Pyroscope

---
name: pyroscope
license: Apache-2.0
description: Continuously profile applications with Grafana Pyroscope and read the result as flame graphs. Covers three instrumentation paths — language SDK push (Go / Java / Python / Ruby / Node / .NET / Rust), Alloy eBPF auto-instrumentation (no code change, requires kernel 5.8+ with BTF), and SDK → Alloy receiver — plus ProfileQL queries, profile types (CPU / memory / allocations / goroutines / mutex), Grafana Cloud Profiles endpoint, and Span Profiles trace-to-profile linking. Use when adding profiling to a service, deploying Alloy as a cluster-wide eBPF profiler, hunting CPU / memory hotspots from a flame graph, comparing two profiles to find a regression, or correlating a slow Tempo trace to its profile — even when the user says "find what's burning CPU", "flame graph this app", "continuous profiling", "heap hotspots", or "why is allocation so high" without naming Pyroscope.
---

# Grafana Pyroscope

> **Docs**: https://grafana.com/docs/pyroscope/latest/

Continuous profiling — flame graphs of CPU, memory, allocations, mutex contention, goroutines.

## Prerequisites

- Pyroscope server (OSS) or Grafana Cloud Profiles endpoint
- For Cloud: numeric Pyroscope user (stack id) + API key
- For eBPF via Alloy: root + host PID + Linux ≥ 5.8 with BTF (or RHEL 4.18+)

## Instrumentation paths

1. **Alloy eBPF** (preferred) — auto-instrument, no code change
2. **SDK direct push** — application calls Pyroscope API
3. **SDK → Alloy** — SDK posts to `pyroscope.receive_http`, Alloy forwards

## Common Workflows