Python Performance Optimization
Profile, analyze, and optimize Python code for maximum performance
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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.
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User Prompt
My Python web application is responding slowly. Help me profile it and identify the bottlenecks causing the performance issues.
Skill Processing
Analyzing request...
Agent Response
Detailed profiling results showing top time-consuming functions, memory usage patterns, and specific optimization recommendations
Quick Start (3 Steps)
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Install
claude-code skill install python-performance-optimization
claude-code skill install python-performance-optimizationConfig
First Trigger
@python-performance-optimization helpCommands
| Command | Description | Required Args |
|---|---|---|
| @python-performance-optimization identify-performance-bottlenecks | Profile a slow Python application to find CPU and memory hotspots using cProfile and memory profilers | None |
| @python-performance-optimization optimize-data-processing-pipeline | Transform inefficient loops and data structures into high-performance implementations using NumPy, generators, and vectorization | None |
| @python-performance-optimization fix-memory-leaks | Use memory profiling tools to detect and resolve memory leaks in long-running Python applications | None |
Typical Use Cases
Identify Performance Bottlenecks
Profile a slow Python application to find CPU and memory hotspots using cProfile and memory profilers
Optimize Data Processing Pipeline
Transform inefficient loops and data structures into high-performance implementations using NumPy, generators, and vectorization
Fix Memory Leaks
Use memory profiling tools to detect and resolve memory leaks in long-running Python applications
Overview
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
1import time
2
3def measure_time():
4 """Simple timing measurement."""
5 start = time.time()
6
7 # Your code here
8 result = sum(range(1000000))
9
10 elapsed = time.time() - start
11 print(f"Execution time: {elapsed:.4f} seconds")
12 return result
13
14# Better: use timeit for accurate measurements
15import timeit
16
17execution_time = timeit.timeit(
18 "sum(range(1000000))",
19 number=100
20)
21print(f"Average time: {execution_time/100:.6f} seconds")
Profiling Tools
Pattern 1: cProfile - CPU Profiling
1import cProfile
2import pstats
3from pstats import SortKey
4
5def slow_function():
6 """Function to profile."""
7 total = 0
8 for i in range(1000000):
9 total += i
10 return total
11
12def another_function():
13 """Another function."""
14 return [i**2 for i in range(100000)]
15
16def main():
17 """Main function to profile."""
18 result1 = slow_function()
19 result2 = another_function()
20 return result1, result2
21
22# Profile the code
23if __name__ == "__main__":
24 profiler = cProfile.Profile()
25 profiler.enable()
26
27 main()
28
29 profiler.disable()
30
31 # Print stats
32 stats = pstats.Stats(profiler)
33 stats.sort_stats(SortKey.CUMULATIVE)
34 stats.print_stats(10) # Top 10 functions
35
36 # Save to file for later analysis
37 stats.dump_stats("profile_output.prof")
Command-line profiling:
1# Profile a script
2python -m cProfile -o output.prof script.py
3
4# View results
5python -m pstats output.prof
6# In pstats:
7# sort cumtime
8# stats 10
Pattern 2: line_profiler - Line-by-Line Profiling
1# Install: pip install line-profiler
2
3# Add @profile decorator (line_profiler provides this)
4@profile
5def process_data(data):
6 """Process data with line profiling."""
7 result = []
8 for item in data:
9 processed = item * 2
10 result.append(processed)
11 return result
12
13# Run with:
14# kernprof -l -v script.py
Manual line profiling:
1from line_profiler import LineProfiler
2
3def process_data(data):
4 """Function to profile."""
5 result = []
6 for item in data:
7 processed = item * 2
8 result.append(processed)
9 return result
10
11if __name__ == "__main__":
12 lp = LineProfiler()
13 lp.add_function(process_data)
14
15 data = list(range(100000))
16
17 lp_wrapper = lp(process_data)
18 lp_wrapper(data)
19
20 lp.print_stats()
Pattern 3: memory_profiler - Memory Usage
1# Install: pip install memory-profiler
2
3from memory_profiler import profile
4
5@profile
6def memory_intensive():
7 """Function that uses lots of memory."""
8 # Create large list
9 big_list = [i for i in range(1000000)]
10
11 # Create large dict
12 big_dict = {i: i**2 for i in range(100000)}
13
14 # Process data
15 result = sum(big_list)
16
17 return result
18
19if __name__ == "__main__":
20 memory_intensive()
21
22# Run with:
23# python -m memory_profiler script.py
Pattern 4: py-spy - Production Profiling
1# Install: pip install py-spy
2
3# Profile a running Python process
4py-spy top --pid 12345
5
6# Generate flamegraph
7py-spy record -o profile.svg --pid 12345
8
9# Profile a script
10py-spy record -o profile.svg -- python script.py
11
12# Dump current call stack
13py-spy dump --pid 12345
Optimization Patterns
Pattern 5: List Comprehensions vs Loops
1import timeit
2
3# Slow: Traditional loop
4def slow_squares(n):
5 """Create list of squares using loop."""
