https://github.com/platformatic/flame
Utility to generate flamegraphs
https://github.com/platformatic/flame
Last synced: 6 months ago
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Utility to generate flamegraphs
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/platformatic/flame
- Owner: platformatic
- License: apache-2.0
- Created: 2025-08-25T14:00:43.000Z (7 months ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2025-09-08T10:30:09.000Z (7 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-09-17T09:18:02.344Z (6 months ago)
- Language: JavaScript
- Size: 102 KB
- Stars: 58
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 5
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# @platformatic/flame
🔥 CPU profiling and flamegraph visualization tool built on top of [@platformatic/react-pprof](https://github.com/platformatic/react-pprof).
## Features
- **Auto-Start Profiling**: CPU profiling starts immediately when using `flame run` (default behavior)
- **Automatic Flamegraph Generation**: Interactive HTML flamegraphs are created automatically on exit
- **Clear File Path Display**: Shows exact paths and browser URLs for generated files
- **Manual Control**: Optional manual mode with signal-based control using `SIGUSR2`
- **Interactive Visualization**: WebGL-based HTML flamegraphs with zoom, search, and filtering
- **CLI Interface**: Simple command-line tool for profiling and visualization
- **Zero Config**: Works out of the box with sensible defaults
## Installation
```bash
npm install -g @platformatic/flame
```
## Quick Start
### Profile a Node.js Script (Auto-Start Mode)
```bash
# Start profiling your application (profiling begins immediately)
flame run server.js
# The application runs with CPU profiling active
# When you stop the app (Ctrl-C or normal exit), you'll see:
# 🔥 CPU profile written to: cpu-profile-2025-08-27T12-00-00-000Z.pb
# 🔥 Generating flamegraph...
# 🔥 Flamegraph will be saved as: cpu-profile-2025-08-27T12-00-00-000Z.html
# 🔥 Open file:///path/to/cpu-profile-2025-08-27T12-00-00-000Z.html in your browser
```
### Manual Profiling Mode
```bash
# Start profiling in manual mode (requires signals to start)
flame run --manual server.js
# In another terminal, toggle profiling on/off
kill -USR2
# Or use the built-in toggle command
flame toggle
```
### Generate Flamegraph
```bash
# Generate HTML flamegraph from pprof file
flame generate cpu-profile-2024-01-01T12-00-00-000Z.pb
# Specify custom output file
flame generate -o my-flamegraph.html profile.pb.gz
```
## CLI Usage
```bash
flame [options]
Commands:
run Run a script with profiling enabled
generate <pprof-file> Generate HTML flamegraph from pprof file
toggle Toggle profiling for running flame processes
Options:
-o, --output <file> Output HTML file (for generate command)
-m, --manual Manual profiling mode (require SIGUSR2 to start)
-h, --help Show help message
-v, --version Show version number
```
## Programmatic API
```javascript
const { startProfiling, generateFlamegraph, parseProfile } = require('@platformatic/flame')
// Start profiling a script with auto-start (default)
const { pid, toggleProfiler } = startProfiling('server.js', ['--port', '3000'], { autoStart: true })
// Or start in manual mode
const { pid, toggleProfiler } = startProfiling('server.js', ['--port', '3000'], { autoStart: false })
console.log(`Started profiling process ${pid}`)
// Toggle profiling programmatically (useful in manual mode)
toggleProfiler()
// Generate interactive flamegraph from pprof file
await generateFlamegraph('profile.pb.gz', 'flamegraph.html')
// Parse profile data
const profile = await parseProfile('profile.pb')
```
## How It Works
1. **Auto-Start Mode (Default)**: Profiling begins immediately when `flame run` starts your script
2. **Auto-Generation on Exit**: Profile (.pb) and interactive HTML flamegraph are automatically created when the process exits
3. **Manual Mode**: Use `--manual` flag to require `SIGUSR2` signals for start/stop control (no auto-HTML generation)
4. **Interactive Visualization**: The `@platformatic/react-pprof` library generates interactive WebGL-based HTML flamegraphs
## Profile Files
Profile files are saved with timestamps in the format:
```
cpu-profile-2024-01-01T12-00-00-000Z.pb
```
The files are compressed Protocol Buffer format compatible with the pprof ecosystem.
