diff --git a/config.go b/config.go
index 8879d62c..5ea281be 100644
--- a/config.go
+++ b/config.go
@@ -107,6 +107,8 @@ type config struct {
 
 	DebugLevel string `short:"d" long:"debuglevel" description:"Logging level for all subsystems {trace, debug, info, warn, error, critical} -- You may also specify <subsystem>=<level>,<subsystem2>=<level>,... to set the log level for individual subsystems -- Use show to list available subsystems"`
 
+	CPUProfile string `long:"cpuprofile" description:"Write CPU profile to the specified file"`
+
 	Profile string `long:"profile" description:"Enable HTTP profiling on given port -- NOTE port must be between 1024 and 65536"`
 
 	PeerPort           int  `long:"peerport" description:"The port to listen on for incoming p2p connections"`
diff --git a/lnd.go b/lnd.go
index 5e2f3e78..9e38c122 100644
--- a/lnd.go
+++ b/lnd.go
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import (
 	_ "net/http/pprof"
 	"os"
 	"runtime"
+	"runtime/pprof"
 	"strconv"
 	"time"
 
@@ -88,6 +89,18 @@ func lndMain() error {
 		}()
 	}
 
+	// Write cpu profile if requested.
+	if cfg.CPUProfile != "" {
+		f, err := os.Create(cfg.CPUProfile)
+		if err != nil {
+			ltndLog.Errorf("Unable to create cpu profile: %v", err)
+			return err
+		}
+		pprof.StartCPUProfile(f)
+		defer f.Close()
+		defer pprof.StopCPUProfile()
+	}
+
 	// Open the channeldb, which is dedicated to storing channel, and
 	// network related metadata.
 	chanDB, err := channeldb.Open(cfg.DataDir)