Performance monitoring in Node.js is crucial for maintaining application efficiency in production environments, and should be integrated into the development process to preemptively identify issues. Due to the asynchronous nature of Node.js, traditional profiling tools may not suffice, making it beneficial to utilize built-in tools like the Performance Timing API and async_hooks. The Performance Timing API, though experimental, allows precise measurement of code impacts on the event loop, enabling developers to track performance metrics effectively. In contrast, async_hooks provide a way to monitor asynchronous operations by adding function calls at different stages of a callback function’s lifecycle, facilitating the collection of performance data without manual code alterations. By combining these tools, developers can gain insights into the inner workings of their applications, such as dependency load times and the performance of HTTP requests. However, due to their experimental status, these tools may change in future Node.js versions, but exploring them still offers valuable insights and aids in potential bug detection.