diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index f08ed2d744..b0c97d64e5 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -23,6 +23,17 @@ version = "1.0.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "f26201604c87b1e01bd3d98f8d5d9a8fcbb815e8cedb41ffccbeb4bf593a35fe"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "ahash"
+version = "0.7.7"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "5a824f2aa7e75a0c98c5a504fceb80649e9c35265d44525b5f94de4771a395cd"
+dependencies = [
+ "getrandom 0.2.9",
+ "once_cell",
+ "version_check",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "ahash"
 version = "0.8.5"
@@ -132,6 +143,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "static_assertions",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "arrayvec"
+version = "0.7.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "96d30a06541fbafbc7f82ed10c06164cfbd2c401138f6addd8404629c4b16711"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "asn1-rs"
 version = "0.5.2"
@@ -246,6 +263,17 @@ dependencies = [
  "critical-section",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "atty"
+version = "0.2.14"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d9b39be18770d11421cdb1b9947a45dd3f37e93092cbf377614828a319d5fee8"
+dependencies = [
+ "hermit-abi 0.1.19",
+ "libc",
+ "winapi",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "autocfg"
 version = "1.1.0"
@@ -334,7 +362,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "http",
  "percent-encoding",
  "tracing",
- "uuid",
+ "uuid 1.3.3",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -708,7 +736,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "log",
  "paste",
  "pin-project",
- "quick-xml",
+ "quick-xml 0.30.0",
  "rand 0.8.5",
  "reqwest",
  "rustc_version",
@@ -716,7 +744,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde_json",
  "time",
  "url",
- "uuid",
+ "uuid 1.3.3",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -737,7 +765,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "time",
  "tz-rs",
  "url",
- "uuid",
+ "uuid 1.3.3",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -759,7 +787,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "sha2",
  "time",
  "url",
- "uuid",
+ "uuid 1.3.3",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -779,7 +807,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde_json",
  "time",
  "url",
- "uuid",
+ "uuid 1.3.3",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -896,6 +924,12 @@ version = "3.13.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "a3e2c3daef883ecc1b5d58c15adae93470a91d425f3532ba1695849656af3fc1"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "bytemuck"
+version = "1.14.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "374d28ec25809ee0e23827c2ab573d729e293f281dfe393500e7ad618baa61c6"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "byteorder"
 version = "1.4.3"
@@ -1255,6 +1289,15 @@ version = "0.8.4"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "e496a50fda8aacccc86d7529e2c1e0892dbd0f898a6b5645b5561b89c3210efa"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "cpp_demangle"
+version = "0.3.5"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "eeaa953eaad386a53111e47172c2fedba671e5684c8dd601a5f474f4f118710f"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "cpufeatures"
 version = "0.2.9"
@@ -1456,6 +1499,15 @@ version = "2.4.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "c2e66c9d817f1720209181c316d28635c050fa304f9c79e47a520882661b7308"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "debugid"
+version = "0.7.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d6ee87af31d84ef885378aebca32be3d682b0e0dc119d5b4860a2c5bb5046730"
+dependencies = [
+ "uuid 0.8.2",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "debugid"
 version = "0.8.0"
@@ -1463,7 +1515,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "bef552e6f588e446098f6ba40d89ac146c8c7b64aade83c051ee00bb5d2bc18d"
 dependencies = [
  "serde",
- "uuid",
+ "uuid 1.3.3",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -1648,6 +1700,18 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-sys 0.48.0",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "findshlibs"
+version = "0.10.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "40b9e59cd0f7e0806cca4be089683ecb6434e602038df21fe6bf6711b2f07f64"
+dependencies = [
+ "cc",
+ "lazy_static",
+ "libc",
+ "winapi",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "fixedbitset"
 version = "0.4.2"
@@ -1937,7 +2001,7 @@ version = "0.13.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "43a3c133739dddd0d2990f9a4bdf8eb4b21ef50e4851ca85ab661199821d510e"
