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Go Memory Leak Detection Tools

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This comprehensive guide for Go memory leak detection tools is currently being developed.

We welcome contributions from the community! If you'd like to help write this guide, please:

  • Fork the repository
  • Create your content following our documentation standards
  • Submit a pull request

This guide will cover:

  • Go profiling tools (pprof, trace)
  • Production monitoring solutions
  • CI/CD integration for Go applications
  • Third-party profiling services
  • Custom memory monitoring strategies

What Will Be Covered

Built-in Go Tools

go tool pprof

  • Type: Built-in profiling tool
  • Features: CPU, memory, goroutine profiling
  • Usage: Interactive and programmatic analysis
  • Integration: Web interface, command-line analysis

go tool trace

  • Type: Execution tracer
  • Features: Goroutine analysis, GC visualization
  • Use Cases: Performance debugging, concurrency analysis
  • Output: Interactive web-based trace viewer

runtime/pprof Package

  • Type: Programmatic profiling
  • Features: Custom profile collection
  • Integration: Application-embedded profiling
  • Flexibility: Runtime profiling control

net/http/pprof Package

  • Type: HTTP endpoint profiling
  • Features: Live profiling via web endpoints
  • Endpoints: /debug/pprof/heap, /debug/pprof/goroutine
  • Production: Safe for production use

Third-Party Profiling Services

Continuous Profiling Platforms

Pyroscope

  • Open-source continuous profiling
  • Real-time memory profiling
  • Historical data retention
  • Multi-language support

Grafana Phlare

  • Cloud-native profiling backend
  • Integration with Grafana dashboards
  • Scalable profile storage
  • Query-based profile analysis

Google Cloud Profiler

  • Managed profiling service
  • Minimal performance overhead
  • Integration with GCP services
  • Automated analysis and insights

Development Tools

IDE Integration

VS Code Go Extension

  • Integrated profiling support
  • Visual profile analysis
  • Debug integration
  • Profile comparison tools

GoLand/IntelliJ

  • Built-in profiler integration
  • Memory usage visualization
  • Goroutine analysis
  • Performance monitoring

Command Line Tools

go-torch (Legacy)

  • Flame graph generation
  • Profile visualization
  • Performance analysis
  • Now integrated into pprof

Production Monitoring

Metrics Collection

Prometheus Integration

  • Custom Go metrics
  • Memory usage tracking
  • Alerting on thresholds
  • Historical data analysis

Application Metrics

  • runtime.MemStats integration
  • Custom memory counters
  • GC statistics monitoring
  • Goroutine leak detection

Container Monitoring

Docker Integration

  • Container memory limits
  • Memory usage tracking
  • Health check endpoints
  • Resource monitoring

Kubernetes Monitoring

  • Pod memory metrics
  • Resource limit enforcement
  • HPA integration
  • Custom metrics scaling

Memory Analysis Techniques

Heap Profiling

go
// Basic heap profiling
import _ "net/http/pprof"
import "net/http"

go func() {
    log.Println(http.ListenAndServe("localhost:6060", nil))
}()

Goroutine Analysis

go
// Goroutine profiling
runtime.SetBlockProfileRate(1)
runtime.SetMutexProfileFraction(1)

Custom Monitoring

go
// Memory statistics monitoring
var m runtime.MemStats
runtime.ReadMemStats(&m)

Automation and CI/CD

Automated Testing

  • Memory leak detection in tests
  • Performance regression testing
  • Benchmark comparisons
  • CI/CD integration

Profile Analysis Automation

  • Automated profile collection
  • Regression detection
  • Alert generation
  • Report automation

Best Practices

Tool Selection

  • Development: pprof, trace, IDE integration
  • Production: Continuous profiling, metrics monitoring
  • CI/CD: Automated benchmarks, profile comparison
  • Debugging: Interactive pprof analysis

Monitoring Strategy

  1. Baseline Establishment: Normal memory patterns
  2. Threshold Monitoring: Memory usage alerts
  3. Trend Analysis: Long-term memory growth
  4. Incident Response: Profile collection automation

Contributing

This documentation is open for contributions. Please see our Contributing Guidelines for more information.


Want to help write this guide? Check out our GitHub repository and contribute!