gfalcon@google.com>:

Implement Cord::SetExpectedChecksum() and Cord::ExpectedChecksum().

SetExpectedChecksum() will store a uint32_t out-of-band alongside a Cord's data.  This value persists through copies and assignments.  Mutating operations on a Cord cause the value to be forgotten.  ExpectedChecksum() retrieves the stored value, if present.

This API is intended for storing a CRC32C checksum alongside data, allowing checksums to be passed through dataflows and validated at the final step.  However, this API is agnostic to the meaning of the stored value.  No CRC32C validation is performed by these new APIs.

This implementation adds a new CordRep node, CordRepCrc.  A CordRepCrc may (currently) only live at the top of a tree.  This allows traversal logic to be agnostic to these nodes, instead putting the needed branches at the mutation level.    This also implements the property requested from API review, that any mutation is guaranteed to permanently forget the stored CRC.

PiperOrigin-RevId: 408611221

--
a86f592402b37c854ebdc77d2b9b425451a7a675 by Martijn Vels <mvels@google.com>:

Move 'ExtractResult' into CordRep

The result of an extract operation is logically identical for any tree implementation, and having a single type makes 'tree independent' implementation in cord.cc more concise.

PiperOrigin-RevId: 408332408

--
baa7647e21db59a87f75af9cac62172ce38a0f71 by Abseil Team <absl-team@google.com>:

Replace usages of `assert` macros with `ABSL_HARDENING_ASSERT`.

PiperOrigin-RevId: 408272133

--
c7658133d8662c39fa5035fc93a364c7c3d327e0 by Martijn Vels <mvels@google.com>:

Add CordRepBtree::ExtractAppendBuffer

PiperOrigin-RevId: 407944179

--
5775100363b5890ebfe710fadebf040445eab991 by Martijn Vels <mvels@google.com>:

Add CordRepConcat::ExtractAppendBuffer

PiperOrigin-RevId: 407932968

--
9f520ba1600a93352c78f644a369c7c76195ee86 by Greg Falcon <gfalcon@google.com>:

Add cordz tracking for crc nodes.

This also adds a new kSetExpectedChecksum method to the list of tracked methods.  This is presently unused but will be used soon.

PiperOrigin-RevId: 407884120
GitOrigin-RevId: 83e4cdf03a4d702b30e69204060de09e462e23c6
Change-Id: I134ace2d87215813eaa60a282996a33884676c06

19 files changed, 1114 insertions, 272 deletions

diff --git a/absl/strings/BUILD.bazel b/absl/strings/BUILD.bazel
index 1948fe32..0c47ca54 100644
--- a/absl/strings/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/strings/BUILD.bazel
@@ -271,6 +271,7 @@ cc_library(
         "internal/cord_rep_btree.cc",
         "internal/cord_rep_btree_navigator.cc",
         "internal/cord_rep_btree_reader.cc",
+        "internal/cord_rep_concat.cc",
         "internal/cord_rep_consume.cc",
         "internal/cord_rep_crc.cc",
         "internal/cord_rep_ring.cc",
@@ -308,12 +309,15 @@ cc_library(
 )
 
 cc_test(
-    name = "cord_internal_test",
-    srcs = ["internal/cord_internal_test.cc"],
+    name = "cord_rep_concat_test",
+    size = "small",
+    srcs = ["internal/cord_rep_concat_test.cc"],
     copts = ABSL_TEST_COPTS,
     visibility = ["//visibility:private"],
     deps = [
         ":cord_internal",
+        ":cord_rep_test_util",
+        "//absl/base:config",
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest_main",
     ],
 )
@@ -711,6 +715,7 @@ cc_test(
         "//absl/base:endian",
         "//absl/base:raw_logging_internal",
         "//absl/container:fixed_array",
+        "//absl/hash",
         "//absl/random",
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest_main",
     ],
diff --git a/absl/strings/CMakeLists.txt b/absl/strings/CMakeLists.txt
index 1ef3332c..aab97efd 100644
--- a/absl/strings/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/absl/strings/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -568,6 +568,7 @@ absl_cc_library(
     "internal/cord_rep_btree.cc"
     "internal/cord_rep_btree_navigator.cc"
     "internal/cord_rep_btree_reader.cc"
+    "internal/cord_rep_concat.cc"
     "internal/cord_rep_crc.cc"
     "internal/cord_rep_consume.cc"
     "internal/cord_rep_ring.cc"
@@ -922,6 +923,7 @@ absl_cc_test(
     absl::cordz_test_helpers
     absl::core_headers
     absl::endian
+    absl::hash
     absl::random_random
     absl::raw_logging_internal
     absl::fixed_array
@@ -948,13 +950,17 @@ absl_cc_test(
 
 absl_cc_test(
   NAME
-    cord_internal_test
+    cord_rep_concat_test
   SRCS
-    "internal/cord_internal_test.cc"
+    "internal/cord_rep_concat_test.cc"
   COPTS
     ${ABSL_TEST_COPTS}
   DEPS
+    absl::base
+    absl::config
     absl::cord_internal
+    absl::cord_rep_test_util
+    absl::core_headers
     GTest::gmock_main
 )
 
diff --git a/absl/strings/cord.cc b/absl/strings/cord.cc
index 63a82133..0015bb9f 100644
--- a/absl/strings/cord.cc
+++ b/absl/strings/cord.cc
@@ -267,6 +267,7 @@ static CordRep* NewSubstring(CordRep* child, size_t offset, size_t length) {
     return nullptr;
   } else {
     CordRepSubstring* rep = new CordRepSubstring();
+    assert(child->IsExternal() || child->IsFlat());
     assert((offset + length) <= child->length);
     rep->length = length;
     rep->tag = cord_internal::SUBSTRING;
@@ -343,7 +344,9 @@ inline void Cord::InlineRep::remove_prefix(size_t n) {
 // Returns `rep` converted into a CordRepBtree.
 // Directly returns `rep` if `rep` is already a CordRepBtree.
 static CordRepBtree* ForceBtree(CordRep* rep) {
-  return rep->IsBtree() ? rep->btree() : CordRepBtree::Create(rep);
+  return rep->IsBtree()
+             ? rep->btree()
+             : CordRepBtree::Create(cord_internal::RemoveCrcNode(rep));
 }
 
 void Cord::InlineRep::AppendTreeToInlined(CordRep* tree,
@@ -366,13 +369,14 @@ void Cord::InlineRep::AppendTreeToTree(CordRep* tree, MethodIdentifier method) {
   if (btree_enabled()) {
     tree = CordRepBtree::Append(ForceBtree(data_.as_tree()), tree);
   } else {
-    tree = Concat(data_.as_tree(), tree);
+    tree = Concat(cord_internal::RemoveCrcNode(data_.as_tree()), tree);
   }
   SetTree(tree, scope);
 }
 
 void Cord::InlineRep::AppendTree(CordRep* tree, MethodIdentifier method) {
   if (tree == nullptr) return;
+  assert(!tree->IsCrc());
   if (data_.is_tree()) {
     AppendTreeToTree(tree, method);
   } else {
@@ -401,13 +405,14 @@ void Cord::InlineRep::PrependTreeToTree(CordRep* tree,
   if (btree_enabled()) {
     tree = CordRepBtree::Prepend(ForceBtree(data_.as_tree()), tree);
   } else {
-    tree = Concat(tree, data_.as_tree());
+    tree = Concat(tree, cord_internal::RemoveCrcNode(data_.as_tree()));
   }
   SetTree(tree, scope);
 }
 
 void Cord::InlineRep::PrependTree(CordRep* tree, MethodIdentifier method) {
   assert(tree != nullptr);
+  assert(!tree->IsCrc());
   if (data_.is_tree()) {
     PrependTreeToTree(tree, method);
   } else {
@@ -421,7 +426,7 @@ void Cord::InlineRep::PrependTree(CordRep* tree, MethodIdentifier method) {
 // written to region and the actual size increase will be written to size.
 static inline bool PrepareAppendRegion(CordRep* root, char** region,
                                        size_t* size, size_t max_length) {
-  if (root->IsBtree() && root->refcount.IsMutable()) {
+  if (root->IsBtree() && root->refcount.IsOne()) {
     Span<char> span = root->btree()->GetAppendBuffer(max_length);
     if (!span.empty()) {
       *region = span.data();
@@ -432,11 +437,11 @@ static inline bool PrepareAppendRegion(CordRep* root, char** region,
 
   // Search down the right-hand path for a non-full FLAT node.
   CordRep* dst = root;
-  while (dst->IsConcat() && dst->refcount.IsMutable()) {
+  while (dst->IsConcat() && dst->refcount.IsOne()) {
     dst = dst->concat()->right;
   }
 
-  if (!dst->IsFlat() || !dst->refcount.IsMutable()) {
+  if (!dst->IsFlat() || !dst->refcount.IsOne()) {
     *region = nullptr;
     *size = 0;
     return false;
@@ -481,8 +486,9 @@ void Cord::InlineRep::GetAppendRegion(char** region, size_t* size,
   }
 
   size_t extra = has_length ? length : (std::max)(sz, kMinFlatLength);
-  CordRep* rep = root ? root : MakeFlatWithExtraCapacity(extra);
   CordzUpdateScope scope(root ? data_.cordz_info() : nullptr, method);
+  CordRep* rep = root ? cord_internal::RemoveCrcNode(root)
+                      : MakeFlatWithExtraCapacity(extra);
   if (PrepareAppendRegion(rep, region, size, length)) {
     CommitTree(root, rep, scope, method);
     return;
@@ -651,7 +657,7 @@ Cord& Cord::operator=(absl::string_view src) {
   if (tree != nullptr) {
     CordzUpdateScope scope(contents_.cordz_info(), method);
     if (tree->IsFlat() && tree->flat()->Capacity() >= length &&
-        tree->refcount.IsMutable()) {
+        tree->refcount.IsOne()) {
       // Copy in place if the existing FLAT node is reusable.
       memmove(tree->flat()->Data(), data, length);
       tree->length = length;
@@ -677,6 +683,7 @@ void Cord::InlineRep::AppendArray(absl::string_view src,
   const CordRep* const root = rep;
   CordzUpdateScope scope(root ? cordz_info() : nullptr, method);
   if (root != nullptr) {
+    rep = cord_internal::RemoveCrcNode(rep);
     char* region;
     if (PrepareAppendRegion(rep, &region, &appended, src.size())) {
       memcpy(region, src.data(), appended);
@@ -748,7 +755,8 @@ inline void Cord::AppendImpl(C&& src) {
     // Since destination is empty, we can avoid allocating a node,
     if (src.contents_.is_tree()) {
       // by taking the tree directly
-      CordRep* rep = std::forward<C>(src).TakeRep();
+      CordRep* rep =
+          cord_internal::RemoveCrcNode(std::forward<C>(src).TakeRep());
       contents_.EmplaceTree(rep, method);
     } else {
       // or copying over inline data
@@ -784,7 +792,7 @@ inline void Cord::AppendImpl(C&& src) {
   }
 
   // Guaranteed to be a tree (kMaxBytesToCopy > kInlinedSize)
-  CordRep* rep = std::forward<C>(src).TakeRep();
+  CordRep* rep = cord_internal::RemoveCrcNode(std::forward<C>(src).TakeRep());
   contents_.AppendTree(rep, CordzUpdateTracker::kAppendCord);
 }
 
@@ -812,7 +820,8 @@ void Cord::Prepend(const Cord& src) {
   CordRep* src_tree = src.contents_.tree();
   if (src_tree != nullptr) {
     CordRep::Ref(src_tree);
-    contents_.PrependTree(src_tree, CordzUpdateTracker::kPrependCord);
+    contents_.PrependTree(cord_internal::RemoveCrcNode(src_tree),
+                          CordzUpdateTracker::kPrependCord);
     return;
   }
 
@@ -856,6 +865,7 @@ static CordRep* RemovePrefixFrom(CordRep* node, size_t n) {
   if (n == 0) return CordRep::Ref(node);
   absl::InlinedVector<CordRep*, kInlinedVectorSize> rhs_stack;
 
+  assert(!node->IsCrc());
   while (node->IsConcat()) {
     assert(n <= node->length);
     if (n < node->concat()->left->length) {
@@ -896,7 +906,8 @@ static CordRep* RemoveSuffixFrom(CordRep* node, size_t n) {
   if (n >= node->length) return nullptr;
   if (n == 0) return CordRep::Ref(node);
   absl::InlinedVector<CordRep*, kInlinedVectorSize> lhs_stack;
-  bool inplace_ok = node->refcount.IsMutable();
+  bool inplace_ok = node->refcount.IsOne();
+  assert(!node->IsCrc());
 
   while (node->IsConcat()) {
     assert(n <= node->length);
@@ -909,7 +920,7 @@ static CordRep* RemoveSuffixFrom(CordRep* node, size_t n) {
       n -= node->concat()->right->length;
       node = node->concat()->left;
     }
-    inplace_ok = inplace_ok && node->refcount.IsMutable();
+    inplace_ok = inplace_ok && node->refcount.IsOne();
   }
   assert(n <= node->length);
 
@@ -946,6 +957,7 @@ void Cord::RemovePrefix(size_t n) {
   } else {
     auto constexpr method = CordzUpdateTracker::kRemovePrefix;
     CordzUpdateScope scope(contents_.cordz_info(), method);
+    tree = cord_internal::RemoveCrcNode(tree);
     if (tree->IsBtree()) {
       CordRep* old = tree;
       tree = tree->btree()->SubTree(n, tree->length - n);
@@ -969,6 +981,7 @@ void Cord::RemoveSuffix(size_t n) {
   } else {
     auto constexpr method = CordzUpdateTracker::kRemoveSuffix;
     CordzUpdateScope scope(contents_.cordz_info(), method);
+    tree = cord_internal::RemoveCrcNode(tree);
     if (tree->IsBtree()) {
       tree = CordRepBtree::RemoveSuffix(tree->btree(), n);
     } else {
@@ -992,6 +1005,7 @@ struct SubRange {
 static CordRep* NewSubRange(CordRep* node, size_t pos, size_t n) {
   absl::InlinedVector<CordRep*, kInlinedVectorSize> results;
   absl::InlinedVector<SubRange, kInlinedVectorSize> todo;
+  assert(!node->IsCrc());
   todo.push_back(SubRange(node, pos, n));
   do {
     const SubRange& sr = todo.back();
@@ -1062,6 +1076,7 @@ Cord Cord::Subcord(size_t pos, size_t new_size) const {
     return sub_cord;
   }
 
