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+# Tracing
+
+Cloud Hypervisor has a basic tracing infrastucture, particularly focussed on
+the tracing of the initial VM setup.
+
+## Usage
+
+To enabling tracing, build with "tracing" feature. When compiled without the
+feature the tracing is compiled out.
+
+```bash
+cargo build --features "tracing"
+```
+
+And then run Cloud Hypervisor as you wish, the trace will be written to the current directory as `cloud-hypervisor-<pid>.trace`. This is JSON file which you can inspect yourself.
+
+Alternatively you can use the provided script in
+`scripts/ch-trace-visualiser.py` to generate an SVG:
+
+For example: 
+
+```bash
+scripts/ch-trace-visualiser.py cloud-hypervisor-39466.trace output.svg
+```
+
+## Tracing in the codebase
+
+There are existing tracepoints in the code base; extra ones can be added for
+more detailed tracing.
+
+The `tracer::trace_scoped!()` macro is used to add the current existing scope
+appears as a block in the trace. Other than providing a useful name for the
+event nothing else is required from the developer.
+
+The `tracer::start()` and `tracer::end()` functions are already in place for
+generating traces of the boot. These can be relocated for focus tracing on a
+narrow part of the code base.
+
+A `tracer::trace_point!()` macro is also provided for an instantaneous trace
+point however this is not in use in the code base currently nor is handled by
+the visualisation script due to the difficulty in representation in the SVG.
+