## Integration with Existing Apps
### Express.js Example
```javascript
// server.js
const express = require('express')
const app = express()
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
// Your application logic
res.json({ message: 'Hello World' })
})
app.listen(3000)
```
**Auto-Start Mode (Recommended):**
```bash
# Profile the Express app (profiling starts immediately)
flame run server.js
# In another terminal, make some requests while profiling is active
curl http://localhost:3000
curl http://localhost:3000
curl http://localhost:3000
# Stop the server (Ctrl-C) to automatically save profile and generate HTML flamegraph
# You'll see the exact file paths and browser URL in the output:
# 🔥 CPU profile written to: cpu-profile-2025-08-27T15-30-45-123Z.pb
# 🔥 Flamegraph generated: cpu-profile-2025-08-27T15-30-45-123Z.html
# 🔥 Open file:///path/to/cpu-profile-2025-08-27T15-30-45-123Z.html in your browser
```
**Manual Mode:**
```bash
# Profile the Express app in manual mode
flame run --manual server.js
# In another terminal, start profiling
flame toggle
# Make some requests
curl http://localhost:3000
curl http://localhost:3000
# Stop profiling and save profile
flame toggle
# Generate flamegraph
flame generate cpu-profile-*.pb
```
### Example Applications
Two comprehensive benchmark applications are included for testing profiling overhead and feature Express.js middlewares and Fastify plugins with realistic computation endpoints.
#### Running Benchmark Apps
```bash
# Run individual apps without profiling
node examples/express-benchmark-app.js
node examples/fastify-benchmark-app.js
# Run comprehensive performance overhead analysis
node examples/run-performance-benchmark.js
```
Both apps include:
- Health check endpoint (no computation)
- Light computation endpoint (~1k iterations)
- Medium computation endpoint (~10k iterations)
- Heavy computation endpoint (~100k iterations)
- Multiple middleware layers for realistic overhead testing
- Comprehensive test suites
#### Performance Overhead Results
Based on comprehensive benchmarks with 10 concurrent connections over 10 seconds per endpoint:
**Express.js Framework:**
| Endpoint | Load Level | Without Profiling | With Profiling | Throughput Overhead | Latency Overhead |
|----------|------------|-------------------|----------------|--------------------|--------------------|
| Health Check | Minimal | 13,571 req/s | 13,752 req/s | -1.3% | -6.3% |
| Light Computation | Low | 10,187 req/s | 9,979 req/s | +2.0% | +12.0% |
| Medium Computation | Moderate | 71 req/s | 66 req/s | +6.1% | +6.3% |
| Heavy Computation | High | 295 req/s | 291 req/s | +1.3% | +1.4% |
| Mixed Computation | Very High | 56 req/s | 53 req/s | +5.2% | +5.8% |
**Express Summary:** Average throughput overhead of **2.7%** and latency overhead of **3.9%**
**Fastify Framework:**
| Endpoint | Load Level | Without Profiling | With Profiling | Throughput Overhead | Latency Overhead |
|----------|------------|-------------------|----------------|--------------------|--------------------|
| Health Check | Minimal | 41,174 req/s | 38,747 req/s | +5.9% | 0.0% |
| Light Computation | Low | 35,056 req/s | 32,847 req/s | +6.3% | 0.0% |
| Medium Computation | Moderate | 3,235 req/s | 3,126 req/s | +3.4% | +4.2% |
| Heavy Computation | High | 345 req/s | 336 req/s | +2.6% | +2.6% |
| Mixed Computation | Very High | 311 req/s | 304 req/s | +2.3% | +2.3% |
**Fastify Summary:** Average throughput overhead of **4.1%** and latency overhead of **1.8%**
*CSV data is automatically generated when running `node examples/run-performance-benchmark.js` for further analysis.*
### Load Testing Example
You can run load tests manually:
```bash
# Terminal 1: Start the test server with profiling
flame run examples/load-test-server.js
# Terminal 2: Run load test with autocannon
npx autocannon -c 10 -d 10 http://localhost:3000
# Terminal 1: Toggle profiling (start/stop)
kill -USR2 <PID>
```
## Requirements
- Node.js >= 18.0.0
- `@datadog/pprof` for CPU profiling
- `@platformatic/react-pprof` for flamegraph generation
## License
MIT