+  tree = cord_internal::SkipCrcNode(tree);
   if (tree->IsBtree()) {
     tree = tree->btree()->SubTree(pos, new_size);
   } else {
@@ -1082,6 +1097,7 @@ class CordForest {
 
   void Build(CordRep* cord_root) {
     std::vector<CordRep*> pending = {cord_root};
+    assert(cord_root->IsConcat());
 
     while (!pending.empty()) {
       CordRep* node = pending.back();
@@ -1258,7 +1274,7 @@ inline absl::string_view Cord::InlineRep::FindFlatStartPiece() const {
     return absl::string_view(data_.as_chars(), data_.inline_size());
   }
 
-  CordRep* node = tree();
+  CordRep* node = cord_internal::SkipCrcNode(tree());
   if (node->IsFlat()) {
     return absl::string_view(node->flat()->Data(), node->length);
   }
@@ -1300,6 +1316,28 @@ inline absl::string_view Cord::InlineRep::FindFlatStartPiece() const {
   return absl::string_view(node->external()->base + offset, length);
 }
 
+void Cord::SetExpectedChecksum(uint32_t crc) {
+  auto constexpr method = CordzUpdateTracker::kSetExpectedChecksum;
+  if (empty()) return;
+
+  if (!contents_.is_tree()) {
+    CordRep* rep = contents_.MakeFlatWithExtraCapacity(0);
+    rep = CordRepCrc::New(rep, crc);
+    contents_.EmplaceTree(rep, method);
+  } else {
+    const CordzUpdateScope scope(contents_.data_.cordz_info(), method);
+    CordRep* rep = CordRepCrc::New(contents_.data_.as_tree(), crc);
+    contents_.SetTree(rep, scope);
+  }
+}
+
+absl::optional<uint32_t> Cord::ExpectedChecksum() const {
+  if (!contents_.is_tree() || !contents_.tree()->IsCrc()) {
+    return absl::nullopt;
+  }
+  return contents_.tree()->crc()->crc;
+}
+
 inline int Cord::CompareSlowPath(absl::string_view rhs, size_t compared_size,
                                  size_t size_to_compare) const {
   auto advance = [](Cord::ChunkIterator* it, absl::string_view* chunk) {
@@ -1720,6 +1758,7 @@ char Cord::operator[](size_t i) const {
   if (rep == nullptr) {
     return contents_.data()[i];
   }
+  rep = cord_internal::SkipCrcNode(rep);
   while (true) {
     assert(rep != nullptr);
     assert(offset < rep->length);
@@ -1780,6 +1819,7 @@ absl::string_view Cord::FlattenSlowPath() {
 
 /* static */ bool Cord::GetFlatAux(CordRep* rep, absl::string_view* fragment) {
   assert(rep != nullptr);
+  rep = cord_internal::SkipCrcNode(rep);
   if (rep->IsFlat()) {
     *fragment = absl::string_view(rep->flat()->Data(), rep->length);
     return true;
@@ -1809,6 +1849,9 @@ absl::string_view Cord::FlattenSlowPath() {
 /* static */ void Cord::ForEachChunkAux(
     absl::cord_internal::CordRep* rep,
     absl::FunctionRef<void(absl::string_view)> callback) {
+  assert(rep != nullptr);
+  rep = cord_internal::SkipCrcNode(rep);
+
   if (rep->IsBtree()) {
     ChunkIterator it(rep), end;
     while (it != end) {
@@ -1818,12 +1861,11 @@ absl::string_view Cord::FlattenSlowPath() {
     return;
   }
 
-  assert(rep != nullptr);
   int stack_pos = 0;
   constexpr int stack_max = 128;
   // Stack of right branches for tree traversal
   absl::cord_internal::CordRep* stack[stack_max];
-  absl::cord_internal::CordRep* current_node = rep;
+  absl::cord_internal::CordRep* current_node = cord_internal::SkipCrcNode(rep);
   while (true) {
     if (current_node->IsConcat()) {
       if (stack_pos == stack_max) {
diff --git a/absl/strings/cord.h b/absl/strings/cord.h
index f0a19914..3f0633bd 100644
--- a/absl/strings/cord.h
+++ b/absl/strings/cord.h
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@
 #include "absl/strings/internal/cord_internal.h"
 #include "absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_btree.h"
 #include "absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_btree_reader.h"
+#include "absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_crc.h"
 #include "absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_ring.h"
 #include "absl/strings/internal/cordz_functions.h"
 #include "absl/strings/internal/cordz_info.h"
@@ -671,6 +672,29 @@ class Cord {
     cord->Append(part);
   }
 
+  // Cord::SetExpectedChecksum()
+  //
+  // Stores a checksum value with this non-empty cord instance, for later
+  // retrieval.
+  //
+  // The expected checksum is a number stored out-of-band, alongside the data.
+  // It is preserved across copies and assignments, but any mutations to a cord
+  // will cause it to lose its expected checksum.
+  //
+  // The expected checksum is not part of a Cord's value, and does not affect
+  // operations such as equality or hashing.
+  //
+  // This field is intended to store a CRC32C checksum for later validation, to
+  // help support end-to-end checksum workflows.  However, the Cord API itself
+  // does no CRC validation, and assigns no meaning to this number.
+  //
+  // This call has no effect if this cord is empty.
+  void SetExpectedChecksum(uint32_t crc);
+
+  // Returns this cord's expected checksum, if it has one.  Otherwise, returns
+  // nullopt.
+  absl::optional<uint32_t> ExpectedChecksum() const;
+
   template <typename H>
   friend H AbslHashValue(H hash_state, const absl::Cord& c) {
     absl::optional<absl::string_view> maybe_flat = c.TryFlat();
@@ -1274,6 +1298,7 @@ inline bool Cord::StartsWith(absl::string_view rhs) const {
 }
 
 inline void Cord::ChunkIterator::InitTree(cord_internal::CordRep* tree) {
+  tree = cord_internal::SkipCrcNode(tree);
   if (tree->tag == cord_internal::BTREE) {
     current_chunk_ = btree_reader_.Init(tree->btree());
     return;
diff --git a/absl/strings/cord_test.cc b/absl/strings/cord_test.cc
index cced9bba..188fbc2e 100644
--- a/absl/strings/cord_test.cc
+++ b/absl/strings/cord_test.cc
@@ -34,9 +34,11 @@
 #include "absl/base/internal/raw_logging.h"
 #include "absl/base/macros.h"
 #include "absl/container/fixed_array.h"
+#include "absl/hash/hash.h"
 #include "absl/random/random.h"
 #include "absl/strings/cord_test_helpers.h"
 #include "absl/strings/cordz_test_helpers.h"
+#include "absl/strings/match.h"
 #include "absl/strings/str_cat.h"
 #include "absl/strings/str_format.h"
 #include "absl/strings/string_view.h"
@@ -192,10 +194,13 @@ class CordTestPeer {
 
   static Cord MakeSubstring(Cord src, size_t offset, size_t length) {
     ABSL_RAW_CHECK(src.contents_.is_tree(), "Can not be inlined");
+    ABSL_RAW_CHECK(src.ExpectedChecksum() == absl::nullopt,
+                   "Can not be hardened");
     Cord cord;
     auto* rep = new cord_internal::CordRepSubstring;
     rep->tag = cord_internal::SUBSTRING;
-    rep->child = cord_internal::CordRep::Ref(src.contents_.tree());
+    rep->child = cord_internal::CordRep::Ref(
+        cord_internal::SkipCrcNode(src.contents_.tree()));
     rep->start = offset;
     rep->length = length;
     cord.contents_.EmplaceTree(rep,
@@ -207,8 +212,9 @@ class CordTestPeer {
 ABSL_NAMESPACE_END
 }  // namespace absl
 
-// The CordTest fixture runs all tests with and without Cord Btree enabled.
-class CordTest : public testing::TestWithParam<bool> {
+// The CordTest fixture runs all tests with and without Cord Btree enabled,
+// and with our without expected CRCs being set on the subject Cords.
+class CordTest : public testing::TestWithParam<int> {
  public:
   CordTest() : was_btree_(absl::cord_internal::cord_btree_enabled.load()) {
     absl::cord_internal::cord_btree_enabled.store(UseBtree());
@@ -218,18 +224,40 @@ class CordTest : public testing::TestWithParam<bool> {
   }
 
   // Returns true if test is running with btree enabled.
-  bool UseBtree() const { return GetParam(); }
+  bool UseBtree() const { return GetParam() == 1 || GetParam() == 3; }
+  bool UseCrc() const { return GetParam() == 2 || GetParam() == 3; }
+  void MaybeHarden(absl::Cord& c) {
+    if (UseCrc()) {
+      c.SetExpectedChecksum(1);
+    }
+  }
+  absl::Cord MaybeHardened(absl::Cord c) {
+    MaybeHarden(c);
+    return c;
+  }
 
   // Returns human readable string representation of the test parameter.
-  static std::string ToString(testing::TestParamInfo<bool> param) {
-    return param.param ? "Btree" : "Concat";
+  static std::string ToString(testing::TestParamInfo<int> param) {
+    switch (param.param) {
+      case 0:
+        return "Concat";
+      case 1:
+        return "Btree";
+      case 2:
+        return "ConcatHardened";
+      case 3:
+        return "BtreeHardened";
+      default:
+        assert(false);
+        return "???";
+    }
   }
 
  private:
   const bool was_btree_;
 };
 
-INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P(WithParam, CordTest, testing::Bool(),
+INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P(WithParam, CordTest, testing::Values(0, 1, 2, 3),
                          CordTest::ToString);
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, AllFlatSizes) {
@@ -243,6 +271,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, AllFlatSizes) {
     }
 
     absl::Cord dst(src);
+    MaybeHarden(dst);
     EXPECT_EQ(std::string(dst), src) << s;
   }
 }
@@ -274,6 +303,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, GigabyteCordFromExternal) {
     c.Append(from);
     c.Append(from);
     c.Append(from);
+    MaybeHarden(c);
   }
 
   for (int i = 0; i < 1024; ++i) {
@@ -302,6 +332,8 @@ bool my_unique_true_boolean = true;
 TEST_P(CordTest, Assignment) {
   absl::Cord x(absl::string_view("hi there"));
   absl::Cord y(x);
+  MaybeHarden(y);
+  ASSERT_EQ(x.ExpectedChecksum(), absl::nullopt);
   ASSERT_EQ(std::string(x), "hi there");
   ASSERT_EQ(std::string(y), "hi there");
   ASSERT_TRUE(x == y);
@@ -355,6 +387,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, Assignment) {
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, StartsEndsWith) {
   absl::Cord x(absl::string_view("abcde"));
+  MaybeHarden(x);
   absl::Cord empty("");
 
   ASSERT_TRUE(x.StartsWith(absl::Cord("abcde")));
@@ -392,6 +425,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, Subcord) {
 
   absl::Cord a;
   AppendWithFragments(s, &rng, &a);
+  MaybeHarden(a);
   ASSERT_EQ(s, std::string(a));
 
   // Check subcords of a, from a variety of interesting points.
@@ -413,6 +447,9 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, Subcord) {
       ASSERT_EQ(absl::string_view(s).substr(pos, end_pos - pos),
                 std::string(sa))
           << a;
+      if (pos != 0 || end_pos != a.size()) {
+        ASSERT_EQ(sa.ExpectedChecksum(), absl::nullopt);
+      }
     }
   }
 
@@ -452,10 +489,19 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, Swap) {
   absl::string_view b("Mandark");
   absl::Cord x(a);
   absl::Cord y(b);
+  MaybeHarden(x);
   swap(x, y);
+  if (UseCrc()) {
+    ASSERT_EQ(x.ExpectedChecksum(), absl::nullopt);
+    ASSERT_EQ(y.ExpectedChecksum(), 1);
+  }
   ASSERT_EQ(x, absl::Cord(b));
   ASSERT_EQ(y, absl::Cord(a));
   x.swap(y);
+  if (UseCrc()) {
+    ASSERT_EQ(x.ExpectedChecksum(), 1);
+    ASSERT_EQ(y.ExpectedChecksum(), absl::nullopt);
+  }
   ASSERT_EQ(x, absl::Cord(a));
   ASSERT_EQ(y, absl::Cord(b));
 }
@@ -480,11 +526,11 @@ static void VerifyCopyToString(const absl::Cord& cord) {
 }
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, CopyToString) {
-  VerifyCopyToString(absl::Cord());
-  VerifyCopyToString(absl::Cord("small cord"));
-  VerifyCopyToString(
+  VerifyCopyToString(absl::Cord());  // empty cords cannot carry CRCs
+  VerifyCopyToString(MaybeHardened(absl::Cord("small cord")));
+  VerifyCopyToString(MaybeHardened(
       absl::MakeFragmentedCord({"fragmented ", "cord ", "to ", "test ",
-                                "copying ", "to ", "a ", "string."}));
+                                "copying ", "to ", "a ", "string."})));
 }
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, TryFlatEmpty) {
@@ -494,40 +540,47 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, TryFlatEmpty) {
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, TryFlatFlat) {
   absl::Cord c("hello");
+  MaybeHarden(c);
   EXPECT_EQ(c.TryFlat(), "hello");
 }
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, TryFlatSubstrInlined) {
   absl::Cord c("hello");
   c.RemovePrefix(1);
+  MaybeHarden(c);
   EXPECT_EQ(c.TryFlat(), "ello");
 }
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, TryFlatSubstrFlat) {
   absl::Cord c("longer than 15 bytes");
   absl::Cord sub = absl::CordTestPeer::MakeSubstring(c, 1, c.size() - 1);
+  MaybeHarden(sub);
   EXPECT_EQ(sub.TryFlat(), "onger than 15 bytes");
 }
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, TryFlatConcat) {
   absl::Cord c = absl::MakeFragmentedCord({"hel", "lo"});
+  MaybeHarden(c);
   EXPECT_EQ(c.TryFlat(), absl::nullopt);
 }
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, TryFlatExternal) {
   absl::Cord c = absl::MakeCordFromExternal("hell", [](absl::string_view) {});
+  MaybeHarden(c);
   EXPECT_EQ(c.TryFlat(), "hell");
 }
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, TryFlatSubstrExternal) {
   absl::Cord c = absl::MakeCordFromExternal("hell", [](absl::string_view) {});
   absl::Cord sub = absl::CordTestPeer::MakeSubstring(c, 1, c.size() - 1);
+  MaybeHarden(sub);
   EXPECT_EQ(sub.TryFlat(), "ell");
 }
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, TryFlatSubstrConcat) {
   absl::Cord c = absl::MakeFragmentedCord({"hello", " world"});
   absl::Cord sub = absl::CordTestPeer::MakeSubstring(c, 1, c.size() - 1);
+  MaybeHarden(sub);
   EXPECT_EQ(sub.TryFlat(), absl::nullopt);
   c.RemovePrefix(1);
   EXPECT_EQ(c.TryFlat(), absl::nullopt);
@@ -547,6 +600,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, TryFlatCommonlyAssumedInvariants) {
                                    "returned by the ",
                                    "iterator"};
   absl::Cord c = absl::MakeFragmentedCord(fragments);
+  MaybeHarden(c);
   int fragment = 0;
   int offset = 0;
   absl::Cord::CharIterator itc = c.char_begin();
@@ -591,13 +645,15 @@ static void VerifyFlatten(absl::Cord c) {
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, Flatten) {
   VerifyFlatten(absl::Cord());
-  VerifyFlatten(absl::Cord("small cord"));
-  VerifyFlatten(absl::Cord("larger than small buffer optimization"));
-  VerifyFlatten(absl::MakeFragmentedCord({"small ", "fragmented ", "cord"}));
+  VerifyFlatten(MaybeHardened(absl::Cord("small cord")));
+  VerifyFlatten(
+      MaybeHardened(absl::Cord("larger than small buffer optimization")));
+  VerifyFlatten(MaybeHardened(
+      absl::MakeFragmentedCord({"small ", "fragmented ", "cord"})));
 
