diff --git a/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_engines/ray_wrapped_inference_engine.py b/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_engines/ray_wrapped_inference_engine.py
index 30303c8927..9892d98e3c 100644
--- a/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_engines/ray_wrapped_inference_engine.py
+++ b/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_engines/ray_wrapped_inference_engine.py
@@ -70,6 +70,12 @@ async def teardown(self):
     async def reset_prefix_cache(self):
         return await self.inference_engine_actor.reset_prefix_cache.remote()
 
+    async def start_profile(self, profile_prefix: str | None = None):
+        return await self.inference_engine_actor.start_profile.remote(profile_prefix=profile_prefix)
+
+    async def stop_profile(self):
+        return await self.inference_engine_actor.stop_profile.remote()
+
     async def chat_completion(self, request_payload: Dict[str, Any]) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         return await self.inference_engine_actor.chat_completion.remote(request_payload)
 
diff --git a/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_engines/vllm/vllm_engine.py b/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_engines/vllm/vllm_engine.py
index 6d827ac327..715370e393 100644
--- a/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_engines/vllm/vllm_engine.py
+++ b/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_engines/vllm/vllm_engine.py
@@ -345,6 +345,9 @@ class AsyncVLLMInferenceEngine(BaseVLLMInferenceEngine):
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
         self._weight_loader = VLLMWeightLoader(self.llm, is_async=True)
+        # vLLM raises if profile() is called without profiler_config; gate on it.
+        self._profile_enabled = self.llm.vllm_config.profiler_config.profiler is not None
+        self._profile_counter = 0
 
     def _create_engine(self, *args, **kwargs):
         openai_kwargs = pop_openai_kwargs(kwargs)
@@ -489,17 +492,30 @@ async def generate(self, input_batch: InferenceEngineInput) -> InferenceEngineOu
         """Generate responses using vLLM's async engine."""
         prompt_token_ids, sampling_params = self._preprocess_prompts(input_batch)
 
-        tasks = []
-        for prompt in prompt_token_ids:
-            # Schedule the collection of outputs for each prompt.
-            # Avoid duplicate request_ids
-            request_id = str(uuid4().hex)
-            task = asyncio.create_task(self._collect_outputs(prompt, request_id, sampling_params))
-            tasks.append(task)
-        outputs = await asyncio.gather(*tasks)
+        if self._profile_enabled:
+            await self.llm.start_profile(profile_prefix=f"sample_{self._profile_counter}")
+            self._profile_counter += 1
+        try:
+            tasks = []
+            for prompt in prompt_token_ids:
+                # Schedule the collection of outputs for each prompt.
+                # Avoid duplicate request_ids
+                request_id = str(uuid4().hex)
+                task = asyncio.create_task(self._collect_outputs(prompt, request_id, sampling_params))
+                tasks.append(task)
+            outputs = await asyncio.gather(*tasks)
+        finally:
+            if self._profile_enabled:
+                await self.llm.stop_profile()
 
         return self._postprocess_outputs(outputs)
 
+    async def start_profile(self, profile_prefix: Optional[str] = None) -> None:
+        await self.llm.start_profile(profile_prefix=profile_prefix)
+
+    async def stop_profile(self) -> None:
+        await self.llm.stop_profile()
+
     async def wake_up(self, *args: Any, **kwargs: Any):
         await self.llm.wake_up(tags=kwargs.get("tags", None))
 
diff --git a/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_servers/remote_inference_client.py b/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_servers/remote_inference_client.py
index 2efbe3ae44..a555564284 100644
--- a/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_servers/remote_inference_client.py
+++ b/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_servers/remote_inference_client.py
@@ -209,12 +209,20 @@ class RemoteInferenceClient:
     tokenizer: Optional[Any] = None
     """Optional HF tokenizer for local tokenize/detokenize (avoids HTTP round-trips)."""
 
+    profile_each_sample: bool = False
+    """If True, hit ``/start_profile`` and ``/stop_profile`` around each ``sample()``
+    call. Requires the server to have been launched with ``profiler_config`` set
+    (via ``engine_init_kwargs.profiler_config``). Concurrent ``sample()`` calls
+    are serialized by a lock so traces don't overlap."""
+
     # Private fields excluded from repr for cleaner output
     _session: Optional[aiohttp.ClientSession] = field(default=None, repr=False)
     _world_size: Optional[Tuple[int, int]] = field(default=None, repr=False)
     _gen_sem: Optional[asyncio.Semaphore] = field(default=None, repr=False)
     _detok_sem: Optional[asyncio.Semaphore] = field(default=None, repr=False)
     _sem_loop: Optional[asyncio.AbstractEventLoop] = field(default=None, repr=False)
+    _profile_counter: int = field(default=0, repr=False)
+    _profile_lock: Optional[asyncio.Lock] = field(default=None, repr=False)
 
