Pro Tip: Use Xcode Instruments Time Profiler with AI for Performance Analysis
Article Summary
Antoine van der Lee (@twannl) found a quick way to get performance fixes from Xcode Instruments: deep copy the Time Profiler call tree and paste it into an AI agent.
He prompts the AI as a Staff iOS Engineer and points it at the raw call tree data. Testing this on his RocketSim app, the AI spotted a 21.9% CPU hit from CGContextClipToMask during video exports.
Key Takeaways
- Deep copy Instruments call tree as AI input
- AI flagged 21.9% CPU usage in CGContextClipToMask
- Suggested alpha-channel mask and resampling fixes
- Works with any AI agent, not tool-specific
- 14 replies from developers planning to try it
Critical Insight
Pasting Instruments call tree data into an AI agent gets you optimization suggestions in seconds instead of hours of manual inspection.
