Analyzer lj-gco-ref

# Name

lj-gco-ref - GC Object Reference Flame Graph

This analyzer profiles garbage collection (GC) object references in LuaJIT-based applications such as OpenResty and Kong. It traverses the entire object graph starting from GC roots and captures reference chains to all reachable objects. The analyzer generates flame graphs that visualize memory usage by reference paths, showing which objects are holding references to other objects and how much memory each reference chain consumes. This helps identify memory retention issues, detect reference leaks, and understand object lifetime management in Lua applications.

# Resource Category

Memory.

# Application Type & Technical Stack

• OpenResty
• Kong
• APISIX

# Command Line Syntax

The analyzer can be invoked directly on the command-line via the orxray utility from the openresty-xray-cli software package.

Alternatively, the analyzer can also be invoked manually or automatically on the web console UI of OpenResty XRay (like on the Advanced web page).

# PID is the target process PID.
orxray analyzer run lj-gco-ref -p PID

# trace a shell command directly
orxray analyzer run lj-gco-ref -c SHELL_CMD

# Tracing Multiple Processes

Not supported.

# Output Formats

• Flame Graphs

# Author

The OpenResty Inc. Team.

# Copyright

Copyright (C) by OpenResty Inc. All rights reserved.