Performance Profiler

Tier: POWERFUL Category: Engineering / Performance Maintainer: Claude Skills Team

Overview

Systematic performance profiling for Node.js, Python, and Go applications. Identifies CPU bottlenecks with flamegraphs, detects memory leaks with heap snapshots, analyzes bundle sizes, optimizes database queries, detects N+1 patterns, and runs load tests with k6 and Artillery. Enforces a measure-first methodology: establish baseline, identify bottleneck, fix, and verify improvement.

Keywords

performance profiling, flamegraph, memory leak, bundle analysis, N+1 queries, load testing, k6, latency, P99, CPU profiling, heap snapshot, database optimization

Golden Rule: Measure First

WRONG: "I think the N+1 query is slow, let me fix it"
RIGHT: Profile → Confirm bottleneck → Fix → Measure again → Verify improvement

Every optimization must have:
1. Baseline metrics (before)
2. Profiler evidence (what's actually slow)
3. The fix
4. Post-fix metrics (after)
5. Delta calculation (improvement %)

Core Capabilities

1. CPU Profiling

• Node.js: Clinic.js flamegraphs, V8 CPU profiles
• Python: py-spy flamegraphs, cProfile, scalene
• Go: pprof CPU profiles, trace visualization
• Browser: Chrome DevTools Performance panel

2. Memory Profiling

• Heap snapshots and comparison (before/after)
• Garbage collection pressure analysis
• Memory leak detection patterns
• Retained object graph analysis

3. Database Optimization

• EXPLAIN ANALYZE for query plan analysis
• N+1 query detection and batching
• Slow query log analysis
• Missing index identification
• Connection pool sizing

4. Bundle Analysis

• webpack-bundle-analyzer visualization
• Next.js bundle analyzer
• Tree-shaking effectiveness
• Dynamic import opportunities
• Heavy dependency identification

5. Load Testing

• k6 scripts with ramp-up patterns
• SLA threshold enforcement in CI
• Latency percentile tracking (P50, P95, P99)
• Concurrent user simulation

When to Use

• App is slow and you do not know where the bottleneck is
• P99 latency exceeds SLA before a release
• Memory usage grows over time (suspected leak)
• Bundle size increased after adding dependencies
• Preparing for a traffic spike (load test before launch)
• Database queries taking >100ms
• After a dependency upgrade to verify no regressions

Node.js CPU Profiling

Method 1: Clinic.js Flamegraph

# Install
npm install -g clinic

# Generate flamegraph (starts server, applies load, generates HTML report)
clinic flame -- node server.js

# With specific load profile
clinic flame --autocannon [ /api/endpoint -c 10 -d 30 ] -- node server.js

# Analyze specific scenario
clinic flame --on-port 'autocannon -c 50 -d 60 http://localhost:$PORT/api/heavy-endpoint' -- node server.js

Method 2: V8 CPU Profile

# Start Node with inspector
node --inspect server.js

# Or profile on demand
node --cpu-prof --cpu-prof-dir=./profiles server.js
# Load the .cpuprofile file in Chrome DevTools > Performance

# Programmatic profiling of a specific function
const { Session } = require('inspector');
const session = new Session();
session.connect();

session.post('Profiler.enable', () => {
  session.post('Profiler.start', () => {
    // Run the code you want to profile
    runHeavyOperation();

    session.post('Profiler.stop', (err, { profile }) => {
      require('fs').writeFileSync('profile.cpuprofile', JSON.stringify(profile));
    });
  });
});

Memory Leak Detection

Node.js Heap Snapshots

// Take heap snapshots programmatically
const v8 = require('v8');
const fs = require('fs');

function takeHeapSnapshot(label) {
  const snapshotPath = `heap-${label}-${Date.now()}.heapsnapshot`;
  const stream = v8.writeHeapSnapshot(snapshotPath);
  console.log(`Heap snapshot written to: ${snapshotPath}`);
  return snapshotPath;
}

// Leak detection pattern: compare two snapshots
// 1. Take snapshot at startup
takeHeapSnapshot('baseline');

// 2. Run operations that you suspect leak
// ... process 1000 requests ...

