diff --git a/cmd/ipfs/Makefile b/cmd/ipfs/Makefile
index fccb80330..aa97f0a63 100644
--- a/cmd/ipfs/Makefile
+++ b/cmd/ipfs/Makefile
@@ -5,3 +5,11 @@ build:
 
 install: build
 	go install
+
+# cpu profiling: `go tool pprof ipfs cpu.prof`
+# mem profiling: `go tool pprof ipfs ipfs.mprof`
+
+clean:
+	rm -f cpu.prof
+	rm -f ipfs.mprof
+	rm -f ipfs
diff --git a/cmd/ipfs/ipfs.go b/cmd/ipfs/ipfs.go
index 9ce5d7faf..1494f68c2 100644
--- a/cmd/ipfs/ipfs.go
+++ b/cmd/ipfs/ipfs.go
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ import (
 	u "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/util"
 )
 
+const heapProfile = "ipfs.mprof"
+
 // The IPFS command tree. It is an instance of `commander.Command`.
 var CmdIpfs = &commander.Command{
 	UsageLine: "ipfs [<flags>] <command> [<args>]",
@@ -99,12 +101,14 @@ func main() {
 	// if debugging, setup profiling.
 	if u.Debug {
 		ofi, err := os.Create("cpu.prof")
+		defer ofi.Close()
+
 		if err != nil {
 			fmt.Println(err)
 			return
 		}
+
 		pprof.StartCPUProfile(ofi)
-		defer ofi.Close()
 		defer pprof.StopCPUProfile()
 	}
 
@@ -115,6 +119,13 @@ func main() {
 		}
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
+
+	if u.Debug {
+		err := writeHeapProfileToFile()
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Critical(err)
+		}
+	}
 	return
 }
 
@@ -218,3 +229,12 @@ func setupDaemon(confdir string, node *core.IpfsNode) (*daemon.DaemonListener, e
 	go dl.Listen()
 	return dl, nil
 }
+
+func writeHeapProfileToFile() error {
+	mprof, err := os.Create(heapProfile)
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	defer mprof.Close()
+	return pprof.WriteHeapProfile(mprof)
+}