native-app-performance

You can profile native macOS app performance hotspots without launching the Instruments UI by using the xctrace CLI tool. This workflow records Time Profiler traces, extracts samples, and ranks hotspots entirely through command-line analysis.

Yes, xctrace supports both attaching to a running process and launching an app directly to generate Time Profiler .trace files. This allows you to capture performance data for native iOS apps without needing the Instruments graphical interface.

To symbolicate addresses from Time Profiler traces via CLI, you parse load addresses using vmmap and vmsize via otool, then apply atos symbolication. This translates raw addresses into function names to identify exact performance hotspots.

Automating native app performance analysis requires a CLI workflow using xctrace to record traces, vmmap and otool to extract load addresses, and atos for symbolication. This generates a ranked hotspot list without Instruments UI interaction.

No, you do not need the Instruments UI to extract and rank time samples. The CLI workflow uses xctrace to record traces and command-line tools to extract samples, symbolicate addresses, and generate a ranked hotspot report independently.

CLI symbolication of native app hotspots fails when load addresses are incorrect. You must extract accurate load addresses using vmmap and parse vmsize with otool before applying atos symbolication to ensure addresses map correctly to function names.