DocumentationGrafana PyroscopeConfigure the clientGrafana Alloy and Grafana AgentSet up Go profiling in pull mode

Set up Go profiling in pull mode

In pull mode, the collector, whether Grafana Alloy (preferred) or Grafana Agent (legacy), periodically retrieves profiles from Golang applications, specifically targeting the /debug/pprof/* endpoints.

To set up Golang profiling in pull mode, you need to:

1. Expose pprof endpoints
2. Install a collector, either Grafana Alloy (preferred) or Grafana Agent (legacy)
3. Prepare the collector’s configuration file
4. Start the collector

Expose pprof endpoints

Ensure your Golang application exposes pprof endpoints.

1. Get godeltaprof package

   bash Copy

   go get github.com/grafana/pyroscope-go/godeltaprof@latest

2. Import net/http/pprof and godeltaprof/http/pprof packages at the start of your application.

   Go Copy

   import _ "net/http/pprof"
   import _ "github.com/grafana/pyroscope-go/godeltaprof/http/pprof"

Install the collector

This procedure can be used with either Grafana Alloy or Grafana Agent collector. You can use the sample collector configuration file to send data to Pyroscope. This configuration file works for either Grafana Alloy or Grafana Agent in Flow mode.

Grafana Alloy is the preferred collector.

To install Alloy, refer to Grafana Alloy installation.

If you are using legacy Grafana Agent Flow, use the Grafana Agent in Flow mode documentation to install.

Prepare the collector configuration file

In the Grafana Alloy or Grafana Agent Flow configuration file, you need to add at least two blocks: pyroscope.write and pyroscope.scrape.

1. Add pyroscope.write block.

   river Copy

   pyroscope.write "write_job_name" {
           endpoint {
                   url = "http://localhost:4040"
           }
   }

2. Add pyroscope.scrape block.

   river Copy

   pyroscope.scrape "scrape_job_name" {
           targets    = [{"__address__" = "localhost:4040", "service_name" = "example_service"}]
           forward_to = [pyroscope.write.write_job_name.receiver]
   
           profiling_config {
                   profile.process_cpu {
                           enabled = true
                   }
   
                   profile.godeltaprof_memory {
                           enabled = true
                   }
   
                   profile.memory { // disable memory, use godeltaprof_memory instead
                           enabled = false
                   }
   
                   profile.godeltaprof_mutex {
                           enabled = true
                   }
   
                   profile.mutex { // disable mutex, use godeltaprof_mutex instead
                           enabled = false
                   }
   
                   profile.godeltaprof_block {
                           enabled = true
                   }
   
                   profile.block { // disable block, use godeltaprof_block instead
                           enabled = false
                   }
   
                   profile.goroutine {
                           enabled = true
                   }
           }
   }

3. Save the changes to the file.

Start the collector

1. Start a local Pyroscope instance for testing purposes:

   bash Copy

   docker run -p 4040:4040 grafana/pyroscope

2. Start the collector:

• To start Grafana Alloy, replace configuration.alloy with your configuration file name:
  alloy run --stability.level=public-preview configuration.alloy The stability.level option is required for pyroscope.scrape. For more information about stability.level, refer to The run command documentation.
• To start Grafana Agent, replace configuration.river with your configuration file name:
  grafana-agent-flow run configuration.river

3. Open a browser to http://localhost:4040. The page should list profiles.

Examples

Send data to Grafana Cloud

Your Grafana Cloud URL, username, and password can be found on the “Details Page” for Pyroscope from your stack on grafana.com. On this same page, create a token and use it as the Basic authentication password.

river Copy

pyroscope.write "write_job_name" {
        endpoint {
                url = "<Grafana Cloud URL>"

                basic_auth {
                        username = "<Grafana Cloud User>"
                        password = "<Grafana Cloud Password>"
                }
        }

}

Discover Kubernetes targets

1. Select all pods

river Copy

discovery.kubernetes "all_pods" {
        role = "pod"
}

2. Drop not running pods, create namespace, pod, node and container labels. Compose service_name label based on namespace and container labels. Select only services matching regex pattern (ns1/.*)|(ns2/container-.*0).

   river Copy

   
   discovery.relabel "specific_pods" {
           targets = discovery.kubernetes.all_pods.targets
   
           rule {
                   action        = "drop"
                   regex         = "Succeeded|Failed|Completed"
                   source_labels = ["__meta_kubernetes_pod_phase"]
           }
   
           rule {
                   action        = "replace"
                   source_labels = ["__meta_kubernetes_namespace"]
                   target_label  = "namespace"
           }
   
           rule {
                   action        = "replace"
                   source_labels = ["__meta_kubernetes_pod_name"]
                   target_label  = "pod"
           }
   
           rule {
                   action        = "replace"
                   source_labels = ["__meta_kubernetes_node_name"]
                   target_label  = "node"
           }
   
           rule {
                   action        = "replace"
                   source_labels = ["__meta_kubernetes_pod_container_name"]
                   target_label  = "container"
           }
   
           rule {
                   action        = "replace"
                   regex         = "(.*)@(.*)"
                   replacement   = "${1}/${2}"
                   separator     = "@"
                   source_labels = ["__meta_kubernetes_namespace", "__meta_kubernetes_pod_container_name"]
                   target_label  = "service_name"
           }
   
           rule {
                   action        = "keep"
                   regex         = "(ns1/.*)|(ns2/container-.*0)"
                   source_labels = ["service_name"]
           }
   }

3. Use discovery.relabel.specific_pods.output as a target for pyroscope.scrape block.

   river Copy

       pyroscope.scrape "scrape_job_name" {
               targets    = discovery.relabel.specific_pods.output
               ...
       }

Exposing pprof endpoints

If you don’t use http.DefaultServeMux, you can register /debug/pprof/* handlers to your own http.ServeMux:

Go Copy

var mux *http.ServeMux
mux.Handle("/debug/pprof/", http.DefaultServeMux)

Or, if you use gorilla/mux:

Go Copy

var router *mux.Router
router.PathPrefix("/debug/pprof").Handler(http.DefaultServeMux)

References

Grafana Alloy

• Grafana Alloy
• pyroscope.scrape
• pyroscope.write
• discovery.kubernetes
• discovery.docker
• discovery.relabel

Grafana Agent

• Example using grafana-agent.
• pyroscope.scrape
• pyroscope.write
• discovery.kubernetes
• discovery.docker
• discovery.relabel