diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index f41f3bb78..4efc1e87d 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ ARG TARGETPLATFORM
 ARG TARGETARCH
 ARG TARGETVARIANT
 
+ARG EXTRA_PACKAGES
+
 ARG OPEN_SSL_VERSION=1.1.1s
 
 RUN echo "Running on $BUILDPLATFORM, building for $TARGETPLATFORM"
@@ -22,6 +24,7 @@ RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/var/cache/apt,id=ubuntu22-apt \
     --mount=type=cache,target=/var/lib/apt/lists,id=ubuntu22-apt-lists \
     apt-get update -y \
     && apt-get install -y wget tar gzip \
+    $EXTRA_PACKAGES \
     libncurses5 libnuma-dev \
     bc \
     sudo
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a1b06fbe7..dd5a5d57e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -111,6 +111,27 @@ It may be the case that the benchmarks require more resources than are configure
 To execute a benchmark on a bigger machine to get better numbers one needs to increase the settings
 in docker.env and resources/config_templates/config.ini.
 
+## Instrumentation for mysqld
+
+Instrumenting `mysqld` is recommended only for advanced debugging scenarios.
+The `--mysqld-instrumentation` argument is used to prepend the command line that starts `mysqld`.
+Use the `--extra-packages` argument to list the packages you need installed for this purpose.
+Example:
+
+```bash
+# Use valgrind to check for memory leaks during a benchmark run. Since we use the
+# --volumes-in-local-dir flag, the memcheck output will be saved under
+# `autogenerated_files/*/volumes/mysqlFilesDir_mysqld_*/`.
+./build_run_docker.sh \
+  --rondb-tarball-is-local \
+  -ruri ./rondb-21.04.9-linux-glibc2.35-arm64_v8.tar.gz \
+  -v 21.04.9 -m 1 -g 1 -r 2 -my 1 -a 1 \
+  --mysqld-instrumentation "valgrind --log-file=/srv/hops/mysql-cluster/mysql-files/memcheck.log" \
+  --extra-packages valgrind \
+  --volumes-in-local-dir \
+  --run-benchmark sysbench_single
+```
+
 ## Goals of this repository
 
 1. Create an image with RonDB installed "hopsworks/rondb-standalone:21.04.9"
diff --git a/build_run_docker.sh b/build_run_docker.sh
index ab9a939f5..b9a00815a 100755
--- a/build_run_docker.sh
+++ b/build_run_docker.sh
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ Usage: $0
     [-lv        --volumes-in-local-dir              ]
     [-sf        --save-sample-files                 ]
     [-d         --detached                          ]
+    [-mi        --mysqld-instrumentation            ]
+    [-ep        --extra-packages                    ]
 EOF
 }
 
@@ -76,6 +78,8 @@ RUN_BENCHMARK=
 VOLUME_TYPE=docker
 SAVE_SAMPLE_FILES=
 DETACHED=
+MYSQLD_INSTRUMENTATION=
+EXTRA_PACKAGES=
 
 POSITIONAL=()
 while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
@@ -147,6 +151,18 @@ while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
         shift # past argument
         ;;
 
+    -mi | --mysqld-instrumentation)
+        MYSQLD_INSTRUMENTATION="$2"
+        shift # past argument
+        shift # past value
+        ;;
+
+    -ep | --extra-packages)
+        EXTRA_PACKAGES="$2"
+        shift # past argument
+        shift # past value
+        ;;
+
     *)                     # unknown option
         POSITIONAL+=("$1") # save it in an array for later
         shift              # past argument
@@ -173,6 +189,8 @@ print-parsed-arguments() {
     echo "Volume type docker/local      = ${VOLUME_TYPE}"
     echo "Save sample files             = ${SAVE_SAMPLE_FILES}"
     echo "Run detached                  = ${DETACHED}"
+    echo "Instrumentation mysqld        = ${MYSQLD_INSTRUMENTATION}"
+    echo "Extra packages                = ${EXTRA_PACKAGES}"
     echo
 }
 print-parsed-arguments
@@ -249,12 +267,23 @@ fi
 
 # We use this for the docker-compose project name, which will not allow "."
 RONDB_VERSION_NO_DOT=$(echo "$RONDB_VERSION" | tr -d '.')
+# We can't put an arbitrary command line or arbitrary list of packages as part
+# of a filename, so hash them. User can refer to parsed_arguments.txt for full
+# context.
+MYSQLD_INSTRUMENTATION_INDICATOR=
+if [ -n "$MYSQLD_INSTRUMENTATION" ]; then
+    MYSQLD_INSTRUMENTATION_INDICATOR="$(echo "$MYSQLD_INSTRUMENTATION" | sha256sum | sed -r 's/^(.{4}).*$/_mi-\1/')"
+fi
+EXTRA_PACKAGES_INDICATOR=
+if [ -n "$EXTRA_PACKAGES" ]; then
+    EXTRA_PACKAGES_INDICATOR="$(echo "$EXTRA_PACKAGES" | sha256sum | sed -r 's/^(.{4}).*$/_ep-\1/')"
+fi
 
