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Adding profiler markers to your code

Add profiler markers to mark up areas of your code.
Read time 4 minutesLast updated 12 days ago
Add profiler markers to your code to view the samples that 
ProfilerMarker.Begin
, 
ProfilerMarker.End
, or 
ProfilerMarker.Auto
generates in the Timeline View and Hierarchy View of the CPU Usage module in the Profiler window:

Profiler sample with metadata in Timeline View.

Profiler sample with metadata in Hierarchy View.

Prerequisites

Some examples use the Profiling Core package, which you must install before you start. The Unity Profiling Core package isn't discoverable in the Package Manager UI because it's a core package. To install the package, add it by its name, which is 
com.unity.profiling.core
.

Marking up your code

To use the 
ProfilerMarker
API, place the code you want to profile between calls to 
ProfilerMarker.Begin
and 
ProfilerMarker.End
. For example:
using UnityEngine;using Unity.Profiling;public class ProfilerMarkerExample{    static readonly ProfilerMarker k_MyCodeMarker = new ProfilerMarker("My Code");    void Update() {        k_MyCodeMarker.Begin();        Debug.Log("This code is being profiled");        k_MyCodeMarker.End();    }}
Note
Avoid using the 
/
character in a profiler marker’s name as this makes the Profiler window unable to highlight the marker in the CPU Profiler module’s charts view.
Make sure that the code in between the 
Begin
and 
End
calls doesn't exit the scope before 
End
is called. If the code exits the scope before 
End
is called, an error message is logged to the Console. To avoid having to call 
End
before every return, use 
Auto
so that the sample is ended automatically on leaving the scope. For more information, refer to the section in this documentation on Automatically close profiler marker code blocks.
Unity records and reports the profiled code block's execution time to the Profiler, and displays it in the CPU Profiler module without the need to use Deep Profiling. It displays it as a new entry in the Hierarchy View of the CPU Profiler module, as follows:

Profiler sample in the Profiler Window.

Automatically close profiler marker code blocks

Use 
ProfilerMarker.Auto
to ensure that 
ProfilerMarker.End
is automatically called at the end of the code block. The following calls are equivalent:
using Unity.Profiling;public class MySystemClass{    static readonly ProfilerMarker k_UpdatePerfMarker = new ProfilerMarker("MySystem.Update");    public void Update()    {        k_UpdatePerfMarker.Begin();        // ...        k_UpdatePerfMarker.End();        using (k_UpdatePerfMarker.Auto())        {            // ...        }    }}
Unlike the 
Begin()
and 
End()
calls, Unity can't compile out the 
ProfilerMarker.Auto
call in non-development (Release) builds. It will however instead return null, which only adds minimal overhead.
You can also use 
ProfilerMarker.Auto
with a 
using var
and the 
End
call happens automatically once the current scope ends. This approach minimizes the amount of code you need to change when you add a 
ProfilerMarker
instance to your code:
using Unity.Profiling;public class MySystemClass{    static readonly ProfilerMarker k_UpdatePerfMarker = new ProfilerMarker("MySystem.Update");    public void Update()    {        using var _ = k_UpdatePerfMarker.Auto();        // ...    }}
Note
Any async 
await
and any 
yield
calls within an area marked up with 
ProfilerMarker
's aren't supported and log an error message in the Console, even if you use 
Auto
.

Adding integer or floating point parameters to samples

Sometimes you might want to add context to your code samples to identify specific conditions in which the code runs for a long time.
For example, if your system carries out simulations of objects, you can pass the number of objects with a Profiler sample. If the Profiler returns an abnormal number along with a long sample duration, that might mean you have to use another thread for simulation, split the CPU work across multiple frames (timeslicing), or adjust your application's design to prevent frame drops.
ProfilerMarker
supports up to three numeric parameters: 
ProfilerMarker<TP1>
, 
ProfilerMarker<TP1, TP2>
 and 
ProfilerMarker<TP1, TP2, TP3>
:
using Unity.Profiling;public class MySystemClass{  static readonly ProfilerMarker<int> k_PreparePerfMarker = new ProfilerMarker<int>("MySystem.Prepare", "Objects Count");  static readonly ProfilerMarker<float> k_SimulatePerfMarker = new ProfilerMarker<float>(ProfilerCategory.Scripts, "MySystem.Simulate", "Objects Density");  public void Update(int objectsCount)  {    k_PreparePerfMarker.Begin(objectsCount);    // ...    k_PreparePerfMarker.End();    using (k_SimulatePerfMarker.Auto(objectsCount * 1.0f))    {      // ...    }  }}

Adding string parameters to samples

The 
ProfilerMarker
API supports adding string parameters to your profiler markers. A string parameter can be useful if you want to display the name of the level or file when your application loads level or data files. Use 
ProfilerMarkerExtension
 methods to pass a string parameter along with a Profiler sample:
using Unity.Profiling;public class MySystemClass{  static readonly ProfilerMarker k_PreparePerfMarker = new ProfilerMarker("MySystem.Prepare");  public void Prepare(string path)  {    k_PreparePerfMarker.Begin(path);    // ...    k_PreparePerfMarker.End();  }}

Additional resources