Quick Start

The easiest way to start with Parca is to obtain the pre-built statically-linked binary or the container. You can download the latest release of the binary from the Parca GitHub release pages (Server and Agent). Alternatively, you can use the Parca container image from the GitHub Container Registry.

Once you have the binary or the container, you can start profiling your applications with Parca.

Please select your environment and use the following commands to quickly get started

Binary

Server

1. Download the binary specific to your OS and architecture

   curl -sL https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/download/v0.23.1/parca_0.23.1_`uname -s`_`uname -m`.tar.gz | tar xvfz -

2. Run Parca and access the Web UI on port 7070

   # Get basic configuration
   curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/parca-dev/parca/main/parca.yaml > parca.yaml
   # Run Parca and access the Web UI on port 7070
   ./parca --config-path=parca.yaml

Agent

1. Download the binary specific to your architecture (only works on Linux)

   curl -sL https://github.com/parca-dev/parca-agent/releases/download/v0.38.1/parca-agent_0.38.1_`uname -s`_`uname -m` chmod +x ./parca-agent*

2. Run Parca Agent and access the Web UI on port 7071 (assumes Parca is running on localhost:7070)

   sudo ./parca-agent* --node=test --remote-store-address=localhost:7070 --remote-store-insecure

Parca from Binary - Tutorial 5min ⏱️

Container

Server

Run Parca and access the Web UI on port 7070

docker run --rm -p 7070:7070 ghcr.io/parca-dev/parca:v0.23.1 /parca

Agent

Run Parca Agent (requires privileged mode) and access the Web UI on port 7071 (assumes Parca is running as a container on the same host. Replace IP for "--remote-store-address")

docker run --rm -it --privileged --pid host -p 7071:7071 -v /run:/run -v /boot:/boot -v /lib/modules:/lib/modules -v /sys/kernel/debug:/sys/kernel/debug -v /sys/fs/cgroup:/sys/fs/cgroup -v /sys/fs/bpf:/sys/fs/bpf -v /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket:/var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket ghcr.io/parca-dev/parca-agent:v0.38.1 /bin/parca-agent  --remote-store-address=parca-container-ip:7070 --remote-store-insecure

Parca from Binary - Tutorial 5min ⏱️

Kubernetes

tip

To quickly try out the Parca and Parca Agent with Kubernetes, you create a minikube cluster with an actual virtual machine, e.g. Virtualbox:

minikube start --driver=virtualbox

1. Create the namespace (not strictly necessary but prevents a race with the next commands)

   kubectl create namespace parca

Server

2. Use to deploy Parca Server (API and UI)

   kubectl apply -f https://github.com/parca-dev/parca/releases/download/v0.23.1/kubernetes-manifest.yaml

Agent

3. Use to deploy Parca Agent for all nodes

   kubectl apply -f https://github.com/parca-dev/parca-agent/releases/download/v0.38.1/kubernetes-manifest.yaml
   
   

Parca in Kubernetes - Tutorial 5min ⏱️

Snaps

Server

1. Use to deploy Parca Server (API and UI), listening on 0.0.0.0:7070.

   sudo snap install parca
   sudo snap start parca

Agent

2. Use to install Parca Agent on a node with snapd.

   sudo snap install --classic parca-agent
   sudo snap start parca

Parca from Snaps - Tutorial 5min ⏱️