     def __post_init__(self):
         if self.data_parallel_size <= 0:
@@ -289,10 +297,14 @@ async def _post(self, url: str, json: Dict[str, Any], headers: Optional[Dict[str
                     try:
                         body = await resp.json(content_type=None)
                     except Exception as e:
+                        text = ""
+                        try:
+                            text = await resp.text()
+                        except Exception:
+                            pass
                         if 400 <= resp.status < 500:
                             # Non-JSON client error (e.g. plain text 422 from vllm-router).
                             # Raise immediately — client errors won't succeed on retry.
-                            text = await resp.text()
                             raise aiohttp.ClientResponseError(
                                 resp.request_info,
                                 resp.history,
@@ -301,7 +313,10 @@ async def _post(self, url: str, json: Dict[str, Any], headers: Optional[Dict[str
                                 headers=resp.headers,
                             )
                         last_exc = e
-                        logger.debug(f"retry {attempt + 1}/{_DATA_PLANE_RETRIES} for {url=}: {e}")
+                        logger.debug(
+                            f"retry {attempt + 1}/{_DATA_PLANE_RETRIES} for {url=}: "
+                            f"status={resp.status} body={text[:200]!r}: {e}"
+                        )
                         await asyncio.sleep(1)
                         continue
                     raise_for_status(resp, body)
@@ -612,11 +627,28 @@ async def sample(self, request_payload: SampleRequestPayload) -> SampleResponse:
 
         url = f"{self.proxy_url}/inference/v1/generate"
         gen_sem, _ = self._get_semaphores()
-        if gen_sem is None:
-            response = await self._post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)
-        else:
+
+        async def _do_post() -> Dict[str, Any]:
+            if gen_sem is None:
+                return await self._post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)
             async with gen_sem:
-                response = await self._post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)
+                return await self._post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)
+
+        if self.profile_each_sample:
+            # start/stop_profile is global per-engine, so serialize concurrent
+            # samples to keep traces clean.
+            if self._profile_lock is None:
+                self._profile_lock = asyncio.Lock()
+            async with self._profile_lock:
+                prefix = f"sample_{self._profile_counter}"
+                self._profile_counter += 1
+                await self.start_profile(profile_prefix=prefix)
+                try:
+                    response = await _do_post()
+                finally:
+                    await self.stop_profile()
+        else:
+            response = await _do_post()
 
         # vLLM returns: list[dict[str(token_id) → {"logprob": float, ...}] | None]
         result_prompt_logprobs: Optional[List[Optional[float]]] = None
@@ -880,6 +912,20 @@ async def _call_all_servers(
         )
         return {url: resp for url, resp in results}
 
+    async def start_profile(self, profile_prefix: Optional[str] = None) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+        """Open a profiler span on every backend server.
+
+        Requires the server to have been launched with ``profiler_config`` set
+        (otherwise vLLM raises a 500). vLLM's ``/start_profile`` endpoint accepts
+        ``profile_prefix`` as a query param (used as the trace filename prefix).
+        """
+        params = {"profile_prefix": profile_prefix} if profile_prefix else None
+        return await self._call_all_servers("/start_profile", params=params)
+
+    async def stop_profile(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+        """Close the profiler span on every backend and flush traces to ``torch_profiler_dir``."""
+        return await self._call_all_servers("/stop_profile")
+
     async def pause(self, mode: Union[PauseMode, str] = PauseMode.KEEP, clear_cache: bool = False) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         """
         Pause generation on all backends.
diff --git a/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_servers/setup.py b/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_servers/setup.py
index ec3177c76f..7a69f628c7 100644
--- a/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_servers/setup.py
+++ b/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_servers/setup.py
@@ -283,6 +283,16 @@ def build_new_inference_client(
     active_lora_name = (
         _SKYRL_LORA_ADAPTER_NAME if lora_cfg and lora_cfg.rank > 0 and cfg.trainer.strategy != "megatron" else None
     )
+
+    # Auto-enable per-sample profiling when the user configured a vLLM profiler
+    # via engine_init_kwargs.profiler_config. Accept both dict (raw user input)
+    # and ProfilerConfig (post-coercion in build_vllm_cli_args).
+    profiler_cfg = ie_cfg.engine_init_kwargs.get("profiler_config") if ie_cfg.engine_init_kwargs else None
+    if isinstance(profiler_cfg, dict):
+        profile_each_sample = bool(profiler_cfg.get("profiler"))
+    else:
+        profile_each_sample = bool(profiler_cfg and getattr(profiler_cfg, "profiler", None))
+
     client = RemoteInferenceClient(
         proxy_url=server_setup.proxy_url,
         server_urls=server_setup.server_urls,
@@ -292,6 +302,7 @@ def build_new_inference_client(
         uses_lora_weight_sync=_uses_lora_weight_sync(cfg),
         data_parallel_size=ie_cfg.data_parallel_size,
         tokenizer=tokenizer,
+        profile_each_sample=profile_each_sample,
     )
 
     return client, server_setup
diff --git a/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_servers/utils.py b/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_servers/utils.py
index 4f6fab74cf..a7965c5c5d 100644
--- a/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_servers/utils.py
+++ b/skyrl/backends/skyrl_train/inference_servers/utils.py
@@ -102,8 +102,15 @@ def build_vllm_cli_args(cfg: SkyRLTrainConfig) -> Namespace:
     else:
         args.enable_lora = False
 
-    # Add any extra engine_init_kwargs
-    engine_kwargs = get_config_as_dict(ie_cfg.engine_init_kwargs)
+    # Add any extra engine_init_kwargs. Copy so we don't mutate the source
+    # config (downstream readers in setup.py expect the original shape).
+    engine_kwargs = dict(get_config_as_dict(ie_cfg.engine_init_kwargs))
+    # vLLM's API server asserts args.profiler_config is a ProfilerConfig
+    # instance (not a dict), so coerce here when the user supplies it as a dict.
+    if isinstance(engine_kwargs.get("profiler_config"), dict):
+        from vllm.config.profiler import ProfilerConfig
+
+        engine_kwargs["profiler_config"] = ProfilerConfig(**engine_kwargs["profiler_config"])
     for key, value in engine_kwargs.items():
         setattr(args, key, value)