   // Test with a cord that is longer than the largest flat buffer
   RandomEngine rng(GTEST_FLAG_GET(random_seed));
-  VerifyFlatten(absl::Cord(RandomLowercaseString(&rng, 8192)));
+  VerifyFlatten(MaybeHardened(absl::Cord(RandomLowercaseString(&rng, 8192))));
 }
 
 // Test data
@@ -651,22 +707,26 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, MultipleLengths) {
     {  // Construct from Cord
       absl::Cord tmp(a);
       absl::Cord x(tmp);
+      MaybeHarden(x);
       EXPECT_EQ(a, std::string(x)) << "'" << a << "'";
     }
 
     {  // Construct from absl::string_view
       absl::Cord x(a);
+      MaybeHarden(x);
       EXPECT_EQ(a, std::string(x)) << "'" << a << "'";
     }
 
     {  // Append cord to self
       absl::Cord self(a);
+      MaybeHarden(self);
       self.Append(self);
       EXPECT_EQ(a + a, std::string(self)) << "'" << a << "' + '" << a << "'";
     }
 
     {  // Prepend cord to self
       absl::Cord self(a);
+      MaybeHarden(self);
       self.Prepend(self);
       EXPECT_EQ(a + a, std::string(self)) << "'" << a << "' + '" << a << "'";
     }
@@ -678,12 +738,14 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, MultipleLengths) {
       {  // CopyFrom Cord
         absl::Cord x(a);
         absl::Cord y(b);
+        MaybeHarden(x);
         x = y;
         EXPECT_EQ(b, std::string(x)) << "'" << a << "' + '" << b << "'";
       }
 
       {  // CopyFrom absl::string_view
         absl::Cord x(a);
+        MaybeHarden(x);
         x = b;
         EXPECT_EQ(b, std::string(x)) << "'" << a << "' + '" << b << "'";
       }
@@ -691,12 +753,14 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, MultipleLengths) {
       {  // Cord::Append(Cord)
         absl::Cord x(a);
         absl::Cord y(b);
+        MaybeHarden(x);
         x.Append(y);
         EXPECT_EQ(a + b, std::string(x)) << "'" << a << "' + '" << b << "'";
       }
 
       {  // Cord::Append(absl::string_view)
         absl::Cord x(a);
+        MaybeHarden(x);
         x.Append(b);
         EXPECT_EQ(a + b, std::string(x)) << "'" << a << "' + '" << b << "'";
       }
@@ -704,12 +768,14 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, MultipleLengths) {
       {  // Cord::Prepend(Cord)
         absl::Cord x(a);
         absl::Cord y(b);
+        MaybeHarden(x);
         x.Prepend(y);
         EXPECT_EQ(b + a, std::string(x)) << "'" << b << "' + '" << a << "'";
       }
 
       {  // Cord::Prepend(absl::string_view)
         absl::Cord x(a);
+        MaybeHarden(x);
         x.Prepend(b);
         EXPECT_EQ(b + a, std::string(x)) << "'" << b << "' + '" << a << "'";
       }
@@ -722,13 +788,16 @@ namespace {
 TEST_P(CordTest, RemoveSuffixWithExternalOrSubstring) {
   absl::Cord cord = absl::MakeCordFromExternal(
       "foo bar baz", [](absl::string_view s) { DoNothing(s, nullptr); });
-
   EXPECT_EQ("foo bar baz", std::string(cord));
 
+  MaybeHarden(cord);
+
   // This RemoveSuffix() will wrap the EXTERNAL node in a SUBSTRING node.
   cord.RemoveSuffix(4);
   EXPECT_EQ("foo bar", std::string(cord));
 
+  MaybeHarden(cord);
+
   // This RemoveSuffix() will adjust the SUBSTRING node in-place.
   cord.RemoveSuffix(4);
   EXPECT_EQ("foo", std::string(cord));
@@ -738,6 +807,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, RemoveSuffixMakesZeroLengthNode) {
   absl::Cord c;
   c.Append(absl::Cord(std::string(100, 'x')));
   absl::Cord other_ref = c;  // Prevent inplace appends
+  MaybeHarden(c);
   c.Append(absl::Cord(std::string(200, 'y')));
   c.RemoveSuffix(200);
   EXPECT_EQ(std::string(100, 'x'), std::string(c));
@@ -763,6 +833,7 @@ absl::Cord CordWithZedBlock(size_t size) {
 // Establish that ZedBlock does what we think it does.
 TEST_P(CordTest, CordSpliceTestZedBlock) {
   absl::Cord blob = CordWithZedBlock(10);
+  MaybeHarden(blob);
   EXPECT_EQ(10, blob.size());
   std::string s;
   absl::CopyCordToString(blob, &s);
@@ -771,6 +842,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, CordSpliceTestZedBlock) {
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, CordSpliceTestZedBlock0) {
   absl::Cord blob = CordWithZedBlock(0);
+  MaybeHarden(blob);
   EXPECT_EQ(0, blob.size());
   std::string s;
   absl::CopyCordToString(blob, &s);
@@ -779,6 +851,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, CordSpliceTestZedBlock0) {
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, CordSpliceTestZedBlockSuffix1) {
   absl::Cord blob = CordWithZedBlock(10);
+  MaybeHarden(blob);
   EXPECT_EQ(10, blob.size());
   absl::Cord suffix(blob);
   suffix.RemovePrefix(9);
@@ -791,6 +864,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, CordSpliceTestZedBlockSuffix1) {
 // Remove all of a prefix block
 TEST_P(CordTest, CordSpliceTestZedBlockSuffix0) {
   absl::Cord blob = CordWithZedBlock(10);
+  MaybeHarden(blob);
   EXPECT_EQ(10, blob.size());
   absl::Cord suffix(blob);
   suffix.RemovePrefix(10);
@@ -823,6 +897,7 @@ absl::Cord SpliceCord(const absl::Cord& blob, int64_t offset,
 // Taking an empty suffix of a block breaks appending.
 TEST_P(CordTest, CordSpliceTestRemoveEntireBlock1) {
   absl::Cord zero = CordWithZedBlock(10);
+  MaybeHarden(zero);
   absl::Cord suffix(zero);
   suffix.RemovePrefix(10);
   absl::Cord result;
@@ -831,6 +906,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, CordSpliceTestRemoveEntireBlock1) {
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, CordSpliceTestRemoveEntireBlock2) {
   absl::Cord zero = CordWithZedBlock(10);
+  MaybeHarden(zero);
   absl::Cord prefix(zero);
   prefix.RemoveSuffix(10);
   absl::Cord suffix(zero);
@@ -842,13 +918,19 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, CordSpliceTestRemoveEntireBlock2) {
 TEST_P(CordTest, CordSpliceTestRemoveEntireBlock3) {
   absl::Cord blob = CordWithZedBlock(10);
   absl::Cord block = BigCord(10, 'b');
+  MaybeHarden(blob);
+  MaybeHarden(block);
   blob = SpliceCord(blob, 0, block);
 }
 
 struct CordCompareTestCase {
   template <typename LHS, typename RHS>
-  CordCompareTestCase(const LHS& lhs, const RHS& rhs)
-      : lhs_cord(lhs), rhs_cord(rhs) {}
+  CordCompareTestCase(const LHS& lhs, const RHS& rhs, bool use_crc)
+      : lhs_cord(lhs), rhs_cord(rhs) {
+    if (use_crc) {
+      lhs_cord.SetExpectedChecksum(1);
+    }
+  }
 
   absl::Cord lhs_cord;
   absl::Cord rhs_cord;
@@ -885,47 +967,54 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, Compare) {
   concat2.Append("cccccccccccDDDDDDDDDDDDDD");
   concat2.Append("DD");
 
+  const bool use_crc = UseCrc();
+
   std::vector<CordCompareTestCase> test_cases = {{
       // Inline cords
-      {"abcdef", "abcdef"},
-      {"abcdef", "abcdee"},
-      {"abcdef", "abcdeg"},
-      {"bbcdef", "abcdef"},
-      {"bbcdef", "abcdeg"},
-      {"abcdefa", "abcdef"},
-      {"abcdef", "abcdefa"},
+      {"abcdef", "abcdef", use_crc},
+      {"abcdef", "abcdee", use_crc},
+      {"abcdef", "abcdeg", use_crc},
+      {"bbcdef", "abcdef", use_crc},
+      {"bbcdef", "abcdeg", use_crc},
+      {"abcdefa", "abcdef", use_crc},
+      {"abcdef", "abcdefa", use_crc},
 
       // Small flat cords
-      {"aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDD", "aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDD"},
-      {"aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDD", "aaaaaBBBBBxccccDDDDD"},
-      {"aaaaaBBBBBcxcccDDDDD", "aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDD"},
-      {"aaaaaBBBBBxccccDDDDD", "aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDX"},
-      {"aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDDa", "aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDD"},
-      {"aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDD", "aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDDa"},
+      {"aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDD", "aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDD", use_crc},
+      {"aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDD", "aaaaaBBBBBxccccDDDDD", use_crc},
+      {"aaaaaBBBBBcxcccDDDDD", "aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDD", use_crc},
+      {"aaaaaBBBBBxccccDDDDD", "aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDX", use_crc},
+      {"aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDDa", "aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDD", use_crc},
+      {"aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDD", "aaaaaBBBBBcccccDDDDDa", use_crc},
 
       // Subcords
-      {subcord, subcord},
-      {subcord, "aaBBBBBccc"},
-      {subcord, "aaBBBBBccd"},
-      {subcord, "aaBBBBBccb"},
-      {subcord, "aaBBBBBxcb"},
-      {subcord, "aaBBBBBccca"},
-      {subcord, "aaBBBBBcc"},
+      {subcord, subcord, use_crc},
+      {subcord, "aaBBBBBccc", use_crc},
+      {subcord, "aaBBBBBccd", use_crc},
+      {subcord, "aaBBBBBccb", use_crc},
+      {subcord, "aaBBBBBxcb", use_crc},
+      {subcord, "aaBBBBBccca", use_crc},
+      {subcord, "aaBBBBBcc", use_crc},
 
       // Concats
-      {concat, concat},
+      {concat, concat, use_crc},
       {concat,
-       "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBccccccccccccccccDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD"},
+       "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBccccccccccccccccDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD",
+       use_crc},
       {concat,
-       "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBcccccccccccccccxDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD"},
+       "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBcccccccccccccccxDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD",
+       use_crc},
       {concat,
-       "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBacccccccccccccccDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD"},
+       "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBacccccccccccccccDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD",
+       use_crc},
       {concat,
-       "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBccccccccccccccccDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD"},
+       "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBccccccccccccccccDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD",
+       use_crc},
       {concat,
-       "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBccccccccccccccccDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDe"},
+       "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBccccccccccccccccDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDe",
+       use_crc},
 
-      {concat, concat2},
+      {concat, concat2, use_crc},
   }};
 
   for (const auto& tc : test_cases) {
@@ -936,6 +1025,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, Compare) {
 TEST_P(CordTest, CompareAfterAssign) {
   absl::Cord a("aaaaaa1111111");
   absl::Cord b("aaaaaa2222222");
+  MaybeHarden(a);
   a = "cccccc";
   b = "cccccc";
   EXPECT_EQ(a, b);
@@ -994,6 +1084,8 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, CompareRandomComparisons) {
       d.Append(a[GetUniformRandomUpTo(&rng, ABSL_ARRAYSIZE(a))]);
     }
     std::bernoulli_distribution coin_flip(0.5);
+    MaybeHarden(c);
+    MaybeHarden(d);
     TestCompare(coin_flip(rng) ? c : absl::Cord(std::string(c)),
                 coin_flip(rng) ? d : absl::Cord(std::string(d)), &rng);
   }
@@ -1119,6 +1211,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, ConstructFromExternalCompareContents) {
           EXPECT_EQ(external->size(), sv.size());
           delete external;
         });
+    MaybeHarden(cord);
     EXPECT_EQ(data, cord);
   }
 }
@@ -1134,7 +1227,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, ConstructFromExternalLargeReleaser) {
     EXPECT_EQ(data, absl::string_view(data_array.data(), data_array.size()));
     invoked = true;
   };
-  (void)absl::MakeCordFromExternal(data, releaser);
+  (void)MaybeHardened(absl::MakeCordFromExternal(data, releaser));
   EXPECT_TRUE(invoked);
 }
 
