flamegraph

visualization for profiled stack traces

TLDR

Generate flame graph from perf data

$ perf script | stackcollapse-perf.pl | flamegraph.pl > [flame.svg]

From dtrace output

$ stackcollapse.pl [out.dtrace] | flamegraph.pl > [flame.svg]

Custom title

$ flamegraph.pl --title "[My App Profile]" [stacks.txt] > [flame.svg]

Inverted (icicle) graph

$ flamegraph.pl --inverted [stacks.txt] > [flame.svg]

Set width

$ flamegraph.pl --width [1200] [stacks.txt] > [flame.svg]

FlameGraph is a visualization tool for profiled stack traces, created by Brendan Gregg. It generates interactive SVG graphs where the x-axis shows the stack population and the y-axis shows stack depth.
Flame graphs quickly reveal which code paths consume the most resources. They work with any profiler output that can be converted to the collapsed stack format.

PARAMETERS

--title text

Title for the graph.

--subtitle text

Second level title (optional).

--width pixels

SVG width (default 1200).

--height pixels

Frame height (default 16).

--minwidth pixels

Omit functions narrower than this (default 0.1 pixels).

--fontsize num

Font size (default 12).

--fonttype font

Font type (default "Verdana").

--countname text

Count type label (default "samples").

--nametype text

Name type label (default "Function:").

--inverted

Generate icicle graph (top-down).

--reverse

Reverse stack order.

--colors palette

Color palette: hot (default), mem, io, wakeup, chain, java, js, perl, red, green, blue, aqua, yellow, purple, orange.

--bgcolors color

Background gradient: yellow (default), blue, green, grey, or flat "#rrggbb".

--hash

Color by function name hash.

--cp

Use consistent palette (palette.map).

--flamechart

Time-ordered flame chart (sort by time, do not merge stacks).

--negate

Switch differential hues (blue/red).

WORKFLOW

$ # 1. Collect profile (Linux perf)
perf record -g ./myapp

# 2. Convert to text stacks
perf script > out.perf

# 3. Collapse stacks
stackcollapse-perf.pl out.perf > stacks.txt

# 4. Generate flame graph
flamegraph.pl stacks.txt > flame.svg

CAVEATS

Requires Perl. Input must be in collapsed stack format (use stackcollapse-*.pl scripts to convert). Large profiles may produce complex graphs. Colors are randomized unless --hash or --cp is used. Interactive features (zoom, search) require an SVG-capable browser.

HISTORY

Flame graphs were invented by Brendan Gregg in 2011 while at Joyent for analyzing performance issues. The visualization technique has become standard for performance profiling across languages and platforms.