6 result = []
7 for i in range(n):
8 result.append(i**2)
9 return result
10
11# Fast: List comprehension
12def fast_squares(n):
13 """Create list of squares using comprehension."""
14 return [i**2 for i in range(n)]
15
16# Benchmark
17n = 100000
18
19slow_time = timeit.timeit(lambda: slow_squares(n), number=100)
20fast_time = timeit.timeit(lambda: fast_squares(n), number=100)
21
22print(f"Loop: {slow_time:.4f}s")
23print(f"Comprehension: {fast_time:.4f}s")
24print(f"Speedup: {slow_time/fast_time:.2f}x")
25
26# Even faster for simple operations: map
27def faster_squares(n):
28 """Use map for even better performance."""
29 return list(map(lambda x: x**2, range(n)))
Pattern 6: Generator Expressions for Memory
1import sys
2
3def list_approach():
4 """Memory-intensive list."""
5 data = [i**2 for i in range(1000000)]
6 return sum(data)
7
8def generator_approach():
9 """Memory-efficient generator."""
10 data = (i**2 for i in range(1000000))
11 return sum(data)
12
13# Memory comparison
14list_data = [i for i in range(1000000)]
15gen_data = (i for i in range(1000000))
16
17print(f"List size: {sys.getsizeof(list_data)} bytes")
18print(f"Generator size: {sys.getsizeof(gen_data)} bytes")
19
20# Generators use constant memory regardless of size
Pattern 7: String Concatenation
1import timeit
2
3def slow_concat(items):
4 """Slow string concatenation."""
5 result = ""
6 for item in items:
7 result += str(item)
8 return result
9
10def fast_concat(items):
11 """Fast string concatenation with join."""
12 return "".join(str(item) for item in items)
13
14def faster_concat(items):
15 """Even faster with list."""
16 parts = [str(item) for item in items]
17 return "".join(parts)
18
19items = list(range(10000))
20
21# Benchmark
22slow = timeit.timeit(lambda: slow_concat(items), number=100)
23fast = timeit.timeit(lambda: fast_concat(items), number=100)
24faster = timeit.timeit(lambda: faster_concat(items), number=100)
25
26print(f"Concatenation (+): {slow:.4f}s")
27print(f"Join (generator): {fast:.4f}s")
28print(f"Join (list): {faster:.4f}s")
Pattern 8: Dictionary Lookups vs List Searches
1import timeit
2
3# Create test data
4size = 10000
5items = list(range(size))
6lookup_dict = {i: i for i in range(size)}
7
8def list_search(items, target):
9 """O(n) search in list."""
10 return target in items
11
12def dict_search(lookup_dict, target):
13 """O(1) search in dict."""
14 return target in lookup_dict
15
16target = size - 1 # Worst case for list
17
18# Benchmark
19list_time = timeit.timeit(
20 lambda: list_search(items, target),
21 number=1000
22)
23dict_time = timeit.timeit(
24 lambda: dict_search(lookup_dict, target),
25 number=1000
26)
27
28print(f"List search: {list_time:.6f}s")
29print(f"Dict search: {dict_time:.6f}s")
30print(f"Speedup: {list_time/dict_time:.0f}x")
Pattern 9: Local Variable Access
1import timeit
2
3# Global variable (slow)
4GLOBAL_VALUE = 100
5
6def use_global():
7 """Access global variable."""
8 total = 0
9 for i in range(10000):
10 total += GLOBAL_VALUE
11 return total
12
13def use_local():
14 """Use local variable."""
15 local_value = 100
16 total = 0
17 for i in range(10000):
18 total += local_value
19 return total
20
21# Local is faster
22global_time = timeit.timeit(use_global, number=1000)
23local_time = timeit.timeit(use_local, number=1000)
24
25print(f"Global access: {global_time:.4f}s")
26print(f"Local access: {local_time:.4f}s")
27print(f"Speedup: {global_time/local_time:.2f}x")
Pattern 10: Function Call Overhead
1import timeit
2
3def calculate_inline():
4 """Inline calculation."""
5 total = 0
6 for i in range(10000):
7 total += i * 2 + 1
8 return total
9
10def helper_function(x):
11 """Helper function."""
