diff --git a/src/GameCult.Caching.MessagePack/DirectoryMessagePackBackingStore.cs b/src/GameCult.Caching.MessagePack/DirectoryMessagePackBackingStore.cs
index 003b4863..fb058620 100644
--- a/src/GameCult.Caching.MessagePack/DirectoryMessagePackBackingStore.cs
+++ b/src/GameCult.Caching.MessagePack/DirectoryMessagePackBackingStore.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 using System;
 using System.Collections.Concurrent;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Diagnostics;
 using System.IO;
 using System.Linq;
 using System.Security.Cryptography;
@@ -55,6 +56,18 @@ public sealed class DirectoryMessagePackBackingStore : CacheBackingStore
     /// <inheritdoc />
     public override void PullAll()
     {
+        var traceStartup = string.Equals(
+            Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("CULTCACHE_TRACE_STARTUP_PHASES"),
+            "1",
+            StringComparison.Ordinal);
+        var startupPhase = Stopwatch.StartNew();
+        void Trace(string phase)
+        {
+            if (traceStartup)
+                Console.WriteLine($"CultCache directory-pull phase {phase} took {startupPhase.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds:0.###}ms.");
+            startupPhase.Restart();
+        }
+
         _recordDirectory.Refresh();
         if (!File.Exists(_manifestFile.FullName) && !_recordDirectory.Exists)
         {
@@ -64,6 +77,7 @@ public sealed class DirectoryMessagePackBackingStore : CacheBackingStore
         }
 
         var manifest = ReadManifest();
+        Trace($"manifest records={manifest.Records.Length}");
         _durableCatalog = manifest.SchemaCatalog;
         var reports = new List<CultSchemaMigrationReport>();
         var loaded = new Dictionary<string, CultStoredDocument>(StringComparer.Ordinal);
@@ -77,6 +91,7 @@ public sealed class DirectoryMessagePackBackingStore : CacheBackingStore
                 .ToDictionary(group => group.Key, group => group.Last(), StringComparer.Ordinal);
 
             LoadIndexedRecords(manifest, loaded, reports);
+            Trace($"indexed-pages loaded={loaded.Count}");
         }
         else
         {
@@ -88,6 +103,7 @@ public sealed class DirectoryMessagePackBackingStore : CacheBackingStore
                 .Where(record => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(record.Key))
                 .GroupBy(record => record.Key, StringComparer.Ordinal)
                 .ToDictionary(group => group.Key, group => ToIndexRecord(group.Last()), StringComparer.Ordinal);
+            Trace($"legacy-pages loaded={loaded.Count}");
         }
 
         foreach (var pair in loaded)
@@ -124,6 +140,7 @@ public sealed class DirectoryMessagePackBackingStore : CacheBackingStore
 
         SetLastSchemaMigrationReports(reports);
         IsDirty = !_dirtyKeys.IsEmpty || !_deletedKeys.IsEmpty;
+        Trace("publish");
     }
 
     /// <inheritdoc />
diff --git a/src/GameCult.Networking/CultNetLocal.cs b/src/GameCult.Networking/CultNetLocal.cs
index a134cfcf..e884cd8d 100644
--- a/src/GameCult.Networking/CultNetLocal.cs
+++ b/src/GameCult.Networking/CultNetLocal.cs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 using System;
+using System.Diagnostics;
 using System.Linq;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using GameCult.Caching;
@@ -130,12 +131,28 @@ namespace GameCult.Networking
             }
 
             options ??= new CultNetHostOptions();
+            var traceStartup = string.Equals(
+                Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("CULTMESH_TRACE_STARTUP_PHASES"),
+                "1",
+                StringComparison.Ordinal);
+            var startupPhase = Stopwatch.StartNew();
+            void Trace(string phase)
+            {
+                if (traceStartup)
+                    Console.WriteLine($"CultMesh local-host phase {phase} took {startupPhase.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds:0.###}ms.");
+                startupPhase.Restart();
+            }
+
             var cache = await CultCacheMessagePack.OpenAsync(cachePath, options.CacheOptions).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            Trace("cache-open");
             var store = cache.BackingStores.OfType<SingleFileMessagePackBackingStore>().FirstOrDefault();
             var server = new Server(cache, options.Security ?? ServerSecurityOptions.Development());
+            Trace("server");
             var databaseOptions = options.DatabaseOptions ?? new CultNetDatabaseOptions();
             var database = new CultNetDatabase(cache, databaseOptions);
+            Trace("database");
             var databaseServer = new CultNetDatabaseServer(server, database, options.DatabaseServerOptions);
+            Trace("database-server");
             options.ConfigureServer?.Invoke(server);
 
             var host = new CultNetHost(cache, store, server, database, databaseServer);
@@ -143,6 +160,7 @@ namespace GameCult.Networking
             {
                 host.Start();
             }
+            Trace("server-start");
 
             return host;
         }