Profiling the Atom Render Process on macOS with Instruments

• Determine the version of Electron for your version of Atom.
  • Open the dev tools with alt-cmd-i
  • Evaluate process.versions.electron in the console.
• Based on this version, download the appropriate Electron symbols from the releases page.
  • The file name should look like electron-v1.X.Y-darwin-x64-dsym.zip.
  • Decompress these symbols in your ~/Downloads directory.
• Now create a time profile in Instruments.
  • Open Instruments.app.
  • Select Time Profiler
  • In Atom, determine the pid to attach to by evaluating process.pid in the dev tools console.
  • Attach to this pid via the menu at the upper left corner of the Instruments profiler.
  • Click record, do your thing.
  • Click stop.
  • The symbols should have been automatically located by Instruments (via Spotlight or something?), giving you a readable profile.