12 return x * 2 + 1
13
14def calculate_with_function():
15 """Calculation with function calls."""
16 total = 0
17 for i in range(10000):
18 total += helper_function(i)
19 return total
20
21# Inline is faster due to no call overhead
22inline_time = timeit.timeit(calculate_inline, number=1000)
23function_time = timeit.timeit(calculate_with_function, number=1000)
24
25print(f"Inline: {inline_time:.4f}s")
26print(f"Function calls: {function_time:.4f}s")
Advanced Optimization
Pattern 11: NumPy for Numerical Operations
1import timeit
2import numpy as np
3
4def python_sum(n):
5 """Sum using pure Python."""
6 return sum(range(n))
7
8def numpy_sum(n):
9 """Sum using NumPy."""
10 return np.arange(n).sum()
11
12n = 1000000
13
14python_time = timeit.timeit(lambda: python_sum(n), number=100)
15numpy_time = timeit.timeit(lambda: numpy_sum(n), number=100)
16
17print(f"Python: {python_time:.4f}s")
18print(f"NumPy: {numpy_time:.4f}s")
19print(f"Speedup: {python_time/numpy_time:.2f}x")
20
21# Vectorized operations
22def python_multiply():
23 """Element-wise multiplication in Python."""
24 a = list(range(100000))
25 b = list(range(100000))
26 return [x * y for x, y in zip(a, b)]
27
28def numpy_multiply():
29 """Vectorized multiplication in NumPy."""
30 a = np.arange(100000)
31 b = np.arange(100000)
32 return a * b
33
34py_time = timeit.timeit(python_multiply, number=100)
35np_time = timeit.timeit(numpy_multiply, number=100)
36
37print(f"\nPython multiply: {py_time:.4f}s")
38print(f"NumPy multiply: {np_time:.4f}s")
39print(f"Speedup: {py_time/np_time:.2f}x")
Pattern 12: Caching with functools.lru_cache
1from functools import lru_cache
2import timeit
3
4def fibonacci_slow(n):
5 """Recursive fibonacci without caching."""
6 if n < 2:
7 return n
8 return fibonacci_slow(n-1) + fibonacci_slow(n-2)
9
10@lru_cache(maxsize=None)
11def fibonacci_fast(n):
12 """Recursive fibonacci with caching."""
13 if n < 2:
14 return n
15 return fibonacci_fast(n-1) + fibonacci_fast(n-2)
16
17# Massive speedup for recursive algorithms
18n = 30
19
20slow_time = timeit.timeit(lambda: fibonacci_slow(n), number=1)
21fast_time = timeit.timeit(lambda: fibonacci_fast(n), number=1000)
22
23print(f"Without cache (1 run): {slow_time:.4f}s")
24print(f"With cache (1000 runs): {fast_time:.4f}s")
25
26# Cache info
27print(f"Cache info: {fibonacci_fast.cache_info()}")
Pattern 13: Using slots for Memory
1import sys
2
3class RegularClass:
4 """Regular class with __dict__."""
5 def __init__(self, x, y, z):
6 self.x = x
7 self.y = y
8 self.z = z
9
10class SlottedClass:
11 """Class with __slots__ for memory efficiency."""
12 __slots__ = ['x', 'y', 'z']
13
14 def __init__(self, x, y, z):
15 self.x = x
16 self.y = y
17 self.z = z
18
19# Memory comparison
20regular = RegularClass(1, 2, 3)
21slotted = SlottedClass(1, 2, 3)
22
23print(f"Regular class size: {sys.getsizeof(regular)} bytes")
24print(f"Slotted class size: {sys.getsizeof(slotted)} bytes")
25
26# Significant savings with many instances
27regular_objects = [RegularClass(i, i+1, i+2) for i in range(10000)]
28slotted_objects = [SlottedClass(i, i+1, i+2) for i in range(10000)]
29
30print(f"\nMemory for 10000 regular objects: ~{sys.getsizeof(regular) * 10000} bytes")
31print(f"Memory for 10000 slotted objects: ~{sys.getsizeof(slotted) * 10000} bytes")
Pattern 14: Multiprocessing for CPU-Bound Tasks
1import multiprocessing as mp
2import time
3
4def cpu_intensive_task(n):
5 """CPU-intensive calculation."""
6 return sum(i**2 for i in range(n))
7
8def sequential_processing():
9 """Process tasks sequentially."""
10 start = time.time()
11 results = [cpu_intensive_task(1000000) for _ in range(4)]
12 elapsed = time.time() - start
13 return elapsed, results
14
15def parallel_processing():
16 """Process tasks in parallel."""