@@ -1147,11 +1240,11 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, ConstructFromExternalFunctionPointerReleaser) {
         invoked = true;
       });
   invoked = false;
-  (void)absl::MakeCordFromExternal(data, releaser);
+  (void)MaybeHardened(absl::MakeCordFromExternal(data, releaser));
   EXPECT_TRUE(invoked);
 
   invoked = false;
-  (void)absl::MakeCordFromExternal(data, *releaser);
+  (void)MaybeHardened(absl::MakeCordFromExternal(data, *releaser));
   EXPECT_TRUE(invoked);
 }
 
@@ -1165,20 +1258,21 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, ConstructFromExternalMoveOnlyReleaser) {
   };
 
   bool invoked = false;
-  (void)absl::MakeCordFromExternal("dummy", Releaser(&invoked));
+  (void)MaybeHardened(absl::MakeCordFromExternal("dummy", Releaser(&invoked)));
   EXPECT_TRUE(invoked);
 }
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, ConstructFromExternalNoArgLambda) {
   bool invoked = false;
-  (void)absl::MakeCordFromExternal("dummy", [&invoked]() { invoked = true; });
+  (void)MaybeHardened(
+      absl::MakeCordFromExternal("dummy", [&invoked]() { invoked = true; }));
   EXPECT_TRUE(invoked);
 }
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, ConstructFromExternalStringViewArgLambda) {
   bool invoked = false;
-  (void)absl::MakeCordFromExternal(
-      "dummy", [&invoked](absl::string_view) { invoked = true; });
+  (void)MaybeHardened(absl::MakeCordFromExternal(
+      "dummy", [&invoked](absl::string_view) { invoked = true; }));
   EXPECT_TRUE(invoked);
 }
 
@@ -1193,7 +1287,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, ConstructFromExternalNonTrivialReleaserDestructor) {
 
   bool destroyed = false;
   Releaser releaser(&destroyed);
-  (void)absl::MakeCordFromExternal("dummy", releaser);
+  (void)MaybeHardened(absl::MakeCordFromExternal("dummy", releaser));
   EXPECT_TRUE(destroyed);
 }
 
@@ -1209,18 +1303,18 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, ConstructFromExternalReferenceQualifierOverloads) {
   bool lvalue_invoked = false;
   bool rvalue_invoked = false;
   Releaser releaser = {&lvalue_invoked, &rvalue_invoked};
-  (void)absl::MakeCordFromExternal("", releaser);
+  (void)MaybeHardened(absl::MakeCordFromExternal("", releaser));
   EXPECT_FALSE(lvalue_invoked);
   EXPECT_TRUE(rvalue_invoked);
   rvalue_invoked = false;
 
-  (void)absl::MakeCordFromExternal("dummy", releaser);
+  (void)MaybeHardened(absl::MakeCordFromExternal("dummy", releaser));
   EXPECT_FALSE(lvalue_invoked);
   EXPECT_TRUE(rvalue_invoked);
   rvalue_invoked = false;
 
   // NOLINTNEXTLINE: suppress clang-tidy std::move on trivially copyable type.
-  (void)absl::MakeCordFromExternal("dummy", std::move(releaser));
+  (void)MaybeHardened(absl::MakeCordFromExternal("dummy", std::move(releaser)));
   EXPECT_FALSE(lvalue_invoked);
   EXPECT_TRUE(rvalue_invoked);
 }
@@ -1229,7 +1323,9 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, ExternalMemoryBasicUsage) {
   static const char* strings[] = {"", "hello", "there"};
   for (const char* str : strings) {
     absl::Cord dst("(prefix)");
+    MaybeHarden(dst);
     AddExternalMemory(str, &dst);
+    MaybeHarden(dst);
     dst.Append("(suffix)");
     EXPECT_EQ((std::string("(prefix)") + str + std::string("(suffix)")),
               std::string(dst));
@@ -1243,7 +1339,9 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, ExternalMemoryRemovePrefixSuffix) {
   for (int offset = 0; offset <= s.size(); offset++) {
     for (int length = 0; length <= s.size() - offset; length++) {
       absl::Cord result(cord);
+      MaybeHarden(result);
       result.RemovePrefix(offset);
+      MaybeHarden(result);
       result.RemoveSuffix(result.size() - length);
       EXPECT_EQ(s.substr(offset, length), std::string(result))
           << offset << " " << length;
@@ -1254,8 +1352,10 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, ExternalMemoryRemovePrefixSuffix) {
 TEST_P(CordTest, ExternalMemoryGet) {
   absl::Cord cord("hello");
   AddExternalMemory(" world!", &cord);
+  MaybeHarden(cord);
   AddExternalMemory(" how are ", &cord);
   cord.Append(" you?");
+  MaybeHarden(cord);
   std::string s = std::string(cord);
   for (int i = 0; i < s.size(); i++) {
     EXPECT_EQ(s[i], cord[i]);
@@ -1354,11 +1454,13 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, CordMemoryUsageInlineRep) {
 TEST_P(CordTest, Concat_Append) {
   // Create a rep of type CONCAT
   absl::Cord s1("foobarbarbarbarbar");
+  MaybeHarden(s1);
   s1.Append("abcdefgabcdefgabcdefgabcdefgabcdefgabcdefgabcdefg");
   size_t size = s1.size();
 
   // Create a copy of s1 and append to it.
   absl::Cord s2 = s1;
+  MaybeHarden(s2);
   s2.Append("x");
 
   // 7465150 modifies s1 when it shouldn't.
@@ -1378,6 +1480,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, DiabolicalGrowth) {
   for (char c : expected) {
     absl::Cord shared(cord);
     cord.Append(absl::string_view(&c, 1));
+    MaybeHarden(cord);
   }
   std::string value;
   absl::CopyCordToString(cord, &value);
@@ -1422,8 +1525,12 @@ static absl::Cord MakeHuge(absl::string_view prefix) {
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, HugeCord) {
   absl::Cord cord = MakeHuge("huge cord");
+  MaybeHarden(cord);
+
+  const size_t acceptable_delta =
+      100 + (UseCrc() ? sizeof(absl::cord_internal::CordRepCrc) : 0);
   EXPECT_LE(cord.size(), cord.EstimatedMemoryUsage());
-  EXPECT_GE(cord.size() + 100, cord.EstimatedMemoryUsage());
+  EXPECT_GE(cord.size() + acceptable_delta, cord.EstimatedMemoryUsage());
 }
 
 // Tests that Append() works ok when handed a self reference
@@ -1433,6 +1540,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, AppendSelf) {
   std::string control_data = "Abc";
   absl::Cord data(control_data);
   while (control_data.length() < 0x4000) {
+    MaybeHarden(data);
     data.Append(data);
     control_data.append(control_data);
     ASSERT_EQ(control_data, data);
@@ -1443,6 +1551,8 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, MakeFragmentedCordFromInitializerList) {
   absl::Cord fragmented =
       absl::MakeFragmentedCord({"A ", "fragmented ", "Cord"});
 
+  MaybeHarden(fragmented);
+
   EXPECT_EQ("A fragmented Cord", fragmented);
 
   auto chunk_it = fragmented.chunk_begin();
@@ -1463,6 +1573,8 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, MakeFragmentedCordFromVector) {
   std::vector<absl::string_view> chunks = {"A ", "fragmented ", "Cord"};
   absl::Cord fragmented = absl::MakeFragmentedCord(chunks);
 
+  MaybeHarden(fragmented);
+
   EXPECT_EQ("A fragmented Cord", fragmented);
 
   auto chunk_it = fragmented.chunk_begin();
@@ -1565,22 +1677,26 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, CordChunkIteratorOperations) {
   VerifyChunkIterator(empty_cord, 0);
 
   absl::Cord small_buffer_cord("small cord");
+  MaybeHarden(small_buffer_cord);
   VerifyChunkIterator(small_buffer_cord, 1);
 
   absl::Cord flat_node_cord("larger than small buffer optimization");
+  MaybeHarden(flat_node_cord);
   VerifyChunkIterator(flat_node_cord, 1);
 
-  VerifyChunkIterator(
-      absl::MakeFragmentedCord({"a ", "small ", "fragmented ", "cord ", "for ",
-                                "testing ", "chunk ", "iterations."}),
-      8);
+  VerifyChunkIterator(MaybeHardened(absl::MakeFragmentedCord(
+                          {"a ", "small ", "fragmented ", "cord ", "for ",
+                           "testing ", "chunk ", "iterations."})),
+                      8);
 
   absl::Cord reused_nodes_cord(std::string(40, 'c'));
   reused_nodes_cord.Prepend(absl::Cord(std::string(40, 'b')));
+  MaybeHarden(reused_nodes_cord);
   reused_nodes_cord.Prepend(absl::Cord(std::string(40, 'a')));
   size_t expected_chunks = 3;
   for (int i = 0; i < 8; ++i) {
     reused_nodes_cord.Prepend(reused_nodes_cord);
+    MaybeHarden(reused_nodes_cord);
     expected_chunks *= 2;
     VerifyChunkIterator(reused_nodes_cord, expected_chunks);
   }
@@ -1706,27 +1822,33 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, CharIteratorOperations) {
   VerifyCharIterator(empty_cord);
 
   absl::Cord small_buffer_cord("small cord");
+  MaybeHarden(small_buffer_cord);
   VerifyCharIterator(small_buffer_cord);
 
   absl::Cord flat_node_cord("larger than small buffer optimization");
+  MaybeHarden(flat_node_cord);
   VerifyCharIterator(flat_node_cord);
 
-  VerifyCharIterator(
+  VerifyCharIterator(MaybeHardened(
       absl::MakeFragmentedCord({"a ", "small ", "fragmented ", "cord ", "for ",
-                                "testing ", "character ", "iteration."}));
+                                "testing ", "character ", "iteration."})));
 
   absl::Cord reused_nodes_cord("ghi");
   reused_nodes_cord.Prepend(absl::Cord("def"));
   reused_nodes_cord.Prepend(absl::Cord("abc"));
   for (int i = 0; i < 4; ++i) {
     reused_nodes_cord.Prepend(reused_nodes_cord);
+    MaybeHarden(reused_nodes_cord);
     VerifyCharIterator(reused_nodes_cord);
   }
 
   RandomEngine rng(GTEST_FLAG_GET(random_seed));
   absl::Cord flat_cord(RandomLowercaseString(&rng, 256));
   absl::Cord subcords;
-  for (int i = 0; i < 4; ++i) subcords.Prepend(flat_cord.Subcord(16 * i, 128));
+  for (int i = 0; i < 4; ++i) {
+    subcords.Prepend(flat_cord.Subcord(16 * i, 128));
+    MaybeHarden(subcords);
+  }
   VerifyCharIterator(subcords);
 }
 
@@ -1751,6 +1873,8 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, CharIteratorAdvanceAndRead) {
     cord.Append(absl::Cord(block));
   }
 
+  MaybeHarden(cord);
+
   for (size_t chunk_size :
        {kChunkSize1, kChunkSize2, kChunkSize3, kChunkSize4}) {
     absl::Cord::CharIterator it = cord.char_begin();
@@ -1768,6 +1892,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, CharIteratorAdvanceAndRead) {
 TEST_P(CordTest, StreamingOutput) {
   absl::Cord c =
       absl::MakeFragmentedCord({"A ", "small ", "fragmented ", "Cord", "."});
+  MaybeHarden(c);
   std::stringstream output;
   output << c;
   EXPECT_EQ("A small fragmented Cord.", output.str());
@@ -1781,6 +1906,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, ForEachChunk) {
       cord_chunks.push_back(absl::StrCat("[", i, "]"));
     }
     absl::Cord c = absl::MakeFragmentedCord(cord_chunks);
+    MaybeHarden(c);
 
     std::vector<std::string> iterated_chunks;
     absl::CordTestPeer::ForEachChunk(c,
@@ -1798,6 +1924,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, SmallBufferAssignFromOwnData) {
   for (size_t pos = 0; pos < contents.size(); ++pos) {
     for (size_t count = contents.size() - pos; count > 0; --count) {
       absl::Cord c(contents);
+      MaybeHarden(c);
       absl::string_view flat = c.Flatten();
       c = flat.substr(pos, count);
       EXPECT_EQ(c, contents.substr(pos, count))
@@ -1810,12 +1937,16 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, Format) {
   absl::Cord c;
   absl::Format(&c, "There were %04d little %s.", 3, "pigs");
   EXPECT_EQ(c, "There were 0003 little pigs.");
+  MaybeHarden(c);
   absl::Format(&c, "And %-3llx bad wolf!", 1);
+  MaybeHarden(c);
   EXPECT_EQ(c, "There were 0003 little pigs.And 1   bad wolf!");
 }
 
