diff --git a/zephyr/management/commands/profile_request.py b/zephyr/management/commands/profile_request.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..01445d38f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zephyr/management/commands/profile_request.py
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+from __future__ import absolute_import
+
+from optparse import make_option
+from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand
+from confirmation.models import Confirmation
+from zephyr.models import get_user_profile_by_email, UserMessage
+from zephyr.views import get_old_messages_backend
+import cProfile
+import time
+import logging
+from zephyr.middleware import LogRequests
+
+request_logger = LogRequests()
+
+class MockSession(object):
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.modified = False
+
+class MockRequest(object):
+    def __init__(self, email):
+        self.user = get_user_profile_by_email(email)
+        self.path = '/'
+        self.method = "POST"
+        self.META = {"REMOTE_ADDR": "127.0.0.1"}
+        self.REQUEST = {"anchor": UserMessage.objects.filter(user_profile=self.user).order_by("-message")[200].message_id,
+                        "num_before": 1200,
+                        "num_after": 200}
+        self.GET = {}
+        self.session = MockSession()
+
+    def get_full_path(self):
+        return self.path
+
+def profile_request(request):
+    request_logger.process_request(request)
+    prof = cProfile.Profile()
+    prof.enable()
+    ret = get_old_messages_backend(request, request.user,
+                                   apply_markdown=True)
+    prof.disable()
+    prof.dump_stats("/tmp/profile.data")
+    request_logger.process_response(request, ret)
+    logging.info("Profiling data written to /tmp/profile.data")
+    return ret
+
+class Command(BaseCommand):
+    option_list = BaseCommand.option_list + (
+        make_option('--email', action='store'),
+        )
+
+    def handle(self, *args, **options):
+        profile_request(MockRequest(options["email"]))