Profile and optimize Python code using cProfile, memory profilers, and performance best practices. Use when debugging slow Python code, optimizing bottlenecks, or improving application performance.
View on GitHubFebruary 1, 2026
Select agents to install to:
npx add-skill https://github.com/wshobson/agents/blob/main/plugins/python-development/skills/python-performance-optimization/SKILL.md -a claude-code --skill python-performance-optimizationInstallation paths:
.claude/skills/python-performance-optimization/# Python Performance Optimization
Comprehensive guide to profiling, analyzing, and optimizing Python code for better performance, including CPU profiling, memory optimization, and implementation best practices.
## When to Use This Skill
- Identifying performance bottlenecks in Python applications
- Reducing application latency and response times
- Optimizing CPU-intensive operations
- Reducing memory consumption and memory leaks
- Improving database query performance
- Optimizing I/O operations
- Speeding up data processing pipelines
- Implementing high-performance algorithms
- Profiling production applications
## Core Concepts
### 1. Profiling Types
- **CPU Profiling**: Identify time-consuming functions
- **Memory Profiling**: Track memory allocation and leaks
- **Line Profiling**: Profile at line-by-line granularity
- **Call Graph**: Visualize function call relationships
### 2. Performance Metrics
- **Execution Time**: How long operations take
- **Memory Usage**: Peak and average memory consumption
- **CPU Utilization**: Processor usage patterns
- **I/O Wait**: Time spent on I/O operations
### 3. Optimization Strategies
- **Algorithmic**: Better algorithms and data structures
- **Implementation**: More efficient code patterns
- **Parallelization**: Multi-threading/processing
- **Caching**: Avoid redundant computation
- **Native Extensions**: C/Rust for critical paths
## Quick Start
### Basic Timing
```python
import time
def measure_time():
"""Simple timing measurement."""
start = time.time()
# Your code here
result = sum(range(1000000))
elapsed = time.time() - start
print(f"Execution time: {elapsed:.4f} seconds")
return result
# Better: use timeit for accurate measurements
import timeit
execution_time = timeit.timeit(
"sum(range(1000000))",
number=100
)
print(f"Average time: {execution_time/100:.6f} seconds")
```
## Profiling Tools
### Pattern 1: cProfile - CPU Profiling
```python
import cProfile
import psta