How to profile AWS Lambda functions

AWS Lambda is a serverless computing service that allows users to execute code on-demand without managing underlying infrastructure, but it is often seen as a "black box" due to its lack of transparency in cost, performance, and reliability. Continuous profiling provides a solution to these challenges by analyzing the performance of Lambda functions and identifying resource consumption, enabling optimizations. Pyroscope's AWS Lambda extension offers a native profiling approach that minimizes overhead on the critical path by offloading profiling tasks to an asynchronous path, allowing users to gain insights into their functions without impacting performance. The Pyroscope UI further aids in analysis with tools like flame graphs, time controls, and diff views, facilitating function optimization and resource allocation. Integrating Pyroscope's Lambda extension into a function involves adding a layer and configuring environment variables for profiling data transmission.