diff --git a/core/observe/statserver.go b/core/observe/statserver.go
index 5962d959a..fbd29324b 100644
--- a/core/observe/statserver.go
+++ b/core/observe/statserver.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"net"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/pprof"
+	"runtime"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
@@ -107,6 +108,13 @@ func NewStatServer(addr string, configProvider ConfigProvider, statsProvider Sta
 		mux.Handle("/tls-bridge/unread", o.tlsBridgeUnread)
 	}
 	if o.pprof {
+		// /debug/pprof/block and /mutex stay empty without these: the handlers
+		// exist, but the runtime records nothing unless asked. Both cost only
+		// when the event they measure happens — a blocked goroutine or a contended
+		// mutex — so they ride the same gate as the handlers rather than running
+		// on deployments where pprof is off.
+		runtime.SetBlockProfileRate(1)
+		runtime.SetMutexProfileFraction(1)
 		pprofGuard := func(h http.HandlerFunc) http.HandlerFunc {
 			return func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 				if !loopbackHost(r.Host) {
diff --git a/core/observe/statserver_test.go b/core/observe/statserver_test.go
index a83115af7..d65922400 100644
--- a/core/observe/statserver_test.go
+++ b/core/observe/statserver_test.go
@@ -6,8 +6,10 @@ import (
 	"net"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
+	"runtime"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/rossoctl/cortex/core/auth"
 	"github.com/rossoctl/cortex/core/config"
@@ -241,6 +243,33 @@ func TestStatServerPprofServesProfiles(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// /debug/pprof/block and /mutex answer 200 but stay empty forever unless the
+// runtime is told to record contention — the handlers exist either way. WithPprof
+// turns the recorders on with the handlers, so the endpoints can show something.
+func TestStatServerPprofEnablesContentionProfiles(t *testing.T) {
+	handler := serveMuxOpts(newTestConfig(), auth.NewStats(), WithPprof(true))
+
+	// Mutex has a getter; block does not, so block is proven by recording one
+	// event: a channel receive that waits is a block, and at rate 0 it would
+	// never reach the profile.
+	ch := make(chan struct{})
+	go func() { time.Sleep(100 * time.Millisecond); close(ch) }()
+	<-ch
+
+	req := httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, "/debug/pprof/block?debug=1", nil)
+	req.Host = "localhost:47802" // a loopback Host, as a local client sends
+	w := httptest.NewRecorder()
+	handler.ServeHTTP(w, req)
+	// The blocked receive's stack names this test; an empty profile carries only
+	// the header lines.
+	if !strings.Contains(w.Body.String(), "TestStatServerPprofEnablesContentionProfiles") {
+		t.Error("a 100ms blocked receive is absent from /debug/pprof/block: the recorder is off")
+	}
+	if prev := runtime.SetMutexProfileFraction(1); prev == 0 {
+		t.Error("WithPprof left mutex profiling off: /debug/pprof/mutex would stay empty")
+	}
+}
+
 // A page can rebind a DNS name to 127.0.0.1 and have a browser read a loopback
 // port, so the profiles refuse any Host that is not exactly loopback — the same
 // defense as the session API's erase guards.
diff --git a/core/pipeline/model.go b/core/pipeline/model.go
index 63e3bd19f..886f9861a 100644
--- a/core/pipeline/model.go
+++ b/core/pipeline/model.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"log/slog"
 	"strings"
+	"unsafe"
 
 	"github.com/tidwall/gjson"
 	"github.com/tidwall/sjson"
@@ -115,7 +116,12 @@ func requestModel(body []byte) (string, error) {
 	}
 	var model gjson.Result
 	exact, anyCase := 0, 0
-	gjson.ParseBytes(body).ForEach(func(key, value gjson.Result) bool {
+	// Zero-copy: ParseBytes is Parse(string(body)) — a full copy of every routed
+	// request just to scan its top-level keys. The alias is safe because gjson
+	// never writes the string it parses, the body is not written concurrently on
+	// the request path, and nothing that outlives the scan points into it: the
+	// only string that escapes, below, is cloned.
+	gjson.Parse(unsafe.String(unsafe.SliceData(body), len(body))).ForEach(func(key, value gjson.Result) bool {
 		if key.Type != gjson.String || !strings.EqualFold(key.String(), "model") {
 			return true
 		}
diff --git a/core/pipeline/model_test.go b/core/pipeline/model_test.go
index 00f319934..5078af603 100644
--- a/core/pipeline/model_test.go
+++ b/core/pipeline/model_test.go
@@ -282,3 +282,27 @@ func TestRequestModelDoesNotPinTheBody(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("name = %q", names[0])
 	}
 }
+
+// TestRequestModelDoesNotCopyTheBody is the allocation regression for the same
+// scan: ParseBytes is Parse(string(body)), so reading the top-level keys used to
+// copy the whole body once per routed request — ~1GB/hour of churn on a live
+// proxy, third behind tool-prune's copies. The scan now runs over an alias of
+// the body, so one call on a 4MiB body must allocate well under the body's size.
+func TestRequestModelDoesNotCopyTheBody(t *testing.T) {
+	pad := strings.Repeat("x", 4<<20)
+	body := []byte(`{"model":"claude-opus-5-5","pad":"` + pad + `"}`)
+	if _, err := requestModel(body); err != nil { // warm: page in gjson's code
+		t.Fatalf("requestModel: %v", err)
+	}
+	runtime.GC()
+	var before runtime.MemStats
+	runtime.ReadMemStats(&before)
+	if _, err := requestModel(body); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("requestModel: %v", err)
+	}
+	var after runtime.MemStats
+	runtime.ReadMemStats(&after)
+	if got := after.TotalAlloc - before.TotalAlloc; got > 64<<10 {
+		t.Errorf("requestModel on a %dMiB body allocated %dKiB; the scan copies the body", len(body)>>20, got>>10)
+	}
+}