xctrace CLI Reference

Command-line interface for Instruments profiling. Enables headless performance analysis without GUI.

Overview

xctrace is the CLI tool behind Instruments.app. Use it for:

• Automated profiling in CI/CD pipelines
• Headless trace collection without GUI
• Programmatic trace analysis via XML export
• Performance regression detection

Requires: Xcode 12+ (xctrace 12.0+). This reference tested with Xcode 26.2.

Quick Reference

# Record a 10-second CPU profile
xcrun xctrace record --instrument 'CPU Profiler' --attach 'MyApp' --time-limit 10s --output profile.trace