 TEST_P(CordTest, Hardening) {
   absl::Cord cord("hello");
+  MaybeHarden(cord);
+
   // These statement should abort the program in all builds modes.
   EXPECT_DEATH_IF_SUPPORTED(cord.RemovePrefix(6), "");
   EXPECT_DEATH_IF_SUPPORTED(cord.RemoveSuffix(6), "");
@@ -1855,6 +1986,7 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, BtreeHostileSplitInsertJoin) {
   }
 
   for (int j = 0; j < 1000; ++j) {
+    MaybeHarden(cord);
     size_t offset = absl::Uniform(bitgen, 0u, cord.size());
     size_t length = absl::Uniform(bitgen, 100u, data.size());
     if (cord.size() == offset) {
@@ -1955,3 +2087,272 @@ TEST_P(CordTest, ConstinitConstructor) {
   TestConstinitConstructor(
       absl::strings_internal::MakeStringConstant(LongView{}));
 }
+
+namespace {
+
+// Test helper that generates a populated cord for future manipulation.
+//
+// By test convention, all generated cords begin with the characters "abcde" at
+// the start of the first chunk.
+class PopulatedCordFactory {
+ public:
+  constexpr PopulatedCordFactory(absl::string_view name,
+                                 absl::Cord (*generator)())
+      : name_(name), generator_(generator) {}
+
+  absl::string_view Name() const { return name_; }
+  absl::Cord Generate() const { return generator_(); }
+
+ private:
+  absl::string_view name_;
+  absl::Cord (*generator_)();
+};
+
+// clang-format off
+// This array is constant-initialized in conformant compilers.
+PopulatedCordFactory cord_factories[] = {
+  {"sso", [] { return absl::Cord("abcde"); }},
+  {"flat", [] {
+    // Too large to live in SSO space, but small enough to be a simple FLAT.
+    absl::Cord flat(absl::StrCat("abcde", std::string(1000, 'x')));
+    flat.Flatten();
+    return flat;
+  }},
+  {"external", [] {
+    // A cheat: we are using a string literal as the external storage, so a
+    // no-op releaser is correct here.
+    return absl::MakeCordFromExternal("abcde External!", []{});
+  }},
+  {"external substring", [] {
+    // A cheat: we are using a string literal as the external storage, so a
+    // no-op releaser is correct here.
+    absl::Cord ext = absl::MakeCordFromExternal("-abcde External!", []{});
+    return absl::CordTestPeer::MakeSubstring(ext, 1, ext.size() - 1);
+  }},
+  {"substring", [] {
+    absl::Cord flat(absl::StrCat("-abcde", std::string(1000, 'x')));
+    flat.Flatten();
+    return flat.Subcord(1, 998);
+  }},
+  {"fragmented", [] {
+    std::string fragment = absl::StrCat("abcde", std::string(195, 'x'));
+    std::vector<std::string> fragments(200, fragment);
+    absl::Cord cord = absl::MakeFragmentedCord(fragments);
+    assert(cord.size() == 40000);
+    return cord;
+  }},
+};
+// clang-format on
+
+// Test helper that can mutate a cord, and possibly undo the mutation, for
+// testing.
+class CordMutator {
+ public:
+  constexpr CordMutator(absl::string_view name, void (*mutate)(absl::Cord&),
+                        void (*undo)(absl::Cord&) = nullptr)
+      : name_(name), mutate_(mutate), undo_(undo) {}
+
+  absl::string_view Name() const { return name_; }
+  void Mutate(absl::Cord& cord) const { mutate_(cord); }
+  bool CanUndo() const { return undo_ != nullptr; }
+  void Undo(absl::Cord& cord) const { undo_(cord); }
+
+ private:
+  absl::string_view name_;
+  void (*mutate_)(absl::Cord&);
+  void (*undo_)(absl::Cord&);
+};
+
+// clang-format off
+// This array is constant-initialized in conformant compilers.
+CordMutator cord_mutators[] ={
+  {"clear", [](absl::Cord& c) { c.Clear(); }},
+  {"overwrite", [](absl::Cord& c) { c = "overwritten"; }},
+  {
+    "append string",
+    [](absl::Cord& c) { c.Append("0123456789"); },
+    [](absl::Cord& c) { c.RemoveSuffix(10); }
+  },
+  {
+    "append cord",
+    [](absl::Cord& c) {
+      c.Append(absl::MakeFragmentedCord({"12345", "67890"}));
+    },
+    [](absl::Cord& c) { c.RemoveSuffix(10); }
+  },
+  {
+    "append checksummed cord",
+    [](absl::Cord& c) {
+      absl::Cord to_append = absl::MakeFragmentedCord({"12345", "67890"});
+      to_append.SetExpectedChecksum(999);
+      c.Append(to_append);
+    },
+    [](absl::Cord& c) { c.RemoveSuffix(10); }
+  },
+  {
+    "append self",
+    [](absl::Cord& c) { c.Append(c); },
+    [](absl::Cord& c) { c.RemoveSuffix(c.size() / 2); }
+  },
+  {
+    "prepend string",
+    [](absl::Cord& c) { c.Prepend("9876543210"); },
+    [](absl::Cord& c) { c.RemovePrefix(10); }
+  },
+  {
+    "prepend cord",
+    [](absl::Cord& c) {
+      c.Prepend(absl::MakeFragmentedCord({"98765", "43210"}));
+    },
+    [](absl::Cord& c) { c.RemovePrefix(10); }
+  },
+  {
+    "prepend checksummed cord",
+    [](absl::Cord& c) {
+      absl::Cord to_prepend = absl::MakeFragmentedCord({"98765", "43210"});
+      to_prepend.SetExpectedChecksum(999);
+      c.Prepend(to_prepend);
+    },
+    [](absl::Cord& c) { c.RemovePrefix(10); }
+  },
+  {
+    "prepend self",
+    [](absl::Cord& c) { c.Prepend(c); },
+    [](absl::Cord& c) { c.RemovePrefix(c.size() / 2); }
+  },
+  {"remove prefix", [](absl::Cord& c) { c.RemovePrefix(2); }},
+  {"remove suffix", [](absl::Cord& c) { c.RemoveSuffix(2); }},
+  {"subcord", [](absl::Cord& c) { c = c.Subcord(1, c.size() - 2); }},
+  {
+    "swap inline",
+    [](absl::Cord& c) {
+      absl::Cord other("swap");
+      c.swap(other);
+    }
+  },
+  {
+    "swap tree",
+    [](absl::Cord& c) {
+      absl::Cord other(std::string(10000, 'x'));
+      c.swap(other);
+    }
+  },
+};
+// clang-format on
+}  // namespace
+
+TEST_P(CordTest, ExpectedChecksum) {
+  for (const PopulatedCordFactory& factory : cord_factories) {
+    SCOPED_TRACE(factory.Name());
+    for (bool shared : {false, true}) {
+      SCOPED_TRACE(shared);
+
+      absl::Cord shared_cord_source = factory.Generate();
+      auto make_instance = [=] {
+        return shared ? shared_cord_source : factory.Generate();
+      };
+
+      const absl::Cord base_value = factory.Generate();
+      const std::string base_value_as_string(factory.Generate().Flatten());
+
+      absl::Cord c1 = make_instance();
+      EXPECT_FALSE(c1.ExpectedChecksum().has_value());
+
+      // Setting an expected checksum works, and retains the cord's bytes
+      c1.SetExpectedChecksum(12345);
+      EXPECT_EQ(c1.ExpectedChecksum().value_or(0), 12345);
+      EXPECT_EQ(c1, base_value);
+
+      // CRC persists through copies, assignments, and moves:
+      absl::Cord c1_copy_construct = c1;
+      EXPECT_EQ(c1_copy_construct.ExpectedChecksum().value_or(0), 12345);
+
+      absl::Cord c1_copy_assign;
+      c1_copy_assign = c1;
+      EXPECT_EQ(c1_copy_assign.ExpectedChecksum().value_or(0), 12345);
+
+      absl::Cord c1_move(std::move(c1_copy_assign));
+      EXPECT_EQ(c1_move.ExpectedChecksum().value_or(0), 12345);
+
+      EXPECT_EQ(c1.ExpectedChecksum().value_or(0), 12345);
+
+      // A CRC Cord compares equal to its non-CRC value.
+      EXPECT_EQ(c1, make_instance());
+
+      for (const CordMutator& mutator : cord_mutators) {
+        SCOPED_TRACE(mutator.Name());
+
+        // Test that mutating a cord removes its stored checksum
+        absl::Cord c2 = make_instance();
+        c2.SetExpectedChecksum(24680);
+
+        mutator.Mutate(c2);
+        EXPECT_EQ(c2.ExpectedChecksum(), absl::nullopt);
+
+        if (mutator.CanUndo()) {
+          // Undoing an operation should not restore the checksum
+          mutator.Undo(c2);
+          EXPECT_EQ(c2, base_value);
+          EXPECT_EQ(c2.ExpectedChecksum(), absl::nullopt);
+        }
+      }
+
+      absl::Cord c3 = make_instance();
+      c3.SetExpectedChecksum(999);
+      const absl::Cord& cc3 = c3;
+
+      // Test that all cord reading operations function in the face of an
+      // expected checksum.
+
+      // Test data precondition
+      ASSERT_TRUE(cc3.StartsWith("abcde"));
+
+      EXPECT_EQ(cc3.size(), base_value_as_string.size());
+      EXPECT_FALSE(cc3.empty());
+      EXPECT_EQ(cc3.Compare(base_value), 0);
+      EXPECT_EQ(cc3.Compare(base_value_as_string), 0);
+      EXPECT_EQ(cc3.Compare("wxyz"), -1);
+      EXPECT_EQ(cc3.Compare(absl::Cord("wxyz")), -1);
+      EXPECT_EQ(cc3.Compare("aaaa"), 1);
+      EXPECT_EQ(cc3.Compare(absl::Cord("aaaa")), 1);
+      EXPECT_EQ(absl::Cord("wxyz").Compare(cc3), 1);
+      EXPECT_EQ(absl::Cord("aaaa").Compare(cc3), -1);
+      EXPECT_TRUE(cc3.StartsWith("abcd"));
+      EXPECT_EQ(std::string(cc3), base_value_as_string);
+
+      std::string dest;
+      absl::CopyCordToString(cc3, &dest);
+      EXPECT_EQ(dest, base_value_as_string);
+
+      bool first_pass = true;
+      for (absl::string_view chunk : cc3.Chunks()) {
+        if (first_pass) {
+          EXPECT_TRUE(absl::StartsWith(chunk, "abcde"));
+        }
+        first_pass = false;
+      }
+      first_pass = true;
+      for (char ch : cc3.Chars()) {
+        if (first_pass) {
+          EXPECT_EQ(ch, 'a');
+        }
+        first_pass = false;
+      }
+      EXPECT_TRUE(absl::StartsWith(*cc3.chunk_begin(), "abcde"));
+      EXPECT_EQ(*cc3.char_begin(), 'a');
+
+      auto char_it = cc3.char_begin();
+      absl::Cord::Advance(&char_it, 2);
+      EXPECT_EQ(absl::Cord::AdvanceAndRead(&char_it, 2), "cd");
+      EXPECT_EQ(*char_it, 'e');
+      char_it = cc3.char_begin();
+      absl::Cord::Advance(&char_it, 2);
+      EXPECT_TRUE(absl::StartsWith(absl::Cord::ChunkRemaining(char_it), "cde"));
+
+      EXPECT_EQ(cc3[0], 'a');
+      EXPECT_EQ(cc3[4], 'e');
+      EXPECT_EQ(absl::HashOf(cc3), absl::HashOf(base_value));
+      EXPECT_EQ(absl::HashOf(cc3), absl::HashOf(base_value_as_string));
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/absl/strings/internal/cord_internal.h b/absl/strings/internal/cord_internal.h
index bf135ae2..672bf178 100644
--- a/absl/strings/internal/cord_internal.h
+++ b/absl/strings/internal/cord_internal.h
@@ -87,9 +87,6 @@ class RefcountAndFlags {
   constexpr RefcountAndFlags() : count_{kRefIncrement} {}
   struct Immortal {};
   explicit constexpr RefcountAndFlags(Immortal) : count_(kImmortalFlag) {}
-  struct WithCrc {};
-  explicit constexpr RefcountAndFlags(WithCrc)
-      : count_(kCrcFlag | kRefIncrement) {}
 
   // Increments the reference count. Imposes no memory ordering.
   inline void Increment() {
@@ -125,32 +122,14 @@ class RefcountAndFlags {
     return count_.load(std::memory_order_acquire) >> kNumFlags;
   }
 
-  // Returns true if the referenced object carries a CRC value.
-  bool HasCrc() const {
-    return (count_.load(std::memory_order_relaxed) & kCrcFlag) != 0;
-  }
-
-  // Returns true iff the atomic integer is 1 and this node does not store
-  // a CRC.  When both these conditions are met, the current thread owns
-  // the reference and no other thread shares it, so its contents may be
-  // safely mutated.
-  //
-  // If the referenced item is shared, carries a CRC, or is immortal,
-  // it should not be modified in-place, and this function returns false.
-  //
-  // This call performs the memory barrier needed for the owning thread
-  // to act on the object, so that if it returns true, it may safely
-  // assume exclusive access to the object.
-  inline bool IsMutable() {
-    return (count_.load(std::memory_order_acquire)) == kRefIncrement;
-  }
-
-  // Returns whether the atomic integer is 1.  Similar to IsMutable(),
-  // but does not check for a stored CRC.  (An unshared node with a CRC is not
-  // mutable, because changing its data would invalidate the CRC.)
-  //
-  // When this returns true, there are no other references, and data sinks
-  // may safely adopt the children of the CordRep.
+  // Returns whether the atomic integer is 1.
+  // If the reference count is used in the conventional way, a
+  // reference count of 1 implies that the current thread owns the
+  // reference and no other thread shares it.
+  // This call performs the test for a reference count of one, and
+  // performs the memory barrier needed for the owning thread
+  // to act on the object, knowing that it has exclusive access to the
+  // object.  Always returns false when the immortal bit is set.
   inline bool IsOne() {
     return (count_.load(std::memory_order_acquire) & kRefcountMask) ==
            kRefIncrement;
@@ -170,14 +149,14 @@ class RefcountAndFlags {
     kNumFlags = 2,
 
     kImmortalFlag = 0x1,
-    kCrcFlag = 0x2,
+    kReservedFlag = 0x2,
     kRefIncrement = (1 << kNumFlags),
 
