V8

The v8 module exposes APIs that are specific to the version of V8 built into the Node.js binary. It can be accessed using:

const v8 = require('v8');

Note: The APIs and implementation are subject to change at any time.

v8.getHeapSpaceStatistics()

Returns statistics about the V8 heap spaces, i.e. the segments which make up the V8 heap. Neither the ordering of heap spaces, nor the availability of a heap space can be guaranteed as the statistics are provided via the V8 GetHeapSpaceStatistics function and may change from one V8 version to the next.

The value returned is an array of objects containing the following properties:

• space_name <string>
• space_size <number>
• space_used_size <number>
• space_available_size <number>
• physical_space_size <number>

For example:

[
  {
    "space_name": "new_space",
    "space_size": 2063872,
    "space_used_size": 951112,
    "space_available_size": 80824,
    "physical_space_size": 2063872
  },
  {
    "space_name": "old_space",
    "space_size": 3090560,
    "space_used_size": 2493792,
    "space_available_size": 0,
    "physical_space_size": 3090560
  },
  {
    "space_name": "code_space",
    "space_size": 1260160,
    "space_used_size": 644256,
    "space_available_size": 960,
    "physical_space_size": 1260160
  },
  {
    "space_name": "map_space",
    "space_size": 1094160,
    "space_used_size": 201608,
    "space_available_size": 0,
    "physical_space_size": 1094160
  },
  {
    "space_name": "large_object_space",
    "space_size": 0,
    "space_used_size": 0,
    "space_available_size": 1490980608,
    "physical_space_size": 0
  }
]

v8.getHeapStatistics()

Returns an object with the following properties:

• total_heap_size <number>
• total_heap_size_executable <number>
• total_physical_size <number>
• total_available_size <number>
• used_heap_size <number>
• heap_size_limit <number>
• malloced_memory <number>
• peak_malloced_memory <number>
• does_zap_garbage <number>

does_zap_garbage is a 0/1 boolean, which signifies whether the --zap_code_space option is enabled or not. This makes V8 overwrite heap garbage with a bit pattern. The RSS footprint (resident memory set) gets bigger because it continuously touches all heap pages and that makes them less likely to get swapped out by the operating system.

For example:

{
  total_heap_size: 7326976,
  total_heap_size_executable: 4194304,
  total_physical_size: 7326976,
  total_available_size: 1152656,
  used_heap_size: 3476208,
  heap_size_limit: 1535115264,
  malloced_memory: 16384,
  peak_malloced_memory: 1127496,
  does_zap_garbage: 0
}

v8.setFlagsFromString(string)

The v8.setFlagsFromString() method can be used to programmatically set V8 command line flags. This method should be used with care. Changing settings after the VM has started may result in unpredictable behavior, including crashes and data loss; or it may simply do nothing.

The V8 options available for a version of Node.js may be determined by running node --v8-options. An unofficial, community-maintained list of options and their effects is available here.

Usage:

// Print GC events to stdout for one minute.
const v8 = require('v8');
v8.setFlagsFromString('--trace_gc');
setTimeout(function() { v8.setFlagsFromString('--notrace_gc'); }, 60e3);