 dependencies = [
- "ahash",
+ "ahash 0.8.5",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -1973,6 +2037,15 @@ version = "0.4.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "95505c38b4572b2d910cecb0281560f54b440a19336cbbcb27bf6ce6adc6f5a8"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "hermit-abi"
+version = "0.1.19"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "62b467343b94ba476dcb2500d242dadbb39557df889310ac77c5d99100aaac33"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "hermit-abi"
 version = "0.3.3"
@@ -2227,6 +2300,24 @@ version = "0.2.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "64e9829a50b42bb782c1df523f78d332fe371b10c661e78b7a3c34b0198e9fac"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "inferno"
+version = "0.10.12"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "de3886428c6400486522cf44b8626e7b94ad794c14390290f2a274dcf728a58f"
+dependencies = [
+ "ahash 0.7.7",
+ "atty",
+ "indexmap",
+ "itoa",
+ "lazy_static",
+ "log",
+ "num-format",
+ "quick-xml 0.22.0",
+ "rgb",
+ "str_stack",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "inotify"
 version = "0.9.6"
@@ -2278,7 +2369,7 @@ version = "1.0.11"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "eae7b9aee968036d54dce06cebaefd919e4472e753296daccd6d344e3e2df0c2"
 dependencies = [
- "hermit-abi",
+ "hermit-abi 0.3.3",
  "libc",
  "windows-sys 0.48.0",
 ]
@@ -2295,7 +2386,7 @@ version = "0.4.7"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "adcf93614601c8129ddf72e2d5633df827ba6551541c6d8c59520a371475be1f"
 dependencies = [
- "hermit-abi",
+ "hermit-abi 0.3.3",
  "io-lifetimes",
  "rustix 0.37.25",
  "windows-sys 0.48.0",
@@ -2466,6 +2557,24 @@ version = "2.5.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "2dffe52ecf27772e601905b7522cb4ef790d2cc203488bbd0e2fe85fcb74566d"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "memmap2"
+version = "0.5.10"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "83faa42c0a078c393f6b29d5db232d8be22776a891f8f56e5284faee4a20b327"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "memoffset"
+version = "0.6.5"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "5aa361d4faea93603064a027415f07bd8e1d5c88c9fbf68bf56a285428fd79ce"
+dependencies = [
+ "autocfg",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "memoffset"
 version = "0.7.1"
@@ -2571,6 +2680,19 @@ dependencies = [
  "tempfile",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "nix"
+version = "0.23.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "8f3790c00a0150112de0f4cd161e3d7fc4b2d8a5542ffc35f099a2562aecb35c"
+dependencies = [
+ "bitflags",
+ "cc",
+ "cfg-if",
+ "libc",
+ "memoffset 0.6.5",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "nix"
 version = "0.25.1"
@@ -2645,6 +2767,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "num-traits",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "num-format"
+version = "0.4.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "a652d9771a63711fd3c3deb670acfbe5c30a4072e664d7a3bf5a9e1056ac72c3"
+dependencies = [
+ "arrayvec",
+ "itoa",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "num-integer"
 version = "0.1.45"
@@ -2670,7 +2802,7 @@ version = "1.16.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "4161fcb6d602d4d2081af7c3a45852d875a03dd337a6bfdd6e06407b61342a43"
 dependencies = [
- "hermit-abi",
+ "hermit-abi 0.3.3",
  "libc",
 ]
 
@@ -2957,6 +3089,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "postgres_backend",
  "postgres_connection",
  "postgres_ffi",
+ "pprof",
  "pq_proto",
  "rand 0.8.5",
  "regex",
@@ -3328,6 +3461,25 @@ dependencies = [
  "workspace_hack",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "pprof"
+version = "0.6.1"
+source = "git+https://github.com/neondatabase/pprof-rs.git?branch=wallclock-profiling#4e011a87d22fb4d21d15cc38bce81ff1c75e4bc9"
+dependencies = [
+ "backtrace",
+ "cfg-if",
+ "findshlibs",
+ "inferno",
+ "lazy_static",
+ "libc",
+ "log",
+ "nix 0.23.2",
+ "parking_lot 0.11.2",
+ "symbolic-demangle",
+ "tempfile",
+ "thiserror",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "ppv-lite86"
 version = "0.2.17"
@@ -3535,12 +3687,21 @@ dependencies = [
  "tracing-utils",
  "url",
  "utils",
- "uuid",
+ "uuid 1.3.3",
  "webpki-roots 0.25.2",
  "workspace_hack",
  "x509-parser",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "quick-xml"
+version = "0.22.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "8533f14c8382aaad0d592c812ac3b826162128b65662331e1127b45c3d18536b"
+dependencies = [
+ "memchr",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "quick-xml"
 version = "0.30.0"