     // Bitmask to use when checking refcount by equality.  This masks out
     // all flags except kImmortalFlag, which is part of the refcount for
     // purposes of equality.  (A refcount of 0 or 1 does not count as 0 or 1
     // if the immortal bit is set.)
-    kRefcountMask = ~kCrcFlag,
+    kRefcountMask = ~kReservedFlag,
   };
 
   std::atomic<int32_t> count_;
@@ -227,6 +206,18 @@ static_assert(EXTERNAL == RING + 1, "BTREE and EXTERNAL not consecutive");
 static_assert(FLAT == EXTERNAL + 1, "EXTERNAL and FLAT not consecutive");
 
 struct CordRep {
+  // Result from an `extract edge` operation. Contains the (possibly changed)
+  // tree node as well as the extracted edge, or {tree, nullptr} if no edge
+  // could be extracted.
+  // On success, the returned `tree` value is null if `extracted` was the only
+  // data edge inside the tree, a data edge if there were only two data edges in
+  // the tree, or the (possibly new / smaller) remaining tree with the extracted
+  // data edge removed.
+  struct ExtractResult {
+    CordRep* tree;
+    CordRep* extracted;
+  };
+
   CordRep() = default;
   constexpr CordRep(RefcountAndFlags::Immortal immortal, size_t l)
       : length(l), refcount(immortal), tag(EXTERNAL), storage{} {}
@@ -294,6 +285,13 @@ struct CordRepConcat : public CordRep {
 
   uint8_t depth() const { return storage[0]; }
   void set_depth(uint8_t depth) { storage[0] = depth; }
+
+  // Extracts the right-most flat in the provided concat tree if the entire path
+  // to that flat is not shared, and the flat has the requested extra capacity.
+  // Returns the (potentially new) top level tree node and the extracted flat,
+  // or {tree, nullptr} if no flat was extracted.
+  static ExtractResult ExtractAppendBuffer(CordRepConcat* tree,
+                                           size_t extra_capacity);
 };
 
 struct CordRepSubstring : public CordRep {
diff --git a/absl/strings/internal/cord_internal_test.cc b/absl/strings/internal/cord_internal_test.cc
deleted file mode 100644
index 0758dfef..00000000
--- a/absl/strings/internal/cord_internal_test.cc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,116 +0,0 @@
-// Copyright 2021 The Abseil Authors
-//
-// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-// You may obtain a copy of the License at
-//
-//     https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-//
-// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-// limitations under the License.
-
-#include "absl/strings/internal/cord_internal.h"
-
-#include "gmock/gmock.h"
-
-namespace absl {
-ABSL_NAMESPACE_BEGIN
-namespace cord_internal {
-
-TEST(RefcountAndFlags, NormalRefcount) {
-  for (bool expect_high_refcount : {false, true}) {
-    SCOPED_TRACE(expect_high_refcount);
-    RefcountAndFlags refcount;
-    // count = 1
-
-    EXPECT_FALSE(refcount.HasCrc());
-    EXPECT_TRUE(refcount.IsMutable());
-    EXPECT_TRUE(refcount.IsOne());
-
-    refcount.Increment();
-    // count = 2
-
-    EXPECT_FALSE(refcount.HasCrc());
-    EXPECT_FALSE(refcount.IsMutable());
-    EXPECT_FALSE(refcount.IsOne());
-
-    // Decrementing should return true, since a reference is outstanding.
-    if (expect_high_refcount) {
-      EXPECT_TRUE(refcount.DecrementExpectHighRefcount());
-    } else {
-      EXPECT_TRUE(refcount.Decrement());
-    }
-    // count = 1
-
-    EXPECT_FALSE(refcount.HasCrc());
-    EXPECT_TRUE(refcount.IsMutable());
-    EXPECT_TRUE(refcount.IsOne());
-
-    // One more decremnt will return false, as no references remain.
-    if (expect_high_refcount) {
-      EXPECT_FALSE(refcount.DecrementExpectHighRefcount());
-    } else {
-      EXPECT_FALSE(refcount.Decrement());
-    }
-  }
-}
-
-TEST(RefcountAndFlags, CrcRefcount) {
-  for (bool expect_high_refcount : {false, true}) {
-    SCOPED_TRACE(expect_high_refcount);
-    RefcountAndFlags refcount(RefcountAndFlags::WithCrc{});
-    // count = 1
-
-    // A CRC-carrying node is never mutable, but can be unshared
-    EXPECT_TRUE(refcount.HasCrc());
-    EXPECT_FALSE(refcount.IsMutable());
-    EXPECT_TRUE(refcount.IsOne());
-
-    refcount.Increment();
-    // count = 2
-
-    EXPECT_TRUE(refcount.HasCrc());
-    EXPECT_FALSE(refcount.IsMutable());
-    EXPECT_FALSE(refcount.IsOne());
-
-    // Decrementing should return true, since a reference is outstanding.
-    if (expect_high_refcount) {
-      EXPECT_TRUE(refcount.DecrementExpectHighRefcount());
-    } else {
-      EXPECT_TRUE(refcount.Decrement());
-    }
-    // count = 1
-
-    EXPECT_TRUE(refcount.HasCrc());
-    EXPECT_FALSE(refcount.IsMutable());
-    EXPECT_TRUE(refcount.IsOne());
-
-    // One more decremnt will return false, as no references remain.
-    if (expect_high_refcount) {
-      EXPECT_FALSE(refcount.DecrementExpectHighRefcount());
-    } else {
-      EXPECT_FALSE(refcount.Decrement());
-    }
-  }
-}
-
-TEST(RefcountAndFlags, ImmortalRefcount) {
-  RefcountAndFlags immortal_refcount(RefcountAndFlags::Immortal{});
-
-  for (int i = 0; i < 100; ++i) {
-    // An immortal refcount is never unshared, and decrementing never causes
-    // a collection.
-    EXPECT_FALSE(immortal_refcount.HasCrc());
-    EXPECT_FALSE(immortal_refcount.IsMutable());
-    EXPECT_FALSE(immortal_refcount.IsOne());
-    EXPECT_TRUE(immortal_refcount.Decrement());
-    EXPECT_TRUE(immortal_refcount.DecrementExpectHighRefcount());
-  }
-}
-
-}  // namespace cord_internal
-ABSL_NAMESPACE_END
-}  // namespace absl
diff --git a/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_btree.cc b/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_btree.cc
index 4404f33a..7cefcc52 100644
--- a/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_btree.cc
+++ b/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_btree.cc
@@ -216,8 +216,8 @@ void DeleteLeafEdge(CordRep* rep) {
 // propagate node changes up the stack.
 template <EdgeType edge_type>
 struct StackOperations {
-  // Returns true if the node at 'depth' is mutable, i.e. has a refcount
-  // of one, carries no CRC, and all of its parent nodes have a refcount of one.
+  // Returns true if the node at 'depth' is not shared, i.e. has a refcount
+  // of one and all of its parent nodes have a refcount of one.
   inline bool owned(int depth) const { return depth < share_depth; }
 
   // Returns the node at 'depth'.
@@ -228,11 +228,11 @@ struct StackOperations {
   inline CordRepBtree* BuildStack(CordRepBtree* tree, int depth) {
     assert(depth <= tree->height());
     int current_depth = 0;
-    while (current_depth < depth && tree->refcount.IsMutable()) {
+    while (current_depth < depth && tree->refcount.IsOne()) {
       stack[current_depth++] = tree;
       tree = tree->Edge(edge_type)->btree();
     }
-    share_depth = current_depth + (tree->refcount.IsMutable() ? 1 : 0);
+    share_depth = current_depth + (tree->refcount.IsOne() ? 1 : 0);
     while (current_depth < depth) {
       stack[current_depth++] = tree;
       tree = tree->Edge(edge_type)->btree();
@@ -241,17 +241,17 @@ struct StackOperations {
   }
 
   // Builds a stack with the invariant that all nodes are private owned / not
-  // shared and carry no CRC data. This is used in iterative updates where a
-  // previous propagation guaranteed all nodes have this property.
+  // shared. This is used in iterative updates where a previous propagation
+  // guaranteed all nodes are owned / private.
   inline void BuildOwnedStack(CordRepBtree* tree, int height) {
     assert(height <= CordRepBtree::kMaxHeight);
     int depth = 0;
     while (depth < height) {
-      assert(tree->refcount.IsMutable());
+      assert(tree->refcount.IsOne());
       stack[depth++] = tree;
       tree = tree->Edge(edge_type)->btree();
     }
-    assert(tree->refcount.IsMutable());
+    assert(tree->refcount.IsOne());
     share_depth = depth + 1;
   }
 
@@ -336,12 +336,12 @@ struct StackOperations {
     return Unwind</*propagate=*/true>(tree, depth, length, result);
   }
 
-  // `share_depth` contains the depth at which the nodes in the stack cannot
-  // be mutated. I.e., if the top most level is shared (i.e.:
-  // `!refcount.IsMutable()`), then `share_depth` is 0. If the 2nd node
-  // is shared (and implicitly all nodes below that) then `share_depth` is 1,
-  // etc. A `share_depth` greater than the depth of the stack indicates that
-  // none of the nodes in the stack are shared.
+  // `share_depth` contains the depth at which the nodes in the stack become
+  // shared. I.e., if the top most level is shared (i.e.: `!refcount.IsOne()`),
+  // then `share_depth` is 0. If the 2nd node is shared (and implicitly all
+  // nodes below that) then `share_depth` is 1, etc. A `share_depth` greater
+  // than the depth of the stack indicates that none of the nodes in the stack
+  // are shared.
   int share_depth;
 
   NodeStack stack;
@@ -773,7 +773,7 @@ CopyResult CordRepBtree::CopyPrefix(size_t n, bool allow_folding) {
 
 CordRep* CordRepBtree::ExtractFront(CordRepBtree* tree) {
   CordRep* front = tree->Edge(tree->begin());
-  if (tree->refcount.IsMutable()) {
+  if (tree->refcount.IsOne()) {
     Unref(tree->Edges(tree->begin() + 1, tree->end()));
     CordRepBtree::Delete(tree);
   } else {
@@ -786,7 +786,7 @@ CordRep* CordRepBtree::ExtractFront(CordRepBtree* tree) {
 CordRepBtree* CordRepBtree::ConsumeBeginTo(CordRepBtree* tree, size_t end,
                                            size_t new_length) {
   assert(end <= tree->end());
-  if (tree->refcount.IsMutable()) {
+  if (tree->refcount.IsOne()) {
     Unref(tree->Edges(end, tree->end()));
     tree->set_end(end);
     tree->length = new_length;
@@ -813,13 +813,13 @@ CordRep* CordRepBtree::RemoveSuffix(CordRepBtree* tree, size_t n) {
 
   size_t length = len - n;
   int height = tree->height();
-  bool is_mutable = tree->refcount.IsMutable();
+  bool is_mutable = tree->refcount.IsOne();
 
   // Extract all top nodes which are reduced to size = 1
   Position pos = tree->IndexOfLength(length);
   while (pos.index == tree->begin()) {
     CordRep* edge = ExtractFront(tree);
-    is_mutable &= edge->refcount.IsMutable();
+    is_mutable &= edge->refcount.IsOne();
     if (height-- == 0) return ResizeEdge(edge, length, is_mutable);
     tree = edge->btree();
     pos = tree->IndexOfLength(length);
@@ -835,8 +835,8 @@ CordRep* CordRepBtree::RemoveSuffix(CordRepBtree* tree, size_t n) {
   length = pos.n;
   while (length != edge->length) {
     // ConsumeBeginTo guarantees `tree` is a clean, privately owned copy.
-    assert(tree->refcount.IsMutable());
-    const bool edge_is_mutable = edge->refcount.IsMutable();
+    assert(tree->refcount.IsOne());
+    const bool edge_is_mutable = edge->refcount.IsOne();
 
     if (height-- == 0) {
       tree->edges_[pos.index] = ResizeEdge(edge, length, edge_is_mutable);
@@ -973,7 +973,7 @@ char CordRepBtree::GetCharacter(size_t offset) const {
 Span<char> CordRepBtree::GetAppendBufferSlow(size_t size) {
   // The inlined version in `GetAppendBuffer()` deals with all heights <= 3.
   assert(height() >= 4);
-  assert(refcount.IsMutable());
+  assert(refcount.IsOne());
 
   // Build a stack of nodes we may potentially need to update if we find a
   // non-shared FLAT with capacity at the leaf level.
@@ -982,13 +982,13 @@ Span<char> CordRepBtree::GetAppendBufferSlow(size_t size) {
   CordRepBtree* stack[kMaxDepth];
   for (int i = 0; i < depth; ++i) {
     node = node->Edge(kBack)->btree();
-    if (!node->refcount.IsMutable()) return {};
+    if (!node->refcount.IsOne()) return {};
     stack[i] = node;
   }
 
   // Must be a privately owned, mutable flat.
   CordRep* const edge = node->Edge(kBack);
-  if (!edge->refcount.IsMutable() || edge->tag < FLAT) return {};
+  if (!edge->refcount.IsOne() || edge->tag < FLAT) return {};
 
   // Must have capacity.
   const size_t avail = edge->flat()->Capacity() - edge->length;
@@ -1123,6 +1123,79 @@ CordRepBtree* CordRepBtree::Rebuild(CordRepBtree* tree) {
   return nullptr;
 }
 
+CordRepBtree::ExtractResult CordRepBtree::ExtractAppendBuffer(
+    CordRepBtree* tree, size_t extra_capacity) {
+  int depth = 0;
+  NodeStack stack;
+
+  // Set up default 'no success' result which is {tree, nullptr}.
+  ExtractResult result;
+  result.tree = tree;
+  result.extracted = nullptr;
+
+  // Dive down the right side of the tree, making sure no edges are shared.
+  while (tree->height() > 0) {
+    if (!tree->refcount.IsOne()) return result;
+    stack[depth++] = tree;
+    tree = tree->Edge(kBack)->btree();
+  }
+  if (!tree->refcount.IsOne()) return result;
+
+  // Validate we ended on a non shared flat.
+  CordRep* rep = tree->Edge(kBack);
+  if (!(rep->IsFlat() && rep->refcount.IsOne())) return result;
+
+  // Verify it has at least the requested extra capacity.
+  CordRepFlat* flat = rep->flat();
+  const size_t length = flat->length;
+  const size_t avail = flat->Capacity() - flat->length;
+  if (extra_capacity > avail) return result;
+
+  // Set the extracted flat in the result.
+  result.extracted = flat;
+
+  // Cascading delete all nodes that become empty.
+  while (tree->size() == 1) {
+    CordRepBtree::Delete(tree);
+    if (--depth < 0) {
+      // We consumed the entire tree: return nullptr for new tree.
+      result.tree = nullptr;
+      return result;
+    }
+    rep = tree;
+    tree = stack[depth];
+  }
+
+  // Remove the edge or cascaded up parent node.
+  tree->set_end(tree->end() - 1);
+  tree->length -= length;
+
+  // Adjust lengths up the tree.
+  while (depth > 0) {
+    tree = stack[--depth];
+    tree->length -= length;
+  }
+
+  // Remove unnecessary top nodes with size = 1. This may iterate all the way
+  // down to the leaf node in which case we simply return the remaining last
+  // edge in that node and the extracted flat.
+  while (tree->size() == 1) {
+    int height = tree->height();
+    rep = tree->Edge(kBack);
+    Delete(tree);
+    if (height == 0) {
+      // We consumed the leaf: return the sole data edge as the new tree.
+      result.tree = rep;
+      return result;
+    }
+    tree = rep->btree();
+  }
+
+  // Done: return the (new) top level node and extracted flat.
+  result.tree = tree;
+  return result;
+}
+
 }  // namespace cord_internal
 ABSL_NAMESPACE_END
 }  // namespace absl
diff --git a/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_btree.h b/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_btree.h
index bb38f0c3..0b44509e 100644
--- a/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_btree.h
+++ b/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_btree.h
@@ -240,11 +240,41 @@ class CordRepBtree : public CordRep {
   // length of the flat node and involved tree nodes have been increased by
   // `span.length()`. The caller is responsible for immediately assigning values
   // to all uninitialized data reference by the returned span.
-  // Requires `this->refcount.IsMutable()`: this function forces the
-  // caller to do this fast path check on the top level node, as this is the
-  // most commonly shared node of a cord tree.
+  // Requires `this->refcount.IsOne()`: this function forces the caller to do
+  // this fast path check on the top level node, as this is the most commonly
+  // shared node of a cord tree.
   Span<char> GetAppendBuffer(size_t size);
 