 ## Uncomment this for quicker testing
 # yes | docker container prune
 # yes | docker volume prune
 
-FILE_SUFFIX="v${RONDB_VERSION_NO_DOT}_m${NUM_MGM_NODES}_g${NODE_GROUPS}_r${REPLICATION_FACTOR}_my${NUM_MYSQL_NODES}_api${NUM_API_NODES}"
+FILE_SUFFIX="v${RONDB_VERSION_NO_DOT}_m${NUM_MGM_NODES}_g${NODE_GROUPS}_r${REPLICATION_FACTOR}_my${NUM_MYSQL_NODES}_api${NUM_API_NODES}${MYSQLD_INSTRUMENTATION_INDICATOR}${EXTRA_PACKAGES_INDICATOR}"
 
 AUTOGENERATED_FILES_DIR="$SCRIPT_DIR/autogenerated_files/$FILE_SUFFIX"
 rm -rf $AUTOGENERATED_FILES_DIR
@@ -305,11 +334,12 @@ BENCH_DIR="/home/mysql/benchmarks"
 
 echo "Building RonDB Docker image for local platform"
 
-RONDB_IMAGE_NAME="rondb-standalone:$RONDB_VERSION"
+RONDB_IMAGE_NAME="rondb-standalone:$RONDB_VERSION${MYSQLD_INSTRUMENTATION_INDICATOR}${EXTRA_PACKAGES_INDICATOR}"
 docker buildx build . \
     --tag "$RONDB_IMAGE_NAME" \
     --build-arg RONDB_VERSION="$RONDB_VERSION" \
     --build-arg RONDB_TARBALL_LOCAL_REMOTE=$RONDB_TARBALL_LOCAL_REMOTE \
+    --build-arg "EXTRA_PACKAGES=$EXTRA_PACKAGES" \
     --build-arg RONDB_TARBALL_URI="$RONDB_TARBALL_URI"
 
 #######################
@@ -530,6 +560,10 @@ if [ "$NUM_MYSQL_NODES" -gt 0 ]; then
             # Only need one mysqld to setup databases, users, etc.
             template+="$(printf "$ENV_VAR_TEMPLATE" "MYSQL_SETUP_APP" "1")"
         fi
+        if [ -n "$MYSQLD_INSTRUMENTATION" ]; then
+            env_var="$(printf "$ENV_VAR_TEMPLATE" "MYSQLD_INSTRUMENTATION" "$MYSQLD_INSTRUMENTATION")"
+            template+="$env_var"
+        fi
 
         BASE_DOCKER_COMPOSE_FILE+="$template"
 
diff --git a/resources/entrypoints/mysqld.sh b/resources/entrypoints/mysqld.sh
index a5677dbc6..805e3274e 100755
--- a/resources/entrypoints/mysqld.sh
+++ b/resources/entrypoints/mysqld.sh
@@ -74,8 +74,8 @@ echo '[entrypoints/mysqld.sh] Database initialized'
 export MYSQLD_PARENT_PID=$$
 if [ -z "$MYSQL_SETUP_APP" ]; then
     echo '[entrypoints/mysqld.sh] Not setting up app here; going straight to execution of mysqld'
-    echo "[entrypoints/mysqld.sh] Running: $*"
-    exec "$@"
+    echo "[entrypoints/mysqld.sh] Running: $MYSQLD_INSTRUMENTATION $*"
+    exec $MYSQLD_INSTRUMENTATION "$@"
 fi
 
 echo '[entrypoints/mysqld.sh] Executing mysqld as daemon with no networking allowed...'
@@ -175,5 +175,5 @@ mysqladmin -uroot --password="$MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD" shutdown --socket="$SOCKET"
 echo "[entrypoints/mysqld.sh] Successfully shut down MySQLd"
 
 echo '[entrypoints/mysqld.sh] MySQL init process done. Ready for start up.'
-echo "[entrypoints/mysqld.sh] Running: $*"
-exec "$@"
+echo "[entrypoints/mysqld.sh] Running: $MYSQLD_INSTRUMENTATION $*"
+exec $MYSQLD_INSTRUMENTATION "$@"