diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..14a1bfc2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+.tox
+build
diff --git a/charts/deckhand/templates/deployment.yaml b/charts/deckhand/templates/deployment.yaml
index ddfa972a..5d40bbe1 100644
--- a/charts/deckhand/templates/deployment.yaml
+++ b/charts/deckhand/templates/deployment.yaml
@@ -78,8 +78,16 @@ spec:
               mountPath: /etc/deckhand/policy.yaml
               subPath: policy.yaml
               readOnly: true
+{{ if .Values.conf.deckhand.DEFAULT.profiler }}
+            - name: tmp-profiles
+              mountPath: /tmp/profiles
+{{ end }}
 {{ if $mounts_deckhand.volumeMounts }}{{ toYaml $mounts_deckhand.volumeMounts | indent 12 }}{{ end }}
       volumes:
+{{ if .Values.conf.deckhand.DEFAULT.profiler }}
+        - name: tmp-profiles
+          emptyDir: {}
+{{ end }}
         - name: etc-deckhand
           emptyDir: {}
         - name: deckhand-etc
diff --git a/charts/deckhand/values.yaml b/charts/deckhand/values.yaml
index d3c40dcf..05c615f1 100644
--- a/charts/deckhand/values.yaml
+++ b/charts/deckhand/values.yaml
@@ -215,6 +215,7 @@ conf:
       debug: true
       use_stderr: true
       use_syslog: true
+      profiler: false
     database:
       connection:
     keystone_authtoken:
diff --git a/deckhand/conf/config.py b/deckhand/conf/config.py
index f5128393..ae64e3a2 100644
--- a/deckhand/conf/config.py
+++ b/deckhand/conf/config.py
@@ -48,6 +48,9 @@ Possible values:
     * True
     * False
 """),
+    cfg.BoolOpt('profiler', default=False,
+                help="Enabling profiling of API requests. Do NOT "
+                     "use in production."),
 ]
 
 
diff --git a/deckhand/service.py b/deckhand/service.py
index 1de32bce..1dc00b5b 100644
--- a/deckhand/service.py
+++ b/deckhand/service.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import os
 import falcon
 from oslo_config import cfg
 from oslo_log import log
+from werkzeug.contrib.profiler import ProfilerMiddleware
 
 from deckhand.control import base
 from deckhand.control import buckets
@@ -82,5 +83,11 @@ def deckhand_app_factory(global_config, **local_config):
 
     app = falcon.API(request_type=base.DeckhandRequest,
                      middleware=middleware_list)
-
-    return configure_app(app, version='v1.0')
+    if CONF.profiler:
+        LOG.warning("Profiler ENABLED. Expect significant "
+                    "performance overhead.")
+        return ProfilerMiddleware(
+            configure_app(app, version='v1.0'),
+            profile_dir="/tmp/profiles")  # nosec w/o profile data
+    else:
+        return configure_app(app, version='v1.0')
diff --git a/deckhand/utils.py b/deckhand/utils.py
index e689c264..e5e30b5a 100644
--- a/deckhand/utils.py
+++ b/deckhand/utils.py
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ from deckhand import errors
 
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+path_cache = dict()
+
 
 def to_camel_case(s):
     """Convert string to camel case."""
@@ -71,7 +73,12 @@ def jsonpath_parse(data, jsonpath, match_all=False):
     elif jsonpath.startswith('.'):
         jsonpath = '$' + jsonpath
 
-    p = jsonpath_ng.parse(jsonpath)
+    if jsonpath not in path_cache:
+        p = jsonpath_ng.parse(jsonpath)
+        path_cache[jsonpath] = p
+    else:
+        p = path_cache[jsonpath]
+
     matches = p.find(data)
     if matches:
         result = [m.value for m in matches]
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index e4d29906..f0ddf45f 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -41,3 +41,6 @@ oslo.utils>=3.35.0 # Apache-2.0
 # likely this should be imported from a
 # container sidecar long-term
 python-barbicanclient>=4.6.0  # Apache-2.0
+
+# To support profiling in non-prod
+Werkzeug==0.14.1