+  // Extracts the right-most data edge from this tree iff:
+  // - the tree and all internal edges to the right-most node are not shared.
+  // - the right-most node is a FLAT node and not shared.
+  // - the right-most node has at least the desired extra capacity.
+  //
+  // Returns {tree, nullptr} if any of the above conditions are not met.
+  // This method effectively removes data from the tree. The intent of this
+  // method is to allow applications appending small string data to use
+  // pre-existing capacity, and add the modified rep back to the tree.
+  //
+  // Simplified such code would look similar to this:
+  //   void MyTreeBuilder::Append(string_view data) {
+  //     ExtractResult result = CordRepBtree::ExtractAppendBuffer(tree_, 1);
+  //     if (CordRep* rep = result.extracted) {
+  //       size_t available = rep->Capacity() - rep->length;
+  //       size_t n = std::min(data.size(), n);
+  //       memcpy(rep->Data(), data.data(), n);
+  //       rep->length += n;
+  //       data.remove_prefix(n);
+  //       if (!result.tree->IsBtree()) {
+  //         tree_ = CordRepBtree::Create(result.tree);
+  //       }
+  //       tree_ = CordRepBtree::Append(tree_, rep);
+  //     }
+  //     ...
+  //     // Remaining edge in `result.tree`.
+  //   }
+  static ExtractResult ExtractAppendBuffer(CordRepBtree* tree,
+                                           size_t extra_capacity = 1);
+
   // Returns the `height` of the tree. The height of a tree is limited to
   // kMaxHeight. `height` is implemented as an `int` as in some places we
   // use negative (-1) values for 'data edges'.
@@ -849,7 +879,7 @@ inline CordRepBtree* CordRepBtree::Create(CordRep* rep) {
 }
 
 inline Span<char> CordRepBtree::GetAppendBuffer(size_t size) {
-  assert(refcount.IsMutable());
+  assert(refcount.IsOne());
   CordRepBtree* tree = this;
   const int height = this->height();
   CordRepBtree* n1 = tree;
@@ -858,21 +888,21 @@ inline Span<char> CordRepBtree::GetAppendBuffer(size_t size) {
   switch (height) {
     case 3:
       tree = tree->Edge(kBack)->btree();
-      if (!tree->refcount.IsMutable()) return {};
+      if (!tree->refcount.IsOne()) return {};
       n2 = tree;
       ABSL_FALLTHROUGH_INTENDED;
     case 2:
       tree = tree->Edge(kBack)->btree();
-      if (!tree->refcount.IsMutable()) return {};
+      if (!tree->refcount.IsOne()) return {};
       n1 = tree;
       ABSL_FALLTHROUGH_INTENDED;
     case 1:
       tree = tree->Edge(kBack)->btree();
-      if (!tree->refcount.IsMutable()) return {};
+      if (!tree->refcount.IsOne()) return {};
       ABSL_FALLTHROUGH_INTENDED;
     case 0:
       CordRep* edge = tree->Edge(kBack);
-      if (!edge->refcount.IsMutable()) return {};
+      if (!edge->refcount.IsOne()) return {};
       if (edge->tag < FLAT) return {};
       size_t avail = edge->flat()->Capacity() - edge->length;
       if (avail == 0) return {};
diff --git a/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_btree_test.cc b/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_btree_test.cc
index be9473d4..1d0c68b2 100644
--- a/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_btree_test.cc
+++ b/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_btree_test.cc
@@ -128,6 +128,16 @@ MATCHER_P2(IsSubstring, start, length,
   return true;
 }
 
+MATCHER_P2(EqExtractResult, tree, rep, "Equals ExtractResult") {
+  if (arg.tree != tree || arg.extracted != rep) {
+    *result_listener << "Expected {" << static_cast<const void*>(tree) << ", "
+                     << static_cast<const void*>(rep) << "}, got {" << arg.tree
+                     << ", " << arg.extracted << "}";
+    return false;
+  }
+  return true;
+}
+
 // DataConsumer is a simple helper class used by tests to 'consume' string
 // fragments from the provided input in forward or backward direction.
 class DataConsumer {
@@ -1483,6 +1493,125 @@ TEST_P(CordRepBtreeTest, Rebuild) {
   }
 }
 
+// Convenience helper for CordRepBtree::ExtractAppendBuffer
+CordRepBtree::ExtractResult ExtractLast(CordRepBtree* input, size_t cap = 1) {
+  return CordRepBtree::ExtractAppendBuffer(input, cap);
+}
+
+TEST(CordRepBtreeTest, ExtractAppendBufferLeafSingleFlat) {
+  CordRep* flat = MakeFlat("Abc");
+  CordRepBtree* leaf = CordRepBtree::Create(flat);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(leaf), EqExtractResult(nullptr, flat));
+  CordRep::Unref(flat);
+}
+
+TEST(CordRepBtreeTest, ExtractAppendBufferNodeSingleFlat) {
+  CordRep* flat = MakeFlat("Abc");
+  CordRepBtree* leaf = CordRepBtree::Create(flat);
+  CordRepBtree* node = CordRepBtree::New(leaf);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(node), EqExtractResult(nullptr, flat));
+  CordRep::Unref(flat);
+}
+
+TEST(CordRepBtreeTest, ExtractAppendBufferLeafTwoFlats) {
+  std::vector<CordRep*> flats = CreateFlatsFromString("abcdef", 3);
+  CordRepBtree* leaf = CreateTree(flats);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(leaf), EqExtractResult(flats[0], flats[1]));
+  CordRep::Unref(flats[0]);
+  CordRep::Unref(flats[1]);
+}
+
+TEST(CordRepBtreeTest, ExtractAppendBufferNodeTwoFlats) {
+  std::vector<CordRep*> flats = CreateFlatsFromString("abcdef", 3);
+  CordRepBtree* leaf = CreateTree(flats);
+  CordRepBtree* node = CordRepBtree::New(leaf);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(node), EqExtractResult(flats[0], flats[1]));
+  CordRep::Unref(flats[0]);
+  CordRep::Unref(flats[1]);
+}
+
+TEST(CordRepBtreeTest, ExtractAppendBufferNodeTwoFlatsInTwoLeafs) {
+  std::vector<CordRep*> flats = CreateFlatsFromString("abcdef", 3);
+  CordRepBtree* leaf1 = CordRepBtree::Create(flats[0]);
+  CordRepBtree* leaf2 = CordRepBtree::Create(flats[1]);
+  CordRepBtree* node = CordRepBtree::New(leaf1, leaf2);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(node), EqExtractResult(flats[0], flats[1]));
+  CordRep::Unref(flats[0]);
+  CordRep::Unref(flats[1]);
+}
+
+TEST(CordRepBtreeTest, ExtractAppendBufferLeafThreeFlats) {
+  std::vector<CordRep*> flats = CreateFlatsFromString("abcdefghi", 3);
+  CordRepBtree* leaf = CreateTree(flats);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(leaf), EqExtractResult(leaf, flats[2]));
+  CordRep::Unref(flats[2]);
+  CordRep::Unref(leaf);
+}
+
+TEST(CordRepBtreeTest, ExtractAppendBufferNodeThreeFlatsRightNoFolding) {
+  CordRep* flat = MakeFlat("Abc");
+  std::vector<CordRep*> flats = CreateFlatsFromString("defghi", 3);
+  CordRepBtree* leaf1 = CordRepBtree::Create(flat);
+  CordRepBtree* leaf2 = CreateTree(flats);
+  CordRepBtree* node = CordRepBtree::New(leaf1, leaf2);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(node), EqExtractResult(node, flats[1]));
+  EXPECT_THAT(node->Edges(), ElementsAre(leaf1, leaf2));
+  EXPECT_THAT(leaf1->Edges(), ElementsAre(flat));
+  EXPECT_THAT(leaf2->Edges(), ElementsAre(flats[0]));
+  CordRep::Unref(node);
+  CordRep::Unref(flats[1]);
+}
+
+TEST(CordRepBtreeTest, ExtractAppendBufferNodeThreeFlatsRightLeafFolding) {
+  CordRep* flat = MakeFlat("Abc");
+  std::vector<CordRep*> flats = CreateFlatsFromString("defghi", 3);
+  CordRepBtree* leaf1 = CreateTree(flats);
+  CordRepBtree* leaf2 = CordRepBtree::Create(flat);
+  CordRepBtree* node = CordRepBtree::New(leaf1, leaf2);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(node), EqExtractResult(leaf1, flat));
+  EXPECT_THAT(leaf1->Edges(), ElementsAreArray(flats));
+  CordRep::Unref(leaf1);
+  CordRep::Unref(flat);
+}
+
+TEST(CordRepBtreeTest, ExtractAppendBufferNoCapacity) {
+  std::vector<CordRep*> flats = CreateFlatsFromString("abcdef", 3);
+  CordRepBtree* leaf = CreateTree(flats);
+  size_t avail = flats[1]->flat()->Capacity() - flats[1]->length;
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(leaf, avail + 1), EqExtractResult(leaf, nullptr));
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(leaf, avail), EqExtractResult(flats[0], flats[1]));
+  CordRep::Unref(flats[0]);
+  CordRep::Unref(flats[1]);
+}
+
+TEST(CordRepBtreeTest, ExtractAppendBufferNotFlat) {
+  std::vector<CordRep*> flats = CreateFlatsFromString("abcdef", 3);
+  auto substr = MakeSubstring(1, 2, flats[1]);
+  CordRepBtree* leaf = CreateTree({flats[0], substr});
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(leaf), EqExtractResult(leaf, nullptr));
+  CordRep::Unref(leaf);
+}
+
+TEST(CordRepBtreeTest, ExtractAppendBufferShared) {
+  std::vector<CordRep*> flats = CreateFlatsFromString("abcdef", 3);
+  CordRepBtree* leaf = CreateTree(flats);
+
+  CordRep::Ref(flats[1]);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(leaf), EqExtractResult(leaf, nullptr));
+  CordRep::Unref(flats[1]);
+
+  CordRep::Ref(leaf);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(leaf), EqExtractResult(leaf, nullptr));
+  CordRep::Unref(leaf);
+
+  CordRepBtree* node = CordRepBtree::New(leaf);
+  CordRep::Ref(node);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(node), EqExtractResult(node, nullptr));
+  CordRep::Unref(node);
+
+  CordRep::Unref(node);
+}
+
 }  // namespace
 }  // namespace cord_internal
 ABSL_NAMESPACE_END
diff --git a/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_concat.cc b/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_concat.cc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3457b55c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_concat.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+// Copyright 2021 The Abseil Authors
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+#include <cstdint>
+
+#include "absl/base/config.h"
+#include "absl/container/inlined_vector.h"
+#include "absl/strings/internal/cord_internal.h"
+#include "absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_flat.h"
+
+namespace absl {
+ABSL_NAMESPACE_BEGIN
+namespace cord_internal {
+
+CordRepConcat::ExtractResult CordRepConcat::ExtractAppendBuffer(
+    CordRepConcat* tree, size_t extra_capacity) {
+  absl::InlinedVector<CordRepConcat*, kInlinedVectorSize> stack;
+  CordRepConcat* concat = tree;
+  CordRep* rep = concat->right;
+
+  // Dive down the tree, making sure no edges are shared
+  while (concat->refcount.IsOne() && rep->IsConcat()) {
+    stack.push_back(concat);
+    concat = rep->concat();
+    rep = concat->right;
+  }
+  // Validate we ended on a non shared flat.
+  if (concat->refcount.IsOne() && rep->IsFlat() &&
+      rep->refcount.IsOne()) {
+    // Verify it has at least the requested extra capacity
+    CordRepFlat* flat = rep->flat();
+    size_t remaining = flat->Capacity() - flat->length;
+    if (extra_capacity > remaining) return {tree, nullptr};
+
+    // Check if we have a parent to adjust, or if we must return the left node.
+    rep = concat->left;
+    if (!stack.empty()) {
+      stack.back()->right = rep;
+      for (CordRepConcat* parent : stack) {
+        parent->length -= flat->length;
+      }
+      rep = tree;
+    }
+    delete concat;
+    return {rep, flat};
+  }
+  return {tree, nullptr};
+}
+
+}  // namespace cord_internal
+ABSL_NAMESPACE_END
+}  // namespace absl
diff --git a/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_concat_test.cc b/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_concat_test.cc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..32bab975
--- /dev/null
+++ b/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_concat_test.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+// Copyright 2021 The Abseil Authors
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+#include <cstdint>
+#include <utility>
+
+#include "gmock/gmock.h"
+#include "gtest/gtest.h"
+#include "absl/base/config.h"
+#include "absl/strings/internal/cord_internal.h"
+#include "absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_test_util.h"
+
+namespace absl {
+ABSL_NAMESPACE_BEGIN
+namespace cord_internal {
+namespace {
+
+using ::absl::cordrep_testing::MakeFlat;
+using ::absl::cordrep_testing::MakeSubstring;
+using ::testing::Eq;
+
+MATCHER_P2(EqExtractResult, tree, rep, "Equals ExtractResult") {
+  if (arg.tree != tree || arg.extracted != rep) {
+    *result_listener << "Expected {" << static_cast<const void*>(tree) << ", "
+                     << static_cast<const void*>(rep) << "}, got {" << arg.tree
+                     << ", " << arg.extracted << "}";
+    return false;
+  }
+  return true;
+}
+
+CordRepConcat* MakeConcat(CordRep* left, CordRep* right, int depth) {
+  CordRepConcat* concat = new CordRepConcat;
+  concat->tag = CONCAT;
+  concat->set_depth(depth);
+  concat->length = left->length + right->length;
+  concat->left = left;
+  concat->right = right;
+  return concat;
+}
+
+CordRepConcat::ExtractResult ExtractLast(CordRepConcat* concat,
+                                         size_t extra_capacity = 1) {
+  return CordRepConcat::ExtractAppendBuffer(concat, extra_capacity);
+}
+
+TEST(CordRepConcatTest, ExtractAppendBufferTwoFlats) {
+  CordRepFlat* flat1 = MakeFlat("abc");
+  CordRepFlat* flat2 = MakeFlat("defg");
+  CordRepConcat* concat = MakeConcat(flat1, flat2, 0);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(concat), EqExtractResult(flat1, flat2));
+  CordRep::Unref(flat1);
+  CordRep::Unref(flat2);
+}
+
+TEST(CordRepConcatTest, ExtractAppendBufferThreeFlatsOne) {
+  CordRepFlat* flat1 = MakeFlat("abc");
+  CordRepFlat* flat2 = MakeFlat("defg");
+  CordRepFlat* flat3 = MakeFlat("hijkl");
+  CordRepConcat* lconcat = MakeConcat(flat1, flat2, 0);
+  CordRepConcat* concat = MakeConcat(lconcat, flat3, 1);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(concat), EqExtractResult(lconcat, flat3));
+  ASSERT_THAT(lconcat->length, Eq(7));
+  CordRep::Unref(lconcat);
+  CordRep::Unref(flat3);
+}
+
+TEST(CordRepConcatTest, ExtractAppendBufferThreeFlatsTwo) {
+  CordRepFlat* flat1 = MakeFlat("hijkl");
+  CordRepFlat* flat2 = MakeFlat("abc");
+  CordRepFlat* flat3 = MakeFlat("defg");
+  CordRepConcat* rconcat = MakeConcat(flat2, flat3, 0);
+  CordRepConcat* concat = MakeConcat(flat1, rconcat, 1);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(concat), EqExtractResult(concat, flat3));
+  ASSERT_THAT(concat->length, Eq(8));
+  CordRep::Unref(concat);
+  CordRep::Unref(flat3);
+}
+
+TEST(CordRepConcatTest, ExtractAppendBufferShared) {
+  CordRepFlat* flat1 = MakeFlat("hijkl");
+  CordRepFlat* flat2 = MakeFlat("abc");
+  CordRepFlat* flat3 = MakeFlat("defg");
+  CordRepConcat* rconcat = MakeConcat(flat2, flat3, 0);
+  CordRepConcat* concat = MakeConcat(flat1, rconcat, 1);
+
+  CordRep::Ref(concat);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(concat), EqExtractResult(concat, nullptr));
+  CordRep::Unref(concat);
+
+  CordRep::Ref(rconcat);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(concat), EqExtractResult(concat, nullptr));
+  CordRep::Unref(rconcat);
+
+  CordRep::Ref(flat3);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(concat), EqExtractResult(concat, nullptr));
+  CordRep::Unref(flat3);
+
+  CordRep::Unref(concat);
+}
+
+TEST(CordRepConcatTest, ExtractAppendBufferNotFlat) {
+  CordRepFlat* flat1 = MakeFlat("hijkl");
+  CordRepFlat* flat2 = MakeFlat("abc");
+  CordRepFlat* flat3 = MakeFlat("defg");
+  auto substr = MakeSubstring(1, 2, flat3);
+  CordRepConcat* rconcat = MakeConcat(flat2, substr, 0);
+  CordRepConcat* concat = MakeConcat(flat1, rconcat, 1);
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(concat), EqExtractResult(concat, nullptr));
+  CordRep::Unref(concat);
+}
+
+TEST(CordRepConcatTest, ExtractAppendBufferNoCapacity) {
+  CordRepFlat* flat1 = MakeFlat("hijkl");
+  CordRepFlat* flat2 = MakeFlat("abc");
+  CordRepFlat* flat3 = MakeFlat("defg");
+  size_t avail = flat3->Capacity() - flat3->length;
+  CordRepConcat* rconcat = MakeConcat(flat2, flat3, 0);
+  CordRepConcat* concat = MakeConcat(flat1, rconcat, 1);
+
+  // Should fail if 1 byte over, success if exactly matching
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(concat, avail + 1), EqExtractResult(concat, nullptr));
+  EXPECT_THAT(ExtractLast(concat, avail), EqExtractResult(concat, flat3));
+
+  CordRep::Unref(concat);
+  CordRep::Unref(flat3);
+}
+
+}  // namespace
+}  // namespace cord_internal
+ABSL_NAMESPACE_END
+}  // namespace absl
diff --git a/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_crc.h b/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_crc.h
index 3ead94a1..5294b0d1 100644
--- a/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_crc.h
+++ b/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_crc.h
@@ -76,6 +76,15 @@ inline CordRep* SkipCrcNode(CordRep* rep) {
   }
 }
 