17 start = time.time()
18 with mp.Pool(processes=4) as pool:
19 results = pool.map(cpu_intensive_task, [1000000] * 4)
20 elapsed = time.time() - start
21 return elapsed, results
22
23if __name__ == "__main__":
24 seq_time, seq_results = sequential_processing()
25 par_time, par_results = parallel_processing()
26
27 print(f"Sequential: {seq_time:.2f}s")
28 print(f"Parallel: {par_time:.2f}s")
29 print(f"Speedup: {seq_time/par_time:.2f}x")
Pattern 15: Async I/O for I/O-Bound Tasks
1import asyncio
2import aiohttp
3import time
4import requests
5
6urls = [
7 "https://httpbin.org/delay/1",
8 "https://httpbin.org/delay/1",
9 "https://httpbin.org/delay/1",
10 "https://httpbin.org/delay/1",
11]
12
13def synchronous_requests():
14 """Synchronous HTTP requests."""
15 start = time.time()
16 results = []
17 for url in urls:
18 response = requests.get(url)
19 results.append(response.status_code)
20 elapsed = time.time() - start
21 return elapsed, results
22
23async def async_fetch(session, url):
24 """Async HTTP request."""
25 async with session.get(url) as response:
26 return response.status
27
28async def asynchronous_requests():
29 """Asynchronous HTTP requests."""
30 start = time.time()
31 async with aiohttp.ClientSession() as session:
32 tasks = [async_fetch(session, url) for url in urls]
33 results = await asyncio.gather(*tasks)
34 elapsed = time.time() - start
35 return elapsed, results
36
37# Async is much faster for I/O-bound work
38sync_time, sync_results = synchronous_requests()
39async_time, async_results = asyncio.run(asynchronous_requests())
40
41print(f"Synchronous: {sync_time:.2f}s")
42print(f"Asynchronous: {async_time:.2f}s")
43print(f"Speedup: {sync_time/async_time:.2f}x")
Database Optimization
Pattern 16: Batch Database Operations
1import sqlite3
2import time
3
4def create_db():
5 """Create test database."""
6 conn = sqlite3.connect(":memory:")
7 conn.execute("CREATE TABLE users (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT)")
8 return conn
9
10def slow_inserts(conn, count):
11 """Insert records one at a time."""
12 start = time.time()
13 cursor = conn.cursor()
14 for i in range(count):
15 cursor.execute("INSERT INTO users (name) VALUES (?)", (f"User {i}",))
16 conn.commit() # Commit each insert
17 elapsed = time.time() - start
18 return elapsed
19
20def fast_inserts(conn, count):
21 """Batch insert with single commit."""
22 start = time.time()
23 cursor = conn.cursor()
24 data = [(f"User {i}",) for i in range(count)]
25 cursor.executemany("INSERT INTO users (name) VALUES (?)", data)
26 conn.commit() # Single commit
27 elapsed = time.time() - start
28 return elapsed
29
30# Benchmark
31conn1 = create_db()
32slow_time = slow_inserts(conn1, 1000)
33
34conn2 = create_db()
35fast_time = fast_inserts(conn2, 1000)
36
37print(f"Individual inserts: {slow_time:.4f}s")
38print(f"Batch insert: {fast_time:.4f}s")
39print(f"Speedup: {slow_time/fast_time:.2f}x")
Pattern 17: Query Optimization
1# Use indexes for frequently queried columns
2"""
3-- Slow: No index
4SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = 'user@example.com';
5
6-- Fast: With index
7CREATE INDEX idx_users_email ON users(email);
8SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = 'user@example.com';
9"""
10
11# Use query planning
12import sqlite3
13
14conn = sqlite3.connect("example.db")
15cursor = conn.cursor()
16
17# Analyze query performance
18cursor.execute("EXPLAIN QUERY PLAN SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = ?", ("test@example.com",))
19print(cursor.fetchall())
20
21# Use SELECT only needed columns
22# Slow: SELECT *
23# Fast: SELECT id, name
Memory Optimization
Pattern 18: Detecting Memory Leaks
1import tracemalloc
2import gc
3
4def memory_leak_example():
5 """Example that leaks memory."""
6 leaked_objects = []
7
8 for i in range(100000):
9 # Objects added but never removed
10 leaked_objects.append([i] * 100)
11
12 # In real code, this would be an unintended reference
13
14def track_memory_usage():
15 """Track memory allocations."""