@@ -3872,6 +4033,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "rand 0.8.5",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "rgb"
+version = "0.8.37"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "05aaa8004b64fd573fc9d002f4e632d51ad4f026c2b5ba95fcb6c2f32c2c47d8"
+dependencies = [
+ "bytemuck",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "ring"
 version = "0.16.20"
@@ -4310,7 +4480,7 @@ version = "0.31.6"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "99dc599bd6646884fc403d593cdcb9816dd67c50cff3271c01ff123617908dcd"
 dependencies = [
- "debugid",
+ "debugid 0.8.0",
  "getrandom 0.2.9",
  "hex",
  "serde",
@@ -4318,7 +4488,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "thiserror",
  "time",
  "url",
- "uuid",
+ "uuid 1.3.3",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -4607,6 +4777,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "workspace_hack",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "str_stack"
+version = "0.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "9091b6114800a5f2141aee1d1b9d6ca3592ac062dc5decb3764ec5895a47b4eb"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "stringprep"
 version = "0.1.2"
@@ -4654,6 +4830,29 @@ version = "0.4.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "8fb1df15f412ee2e9dfc1c504260fa695c1c3f10fe9f4a6ee2d2184d7d6450e2"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "symbolic-common"
+version = "8.8.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "f551f902d5642e58039aee6a9021a61037926af96e071816361644983966f540"
+dependencies = [
+ "debugid 0.7.3",
+ "memmap2",
+ "stable_deref_trait",
+ "uuid 0.8.2",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "symbolic-demangle"
+version = "8.8.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "4564ca7b4e6eb14105aa8bbbce26e080f6b5d9c4373e67167ab31f7b86443750"
+dependencies = [
+ "cpp_demangle",
+ "rustc-demangle",
+ "symbolic-common",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "syn"
 version = "1.0.109"
@@ -5507,10 +5706,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "tracing-error",
  "tracing-subscriber",
  "url",
- "uuid",
+ "uuid 1.3.3",
  "workspace_hack",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "uuid"
+version = "0.8.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "bc5cf98d8186244414c848017f0e2676b3fcb46807f6668a97dfe67359a3c4b7"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "uuid"
 version = "1.3.3"
@@ -6030,7 +6235,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "tracing-core",
  "tungstenite",
  "url",
- "uuid",
+ "uuid 1.3.3",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
diff --git a/pageserver/Cargo.toml b/pageserver/Cargo.toml
index 3eb01003df..ab6783f918 100644
--- a/pageserver/Cargo.toml
+++ b/pageserver/Cargo.toml
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ default = []
 # Enables test-only APIs, incuding failpoints. In particular, enables the `fail_point!` macro,
 # which adds some runtime cost to run tests on outage conditions
 testing = ["fail/failpoints"]
+profiling = ["pprof"]
 
 [dependencies]
 anyhow.workspace = true
@@ -82,6 +83,7 @@ enum-map.workspace = true
 enumset.workspace = true
 strum.workspace = true
 strum_macros.workspace = true
+pprof = { git = "https://github.com/neondatabase/pprof-rs.git", branch = "wallclock-profiling", features = ["flamegraph"], optional = true }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 criterion.workspace = true
diff --git a/pageserver/src/bin/pageserver.rs b/pageserver/src/bin/pageserver.rs
index 5b0c140d00..68865b1684 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/bin/pageserver.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/bin/pageserver.rs
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ const PID_FILE_NAME: &str = "pageserver.pid";
 const FEATURES: &[&str] = &[
     #[cfg(feature = "testing")]
     "testing",
+    #[cfg(feature = "profiling")]
+    "profiling",
 ];
 
 fn version() -> String {
diff --git a/pageserver/src/lib.rs b/pageserver/src/lib.rs
index 3f74694ef2..11d732ccbd 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/lib.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/lib.rs
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ pub mod metrics;
 pub mod page_cache;
 pub mod page_service;
 pub mod pgdatadir_mapping;
+pub mod profiling;
 pub mod repository;
 pub(crate) mod statvfs;
 pub mod task_mgr;
diff --git a/pageserver/src/profiling.rs b/pageserver/src/profiling.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b6b3658546
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pageserver/src/profiling.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+//!