+inline const CordRep* SkipCrcNode(const CordRep* rep) {
+  assert(rep != nullptr);
+  if (ABSL_PREDICT_FALSE(rep->IsCrc())) {
+    return rep->crc()->child;
+  } else {
+    return rep;
+  }
+}
+
 inline CordRepCrc* CordRep::crc() {
   assert(IsCrc());
   return static_cast<CordRepCrc*>(this);
diff --git a/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_ring.cc b/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_ring.cc
index 07c77eb3..db1f63fa 100644
--- a/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_ring.cc
+++ b/absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_ring.cc
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ CordRepRing* CordRepRing::Mutable(CordRepRing* rep, size_t extra) {
   // Get current number of entries, and check for max capacity.
   size_t entries = rep->entries();
 
-  if (!rep->refcount.IsMutable()) {
+  if (!rep->refcount.IsOne()) {
     return Copy(rep, rep->head(), rep->tail(), extra);
   } else if (entries + extra > rep->capacity()) {
     const size_t min_grow = rep->capacity() + rep->capacity() / 2;
@@ -292,10 +292,10 @@ CordRepRing* CordRepRing::Mutable(CordRepRing* rep, size_t extra) {
 }
 
 Span<char> CordRepRing::GetAppendBuffer(size_t size) {
-  assert(refcount.IsMutable());
+  assert(refcount.IsOne());
   index_type back = retreat(tail_);
   CordRep* child = entry_child(back);
-  if (child->tag >= FLAT && child->refcount.IsMutable()) {
+  if (child->tag >= FLAT && child->refcount.IsOne()) {
     size_t capacity = child->flat()->Capacity();
     pos_type end_pos = entry_end_pos(back);
     size_t data_offset = entry_data_offset(back);
@@ -312,10 +312,10 @@ Span<char> CordRepRing::GetAppendBuffer(size_t size) {
 }
 
 Span<char> CordRepRing::GetPrependBuffer(size_t size) {
-  assert(refcount.IsMutable());
+  assert(refcount.IsOne());
   CordRep* child = entry_child(head_);
   size_t data_offset = entry_data_offset(head_);
-  if (data_offset && child->refcount.IsMutable() && child->tag >= FLAT) {
+  if (data_offset && child->refcount.IsOne() && child->tag >= FLAT) {
     size_t n = (std::min)(data_offset, size);
     this->length += n;
     begin_pos_ -= n;
@@ -504,7 +504,7 @@ CordRepRing* CordRepRing::Prepend(CordRepRing* rep, CordRep* child) {
 
 CordRepRing* CordRepRing::Append(CordRepRing* rep, absl::string_view data,
                                  size_t extra) {
-  if (rep->refcount.IsMutable()) {
+  if (rep->refcount.IsOne()) {
     Span<char> avail = rep->GetAppendBuffer(data.length());
     if (!avail.empty()) {
       memcpy(avail.data(), data.data(), avail.length());
@@ -538,7 +538,7 @@ CordRepRing* CordRepRing::Append(CordRepRing* rep, absl::string_view data,
 
 CordRepRing* CordRepRing::Prepend(CordRepRing* rep, absl::string_view data,
                                   size_t extra) {
-  if (rep->refcount.IsMutable()) {
+  if (rep->refcount.IsOne()) {
     Span<char> avail = rep->GetPrependBuffer(data.length());
     if (!avail.empty()) {
       const char* tail = data.data() + data.length() - avail.length();
@@ -678,7 +678,7 @@ CordRepRing* CordRepRing::SubRing(CordRepRing* rep, size_t offset,
   Position tail = rep->FindTail(head.index, offset + len);
   const size_t new_entries = rep->entries(head.index, tail.index);
 
-  if (rep->refcount.IsMutable() && extra <= (rep->capacity() - new_entries)) {
+  if (rep->refcount.IsOne() && extra <= (rep->capacity() - new_entries)) {
     // We adopt a privately owned rep and no extra entries needed.
     if (head.index != rep->head_) UnrefEntries(rep, rep->head_, head.index);
     if (tail.index != rep->tail_) UnrefEntries(rep, tail.index, rep->tail_);
@@ -715,7 +715,7 @@ CordRepRing* CordRepRing::RemovePrefix(CordRepRing* rep, size_t len,
   }
 
   Position head = rep->Find(len);
-  if (rep->refcount.IsMutable()) {
+  if (rep->refcount.IsOne()) {
     if (head.index != rep->head_) UnrefEntries(rep, rep->head_, head.index);
     rep->head_ = head.index;
   } else {
@@ -745,7 +745,7 @@ CordRepRing* CordRepRing::RemoveSuffix(CordRepRing* rep, size_t len,
   }
 
   Position tail = rep->FindTail(rep->length - len);
-  if (rep->refcount.IsMutable()) {
+  if (rep->refcount.IsOne()) {
     // We adopt a privately owned rep, scrub.
     if (tail.index != rep->tail_) UnrefEntries(rep, tail.index, rep->tail_);
     rep->tail_ = tail.index;
diff --git a/absl/strings/internal/cordz_info.cc b/absl/strings/internal/cordz_info.cc
index 5c18bbc5..4d52a802 100644
--- a/absl/strings/internal/cordz_info.cc
+++ b/absl/strings/internal/cordz_info.cc
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include "absl/debugging/stacktrace.h"
 #include "absl/strings/internal/cord_internal.h"
 #include "absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_btree.h"
+#include "absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_crc.h"
 #include "absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_ring.h"
 #include "absl/strings/internal/cordz_handle.h"
 #include "absl/strings/internal/cordz_statistics.h"
@@ -81,6 +82,14 @@ class CordRepAnalyzer {
     size_t refcount = rep->refcount.Get();
     RepRef repref{rep, (refcount > 1) ? refcount - 1 : 1};
 
+    // Process the top level CRC node, if present.
+    if (repref.rep->tag == CRC) {
+      statistics_.node_count++;
+      statistics_.node_counts.crc++;
+      memory_usage_.Add(sizeof(CordRepCrc), repref.refcount);
+      repref = repref.Child(repref.rep->crc()->child);
+    }
+
     // Process all top level linear nodes (substrings and flats).
     repref = CountLinearReps(repref, memory_usage_);
 
diff --git a/absl/strings/internal/cordz_info_statistics_test.cc b/absl/strings/internal/cordz_info_statistics_test.cc
index 7430d281..5277c3c1 100644
--- a/absl/strings/internal/cordz_info_statistics_test.cc
+++ b/absl/strings/internal/cordz_info_statistics_test.cc
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include "absl/strings/cord.h"
 #include "absl/strings/internal/cord_internal.h"
 #include "absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_btree.h"
+#include "absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_crc.h"
 #include "absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_flat.h"
 #include "absl/strings/internal/cord_rep_ring.h"
 #include "absl/strings/internal/cordz_info.h"
@@ -535,6 +536,27 @@ TEST(CordzInfoStatisticsTest, BtreeNodeShared) {
   EXPECT_THAT(SampleCord(tree), EqStatistics(expected));
 }
 
+TEST(CordzInfoStatisticsTest, Crc) {
+  RefHelper ref;
+  auto* left = Flat(1000);
+  auto* right = Flat(1000);
+  auto* concat = Concat(left, right);
+  auto* crc = ref.NeedsUnref(CordRepCrc::New(concat, 12345));
+
+  CordzStatistics expected;
+  expected.size = concat->length;
+  expected.estimated_memory_usage =
+      SizeOf(crc) + SizeOf(concat) + SizeOf(left) + SizeOf(right);
+  expected.estimated_fair_share_memory_usage = expected.estimated_memory_usage;
+  expected.node_count = 4;
+  expected.node_counts.flat = 2;
+  expected.node_counts.flat_1k = 2;
+  expected.node_counts.concat = 1;
+  expected.node_counts.crc = 1;
+
+  EXPECT_THAT(SampleCord(crc), EqStatistics(expected));
+}
+
 TEST(CordzInfoStatisticsTest, ThreadSafety) {
   Notification stop;
   static constexpr int kNumThreads = 8;
diff --git a/absl/strings/internal/cordz_statistics.h b/absl/strings/internal/cordz_statistics.h
index da4c7dbb..57071905 100644
--- a/absl/strings/internal/cordz_statistics.h
+++ b/absl/strings/internal/cordz_statistics.h
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ struct CordzStatistics {
     size_t concat = 0;     // #concat reps
     size_t ring = 0;       // #ring buffer reps
     size_t btree = 0;      // #btree reps
+    size_t crc = 0;        // #crc reps
   };
 
   // The size of the cord in bytes. This matches the result of Cord::size().
diff --git a/absl/strings/internal/cordz_update_tracker.h b/absl/strings/internal/cordz_update_tracker.h
index 1f764486..7a41c180 100644
--- a/absl/strings/internal/cordz_update_tracker.h
+++ b/absl/strings/internal/cordz_update_tracker.h
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ class CordzUpdateTracker {
     kPrependString,
     kRemovePrefix,
     kRemoveSuffix,
+    kSetExpectedChecksum,
     kSubCord,
 
     // kNumMethods defines the number of entries: must be the last entry.
diff --git a/absl/strings/internal/cordz_update_tracker_test.cc b/absl/strings/internal/cordz_update_tracker_test.cc
index 2348a175..8eda529e 100644
--- a/absl/strings/internal/cordz_update_tracker_test.cc
+++ b/absl/strings/internal/cordz_update_tracker_test.cc
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ Methods AllMethods() {
                  Method::kPrependString,
                  Method::kRemovePrefix,
                  Method::kRemoveSuffix,
+                 Method::kSetExpectedChecksum,
                  Method::kSubCord};
 }