16 tracemalloc.start()
17
18 # Take snapshot before
19 snapshot1 = tracemalloc.take_snapshot()
20
21 # Run code
22 memory_leak_example()
23
24 # Take snapshot after
25 snapshot2 = tracemalloc.take_snapshot()
26
27 # Compare
28 top_stats = snapshot2.compare_to(snapshot1, 'lineno')
29
30 print("Top 10 memory allocations:")
31 for stat in top_stats[:10]:
32 print(stat)
33
34 tracemalloc.stop()
35
36# Monitor memory
37track_memory_usage()
38
39# Force garbage collection
40gc.collect()
Pattern 19: Iterators vs Lists
1import sys
2
3def process_file_list(filename):
4 """Load entire file into memory."""
5 with open(filename) as f:
6 lines = f.readlines() # Loads all lines
7 return sum(1 for line in lines if line.strip())
8
9def process_file_iterator(filename):
10 """Process file line by line."""
11 with open(filename) as f:
12 return sum(1 for line in f if line.strip())
13
14# Iterator uses constant memory
15# List loads entire file into memory
Pattern 20: Weakref for Caches
1import weakref
2
3class CachedResource:
4 """Resource that can be garbage collected."""
5 def __init__(self, data):
6 self.data = data
7
8# Regular cache prevents garbage collection
9regular_cache = {}
10
11def get_resource_regular(key):
12 """Get resource from regular cache."""
13 if key not in regular_cache:
14 regular_cache[key] = CachedResource(f"Data for {key}")
15 return regular_cache[key]
16
17# Weak reference cache allows garbage collection
18weak_cache = weakref.WeakValueDictionary()
19
20def get_resource_weak(key):
21 """Get resource from weak cache."""
22 resource = weak_cache.get(key)
23 if resource is None:
24 resource = CachedResource(f"Data for {key}")
25 weak_cache[key] = resource
26 return resource
27
28# When no strong references exist, objects can be GC'd
Benchmarking Tools
Custom Benchmark Decorator
1import time
2from functools import wraps
3
4def benchmark(func):
5 """Decorator to benchmark function execution."""
6 @wraps(func)
7 def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
8 start = time.perf_counter()
9 result = func(*args, **kwargs)
10 elapsed = time.perf_counter() - start
11 print(f"{func.__name__} took {elapsed:.6f} seconds")
12 return result
13 return wrapper
14
15@benchmark
16def slow_function():
17 """Function to benchmark."""
18 time.sleep(0.5)
19 return sum(range(1000000))
20
21result = slow_function()
Performance Testing with pytest-benchmark
1# Install: pip install pytest-benchmark
2
3def test_list_comprehension(benchmark):
4 """Benchmark list comprehension."""
5 result = benchmark(lambda: [i**2 for i in range(10000)])
6 assert len(result) == 10000
7
8def test_map_function(benchmark):
9 """Benchmark map function."""
10 result = benchmark(lambda: list(map(lambda x: x**2, range(10000))))
11 assert len(result) == 10000
12
13# Run with: pytest test_performance.py --benchmark-compare
Best Practices
- Profile before optimizing - Measure to find real bottlenecks
- Focus on hot paths - Optimize code that runs most frequently
- Use appropriate data structures - Dict for lookups, set for membership
- Avoid premature optimization - Clarity first, then optimize
- Use built-in functions - They’re implemented in C
- Cache expensive computations - Use lru_cache
- Batch I/O operations - Reduce system calls
- Use generators for large datasets
- Consider NumPy for numerical operations
- Profile production code - Use py-spy for live systems
Common Pitfalls
- Optimizing without profiling
- Using global variables unnecessarily
- Not using appropriate data structures
- Creating unnecessary copies of data
- Not using connection pooling for databases
- Ignoring algorithmic complexity
- Over-optimizing rare code paths
- Not considering memory usage
Resources
- cProfile: Built-in CPU profiler
- memory_profiler: Memory usage profiling
- line_profiler: Line-by-line profiling
- py-spy: Sampling profiler for production
- NumPy: High-performance numerical computing
- Cython: Compile Python to C
- PyPy: Alternative Python interpreter with JIT
Performance Checklist
- Profiled code to identify bottlenecks
- Used appropriate data structures
- Implemented caching where beneficial
- Optimized database queries
- Used generators for large datasets
- Considered multiprocessing for CPU-bound tasks
- Used async I/O for I/O-bound tasks
- Minimized function call overhead in hot loops
- Checked for memory leaks
- Benchmarked before and after optimization
What Users Are Saying
Real feedback from the community
Environment Matrix
Dependencies
Framework Support
Context Window
Security & Privacy
Information
- Author
- wshobson
- Updated
- 2026-01-30
- Category
- debugging
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