+//! Support for profiling
+//!
+//! This relies on a modified version of the 'pprof-rs' crate. That's not very
+//! nice, so to avoid a hard dependency on that, this is an optional feature.
+//!
+
+/// The actual implementation is in the `profiling_impl` submodule. If the profiling
+/// feature is not enabled, it's just a dummy implementation that panics if you
+/// try to enabled profiling in the configuration.
+pub use profiling_impl::*;
+
+#[cfg(feature = "profiling")]
+mod profiling_impl {
+    use super::*;
+    use pprof;
+    use std::marker::PhantomData;
+
+    /// Start profiling the current thread. Returns a guard object;
+    /// the profiling continues until the guard is dropped.
+    ///
+    /// Note: profiling is not re-entrant. If you call 'profpoint_start' while
+    /// profiling is already started, nothing happens, and the profiling will be
+    /// stopped when either guard object is dropped.
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn profpoint_start() -> Option<ProfilingGuard> {
+        pprof::start_profiling();
+        Some(ProfilingGuard(PhantomData))
+    }
+
+    /// A hack to remove Send and Sync from the ProfilingGuard. Because the
+    /// profiling is attached to current thread.
+    ////
+    /// See comments in https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/68318
+    type PhantomUnsend = std::marker::PhantomData<*mut u8>;
+
+    pub struct ProfilingGuard(PhantomUnsend);
+
+    unsafe impl Send for ProfilingGuard {}
+
+    impl Drop for ProfilingGuard {
+        fn drop(&mut self) {
+            pprof::stop_profiling();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Initialize the profiler. This must be called before any 'profpoint_start' calls.
+    pub fn init_profiler<'a>() -> Option<pprof::ProfilerGuard<'a>> {
+        Some(pprof::ProfilerGuardBuilder::default().build().unwrap())
+    }
+
+    /// Exit the profiler. Writes the flamegraph to current workdir.
+    pub fn exit_profiler(profiler_guard: &Option<pprof::ProfilerGuard>) {
+        // Write out the flamegraph
+        if let Some(profiler_guard) = profiler_guard {
+            if let Ok(report) = profiler_guard.report().build() {
+                // this gets written under the workdir
+                let file = std::fs::File::create("flamegraph.svg").unwrap();
+                let mut options = pprof::flamegraph::Options::default();
+                options.image_width = Some(2500);
+                report.flamegraph_with_options(file, &mut options).unwrap();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// Dummy implementation when compiling without profiling feature or for non-linux OSes.
+#[cfg(not(feature = "profiling"))]
+mod profiling_impl {
+    pub struct DummyProfilerGuard;
+
+    impl Drop for DummyProfilerGuard {
+        fn drop(&mut self) {
+            // do nothing, this exists to calm Clippy down
+        }
+    }
+
+    pub fn profpoint_start() -> Option<DummyProfilerGuard> {
+        None
+    }
+
+    pub fn init_profiler() -> Option<DummyProfilerGuard> {
+        None
+    }
+
+    pub fn exit_profiler(profiler_guard: &Option<DummyProfilerGuard>) {}
+}
diff --git a/pageserver/src/walingest.rs b/pageserver/src/walingest.rs
index 6ab8fc4e3f..1f802af66d 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/walingest.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/walingest.rs
@@ -2127,7 +2127,9 @@ mod tests {
             buffer
         };
 
-        // TODO start a profiler too
+        // Start profiling
+        let profiler_guard = crate::profiling::init_profiler();
+        let prof_guard = crate::profiling::profpoint_start();
         let started_at = std::time::Instant::now();
 
         // Initialize walingest
@@ -2152,7 +2154,11 @@ mod tests {
             }
         }
 
+        drop(prof_guard);
+
         let duration = started_at.elapsed();
         println!("done in {:?}", duration);
+
+        crate::profiling::exit_profiler(&profiler_guard);
     }
 }