diff --git a/kitty/boss.py b/kitty/boss.py
index 26839a1f4..d5cbae3e4 100644
--- a/kitty/boss.py
+++ b/kitty/boss.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ class Boss(Thread):
 
     def __init__(self, window, window_width, window_height, opts, args):
         Thread.__init__(self, name='ChildMonitor')
+        self.profile = args.profile
         self.child_fd = create_pty()[0]
         self.loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
         self.loop.add_signal_handler(signal.SIGINT, lambda: self.loop.call_soon_threadsafe(self.shutdown))
@@ -88,7 +89,17 @@ class Boss(Thread):
         self.char_grid.render()
 
     def run(self):
+        if self.profile:
+            import cProfile
+            import pstats
+            pr = cProfile.Profile()
+            pr.enable()
         self.loop.run_forever()
+        if self.profile:
+            pr.disable()
+            pr.create_stats()
+            s = pstats.Stats(pr)
+            s.dump_stats(self.profile)
 
     def close(self):
         if not self.shutting_down:
diff --git a/kitty/main.py b/kitty/main.py
index e7a99a5b2..ca5d9e52b 100644
--- a/kitty/main.py
+++ b/kitty/main.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 # License: GPL v3 Copyright: 2016, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>
 
 import argparse
+import tempfile
 import os
 import sys
 import pwd
@@ -93,6 +94,8 @@ def main():
         child = args.args or [pwd.getpwuid(os.geteuid()).pw_shell or '/bin/sh']
         fork_child(child, args.directory, opts)
         if args.profile:
+            tf = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(prefix='kitty-profiling-stats-')
+            args.profile = tf.name
             import cProfile
             import pstats
             pr = cProfile.Profile()
@@ -101,6 +104,8 @@ def main():
             pr.disable()
             pr.create_stats()
             s = pstats.Stats(pr)
+            s.add(args.profile)
+            tf.close()
             s.strip_dirs()
             s.sort_stats('time', 'name')
             s.print_stats(30)