diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 56ef4ce34f..e9fa84fe17 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 * [Command line tools](#command-line-tools)
 	* [`ocrd` CLI](#ocrd-cli)
 	* [`ocrd-dummy` CLI](#ocrd-dummy-cli)
+* [Configuration](#configuration)
 * [Packages](#packages)
 	* [ocrd_utils](#ocrd_utils)
 	* [ocrd_models](#ocrd_models)
@@ -81,6 +82,19 @@ supported flags, options and arguments.
 
 A minimal [OCR-D processor](https://ocr-d.de/en/user_guide#using-the-ocr-d-processors) that copies from `-I/-input-file-grp` to `-O/-output-file-grp`
 
+## Configuration
+
+Almost all behaviour of the OCR-D/core software is configured via CLI options and flags, which can be listed with the `--help` flag that all CLI support.
+
+Some parts of the software are configured via environement variables:
+
+* `OCRD_METS_CACHING`: If set to `true`, access to the METS file is cached, speeding in-memory search and modification.
+* `OCRD_PROFILE`: This variable configures the built-in CPU and memory profiling. If empty, no profiling is done. Otherwise expected to contain any of the following tokens:
+  * `CPU`: Enable CPU profiling of processor runs
+  * `RSS`: Enable RSS memory profiling
+  * `PSS`: Enable proportionate memory profiling
+* `OCRD_PROFILE_FILE`: If set, then the CPU profile is written to this file for later peruse with a analysis tools like [snakeviz](https://jiffyclub.github.io/snakeviz/)
+
 ## Packages
 
 ### ocrd_utils
diff --git a/ocrd/ocrd/decorators/__init__.py b/ocrd/ocrd/decorators/__init__.py
index d7dee6e6ec..ff908c3e7f 100644
--- a/ocrd/ocrd/decorators/__init__.py
+++ b/ocrd/ocrd/decorators/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from os.path import isfile
+from os import environ
 import sys
 
 import click
@@ -89,6 +90,12 @@ def ocrd_cli_wrap_processor(
         report = WorkspaceValidator.check_file_grp(workspace, kwargs['input_file_grp'], '' if overwrite else kwargs['output_file_grp'], page_id)
         if not report.is_valid:
             raise Exception("Invalid input/output file grps:\n\t%s" % '\n\t'.join(report.errors))
+        # Set up profiling behavior from environment variables/flags
+        if not profile and 'OCRD_PROFILE' in environ:
+            if 'CPU' in environ['OCRD_PROFILE']:
+                profile = True
+        if not profile_file and 'OCRD_PROFILE_FILE' in environ:
+            profile_file = environ['OCRD_PROFILE_FILE']
         if profile or profile_file:
             import cProfile
             import pstats
diff --git a/ocrd/ocrd/processor/helpers.py b/ocrd/ocrd/processor/helpers.py
index 90e1706728..e07333eaa2 100644
--- a/ocrd/ocrd/processor/helpers.py
+++ b/ocrd/ocrd/processor/helpers.py
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 """
 Helper methods for running and documenting processors
 """
+from os import environ
 from time import perf_counter, process_time
 import json
 import inspect
 from subprocess import run, PIPE
+from memory_profiler import memory_usage
+from sparklines import sparklines
 
 from click import wrap_text
 from ocrd_utils import getLogger
@@ -85,7 +88,23 @@ def run_processor(
     log.debug("Processor instance %s (%s doing %s)", processor, name, otherrole)
     t0_wall = perf_counter()
     t0_cpu = process_time()
-    processor.process()
+    if any(x in environ.get('OCRD_PROFILE', '') for x in ['RSS', 'PSS']):
+        backend = 'psutil_pss' if 'PSS' in environ['OCRD_PROFILE'] else 'psutil'
+        mem_usage = memory_usage(proc=processor.process,
+                                # only run process once
+                                max_iterations=1,
+                                interval=.1, timeout=None, timestamps=True, 
+                                # include sub-processes
+                                multiprocess=True, include_children=True, 
+                                # get proportional set size instead of RSS
+                                backend=backend)
+        mem_usage_values = [mem for mem, _ in mem_usage]
+        mem_output = 'memory consumption: '
+        mem_output += ''.join(sparklines(mem_usage_values))
+        mem_output += ' max: %.2f MiB min: %.2f MiB' % (max(mem_usage_values), min(mem_usage_values))
+        logProfile.info(mem_output)
+    else:
+        processor.process()
     t1_wall = perf_counter() - t0_wall
     t1_cpu = process_time() - t0_cpu
     logProfile.info("Executing processor '%s' took %fs (wall) %fs (CPU)( [--input-file-grp='%s' --output-file-grp='%s' --parameter='%s' --page-id='%s']" % (
diff --git a/ocrd/requirements.txt b/ocrd/requirements.txt
index ca62ed9370..ad30bc1f83 100644
--- a/ocrd/requirements.txt
+++ b/ocrd/requirements.txt
@@ -7,4 +7,6 @@ opencv-python-headless
 Flask
 jsonschema
 pyyaml
-Deprecated == 1.2.0
\ No newline at end of file
+Deprecated == 1.2.0
+memory-profiler >= 0.58.0
+sparklines >= 0.4.2
diff --git a/tests/test_logging.py b/tests/test_logging.py
index 0a03f86dff..a051c81a45 100644
--- a/tests/test_logging.py
+++ b/tests/test_logging.py
@@ -168,7 +168,9 @@ def testProcessorProfiling(self):
         # with open('/tmp/debug.log', 'w') as f:
         #     f.write(log_contents)
         # Check whether profile information has been logged. Dummy should finish in under 0.1s
-        self.assertTrue(match(r'.*Executing processor \'ocrd-test\' took 0.\d+s.*', log_contents))
+        # print(log_contents)
+        assert "Executing processor 'ocrd-test' took 0" in log_contents
+        # self.assertTrue(match(r'.*Executing processor \'ocrd-test\' took 0.\d+s.*', log_contents))
 
     def test_tmpConfigfile(self):
         self.assertNotEqual(logging.getLogger('').getEffectiveLevel(), logging.NOTSET)