How can I tell the difference between a leak and normal memory growth?

A memory leak shows monotonic growth that never stabilizes or decreases after traffic stops, whereas normal memory usage fluctuates as the Garbage Collector (GC) cleans up objects.

What is the best way to capture a heap snapshot in production?

The most non-intrusive way is to use a process signal like SIGUSR2 to trigger a programmatic snapshot via the 'v8' module, allowing you to capture data without restarting the service.

What are common causes of Node.js memory leaks?

Common causes include EventEmitters with unremoved listeners, unbounded caches/accumulators, uncleared timers, and closures that capture large objects unnecessarily.

How does GC pressure affect Node.js performance?

High GC pressure occurs when the Garbage Collector runs frequently to free up memory, consuming significant CPU and increasing application latency even if a full OOM hasn't occurred yet.

Node.js Memory Debugging & Leak Detection

Name: Node.js Memory Debugging & Leak Detection
Author: chavangorakh1999

bychavangorakh1999

0•

Analytics & Monitoring

Diagnoses and resolves Node.js memory leaks using heap snapshot analysis, GC profiling, and reference retention patterns.

This skill provides a comprehensive framework for identifying and fixing memory leaks in Node.js applications. It guides users through distinguishing between normal growth and actual leaks, capturing V8 heap snapshots via multiple methods (including signals and programmatic triggers), and analyzing retention chains to find the root cause of memory exhaustion. Whether you are dealing with EventEmitter leaks, unbounded caches, or closure-related issues, this skill offers production-ready patterns to stabilize memory usage and prevent OOM-kills.

Key Features

010 GitHub stars

02Detection of common leak patterns like EventEmitters and unbounded caches

03Standardized report template for documenting and verifying memory fixes

04Garbage Collection (GC) pressure diagnosis using performance hooks

05Real-time memory monitoring snippets for RSS, heapUsed, and external memory

06Multi-method heap snapshot capture using v8, SIGUSR2, and Chrome DevTools

Use Cases

01Identifying why heap usage grows monotonically during sustained high-traffic load tests

02Troubleshooting Node.js services that crash with Out-Of-Memory (OOM) errors in production

03Optimizing garbage collection performance to reduce latency spikes in backend services

What are Skills?·How to Install

Install with 🐟 Skill.Fish

npx skillfish add chavangorakh1999/sde-skills memory-debug

For use in Claude.ai and ChatGPT

Key Features

010 GitHub stars

02Detection of common leak patterns like EventEmitters and unbounded caches

03Standardized report template for documenting and verifying memory fixes

04Garbage Collection (GC) pressure diagnosis using performance hooks

05Real-time memory monitoring snippets for RSS, heapUsed, and external memory

06Multi-method heap snapshot capture using v8, SIGUSR2, and Chrome DevTools

Use Cases

01Identifying why heap usage grows monotonically during sustained high-traffic load tests

02Troubleshooting Node.js services that crash with Out-Of-Memory (OOM) errors in production

03Optimizing garbage collection performance to reduce latency spikes in backend services

What are Skills?·How to Install

Install with 🐟 Skill.Fish

npx skillfish add chavangorakh1999/sde-skills memory-debug

For use in Claude.ai and ChatGPT