diff --git a/doc/iojs.1 b/doc/iojs.1
index 0512d5e75cdd37..0f28e6f02beb94 100644
--- a/doc/iojs.1
+++ b/doc/iojs.1
@@ -62,6 +62,8 @@ and servers.
 
   --track-heap-objects   track heap object allocations for heap snapshots
 
+  --profile-cpu          silently begin cpu profiler during start up
+
   --v8-options           print v8 command line options
 
 
diff --git a/src/node.cc b/src/node.cc
index c272139e5518cd..4d686789d7c22d 100644
--- a/src/node.cc
+++ b/src/node.cc
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ static bool throw_deprecation = false;
 static bool abort_on_uncaught_exception = false;
 static bool trace_sync_io = false;
 static bool track_heap_objects = false;
+static bool profile_cpu = false;
 static const char* eval_string = nullptr;
 static unsigned int preload_module_count = 0;
 static const char** preload_modules = nullptr;
@@ -3105,6 +3106,7 @@ static void PrintHelp() {
          "                        is detected after the first tick\n"
          "  --track-heap-objects  track heap object allocations for heap "
          "snapshots\n"
+         "  --profile-cpu         silently begin cpu profiler during start up\n"
          "  --v8-options          print v8 command line options\n"
 #if defined(NODE_HAVE_I18N_SUPPORT)
          "  --icu-data-dir=dir    set ICU data load path to dir\n"
@@ -3227,6 +3229,8 @@ static void ParseArgs(int* argc,
       trace_deprecation = true;
     } else if (strcmp(arg, "--trace-sync-io") == 0) {
       trace_sync_io = true;
+    } else if (strcmp(arg, "--profile-cpu") == 0) {
+      profile_cpu = true;
     } else if (strcmp(arg, "--track-heap-objects") == 0) {
       track_heap_objects = true;
     } else if (strcmp(arg, "--throw-deprecation") == 0) {
@@ -3936,6 +3940,13 @@ static void StartNodeInstance(void* arg) {
     Isolate::Scope isolate_scope(isolate);
     HandleScope handle_scope(isolate);
     Local<Context> context = Context::New(isolate);
+
+    // CpuProfiler requires HandleScope
+    // addons can pick up the results with StopProfiling(...) using same title
+    if (profile_cpu) {
+      isolate->GetCpuProfiler()->StartProfiling(String::Empty(isolate), true);
+    }
+
     Environment* env = CreateEnvironment(isolate, context, instance_data);
     Context::Scope context_scope(context);
     if (instance_data->is_main())