Getting trace_processor and the Python client

This skill is one answer to the question "where does trace_processor come from?". It is intentionally orthogonal to the querying-traces skill: that one teaches what to do once you have a working trace_processor; this one teaches how to obtain it.

There are many possible answers depending on the environment — Google internal users, OEM build environments, CI images, and other teams typically have their own preferred or mandatory path. If the user is in such an environment, prefer their team-specific version of this skill. Use this one when nothing more specific is available.

Part 1 — The trace_processor binary

Fetch the official prebuilt binary. This is what 99% of users should do — a build from source is only needed when developing Perfetto itself.

curl -LO https://get.perfetto.dev/trace_processor
chmod +x trace_processor
./trace_processor --version    # smoke test

get.perfetto.dev/trace_processor is a small wrapper script that picks the right prebuilt binary for the host platform (Linux x86_64 / arm64, macOS, Windows) and caches it. Re-running the curl -LO (or just re-invoking ./trace_processor) is the recommended way to stay current — the script is hash-idempotent, so it only re-downloads when the upstream binary actually changes. Don't move it onto PATH as a one-shot install: doing so encourages users to keep running a stale binary indefinitely.

If a Perfetto source checkout is available, tools/trace_processor inside that checkout does the same fetch under the hood and additionally supports --build for a from-source build.

Part 2 — The Python client (for long-running RPC mode)

The querying-traces skill recommends starting trace_processor server http TRACE_FILE once and connecting from Python so iteration doesn't re-parse the trace on every query. That requires the perfetto Python package (and protobuf).

Default: an isolated venv

Modern macOS / Debian / Ubuntu Python installs (PEP 668) refuse global pip install by default, and even where they don't, mixing the Perfetto client into the system interpreter is a recipe for version conflicts. The opinionated path is a dedicated venv:

python3 -m venv ~/.venv/perfetto
~/.venv/perfetto/bin/pip install -U perfetto protobuf
# Optional: pandas, only if you want .as_pandas_dataframe() to work.
~/.venv/perfetto/bin/pip install -U pandas

# Sanity check.
~/.venv/perfetto/bin/python -c \
  "from perfetto.trace_processor import TraceProcessor; print('ok')"

Then invoke Python from the querying skill as ~/.venv/perfetto/bin/python, or source ~/.venv/perfetto/bin/activate once per shell and use plain python.

When to override the default

• The user already has an environment manager (uv, pipx, conda, poetry, an existing project venv): install perfetto and protobuf into that environment instead of creating a fresh ~/.venv/perfetto.
• The user explicitly wants a global install: pip install --break-system-packages perfetto protobuf is the escape hatch on PEP-668 distros. Don't reach for it on the user's behalf — only when they ask.
• The environment has its own packaging story (Google internal, CI images with pre-baked deps, locked-down corporate Python): defer to that. This skill is the OSS default, not a mandate.

Verifying the full setup

A one-shot end-to-end check that the binary and the client agree:

# Start the server on a small trace in the background, on a random port
# to avoid clashing with any other trace_processor server / the UI.
PORT=$((9100 + RANDOM % 900))
trace_processor server http --port $PORT /path/to/some_trace.pftrace &
SERVER_PID=$!
sleep 1

# Query via the Python client.
~/.venv/perfetto/bin/python - "$PORT" <<'PY'
import sys
from perfetto.trace_processor import TraceProcessor
tp = TraceProcessor(addr=f'127.0.0.1:{sys.argv[1]}')
print(next(iter(tp.query('SELECT count(*) AS c FROM slice'))).c)
tp.close()
PY

kill $SERVER_PID

If this prints a non-zero count and exits cleanly, the user is ready to follow the querying-traces skill.