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NCU Profiler

The NCU Profiler tool lets you open and analyze NVIDIA Nsight Compute (.ncu-rep) reports directly in VS Code. Get a structured view of kernel performance metrics, bottleneck identification, and optimization recommendations—all without leaving your editor.

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What is NCU?

NVIDIA Nsight Compute (NCU) is a profiling tool for CUDA kernels. It captures detailed performance data including:
  • Kernel timing — How long each kernel takes to execute
  • Throughput metrics — Compute and memory bandwidth utilization
  • Occupancy — How well you’re using the GPU’s compute resources
  • Register pressure — Per-thread register usage
  • Bottleneck analysis — Roofline model and performance limiters
Wafer’s NCU Profiler brings this analysis into your editor, making it easier to iterate on performance without context switching.

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Features

Report Analysis

Open .ncu-rep files and browse kernel metrics in a clean, organized interface.

Kernel Summary

See all profiled kernels at a glance with key metrics: duration, throughput, occupancy.

Performance Diagnostics

Get actionable recommendations for optimization based on detected bottlenecks.

Create Profiles

Run NCU profiling directly from VS Code when NCU is installed locally.

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Requirements

RequirementDetails
For AnalysisNo installation required—you can analyze existing .ncu-rep files
For ProfilingNVIDIA Nsight Compute with ncu CLI on PATH
You can always analyze existing .ncu-rep report files even without NCU installed. The profiling feature (creating new reports) requires NCU to be installed.

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Quick Start

  1. Select NCU Profiler from the Wafer tool dropdown
  2. Click Select .ncu-rep file to open an existing report
  3. Browse the kernel summary and metrics
  4. Expand the diagnostics panel for optimization recommendations

Analyzing Reports

Learn how to analyze NCU reports in detail →