// 3. Force GC and take another snapshot
if (global.gc) global.gc(); // requires --expose-gc flag
takeHeapSnapshot('after-load');

// Load both .heapsnapshot files in Chrome DevTools > Memory
// Use "Comparison" view to find objects that grew

Python Memory Profiling

# Install tracemalloc-based profiler
pip install memray

# Profile a script
memray run my_script.py
memray flamegraph memray-output.bin -o flamegraph.html

# Profile a specific function
python -c "
import tracemalloc
tracemalloc.start()

# Run your code
from my_module import heavy_function
heavy_function()

snapshot = tracemalloc.take_snapshot()
top_stats = snapshot.statistics('lineno')
print('Top 10 memory allocations:')
for stat in top_stats[:10]:
    print(stat)
"

Database Query Optimization

EXPLAIN ANALYZE Workflow

-- Step 1: Get the actual execution plan (not just estimated)
EXPLAIN (ANALYZE, BUFFERS, FORMAT TEXT)
SELECT t.*, p.name as project_name
FROM tasks t
JOIN projects p ON p.id = t.project_id
WHERE p.workspace_id = 'ws_abc123'
  AND t.status = 'in_progress'
  AND t.deleted_at IS NULL
ORDER BY t.updated_at DESC
LIMIT 20;

-- What to look for in the output:
-- Seq Scan on tasks  → MISSING INDEX (should be Index Scan)
-- Rows Removed by Filter: 99000  → INDEX NOT SELECTIVE ENOUGH
-- Sort Method: external merge  → NOT ENOUGH work_mem
-- Nested Loop with inner Seq Scan  → MISSING INDEX ON JOIN COLUMN
-- Actual rows=1000 vs estimated rows=1  → STALE STATISTICS (run ANALYZE)

N+1 Query Detection

// PROBLEM: N+1 query pattern
async function getProjectsWithTasks(workspaceId: string) {
  const projects = await db.query.projects.findMany({
    where: eq(projects.workspaceId, workspaceId),
  });

  // This executes N additional queries (one per project)
  for (const project of projects) {
    project.tasks = await db.query.tasks.findMany({
      where: eq(tasks.projectId, project.id),
    });
  }
  return projects;
}
// Total queries: 1 + N (where N = number of projects)

// FIX: Single query with JOIN or relation loading
async function getProjectsWithTasks(workspaceId: string) {
  return db.query.projects.findMany({
    where: eq(projects.workspaceId, workspaceId),
    with: {
      tasks: true,  // Drizzle generates a single JOIN or subquery
    },
  });
}
// Total queries: 1-2 (depending on ORM strategy)

N+1 Detection Script

# Log query count per request (add to middleware)
# Node.js with Drizzle:
let queryCount = 0;
const originalQuery = db.execute;
db.execute = (...args) => { queryCount++; return originalQuery.apply(db, args); };

// After request completes:
if (queryCount > 10) {
  console.warn(`N+1 ALERT: ${req.method} ${req.path} executed ${queryCount} queries`);
}

Bundle Analysis

Next.js Bundle Analyzer

# Install
pnpm add -D @next/bundle-analyzer

# next.config.js
const withBundleAnalyzer = require('@next/bundle-analyzer')({
  enabled: process.env.ANALYZE === 'true',
});
module.exports = withBundleAnalyzer(nextConfig);

# Run analysis
ANALYZE=true pnpm build
# Opens browser with interactive treemap

Quick Bundle Size Check

# Check what you're shipping
npx source-map-explorer .next/static/chunks/*.js

# Size of individual imports
npx import-cost  # VS Code extension for inline size

# Find heavy dependencies
npx depcheck --json | jq '.dependencies'
npx bundlephobia-cli <package-name>

Common Bundle Wins