Embodiments of the invention provide a data communications protocol and client server architecture used for the performance analysis and debugging of a graphics application running on a remote device. The remote device may be a hand-held video game console, a mobile phone, or convergence device, but may also be a personal computer system. A graphical application debugger may include a host component and a target component. The host component executes on a host system and presents a debugging interface to a developer. The target component may record data related to the performance of a graphics pipeline on the target device and transmit this data back to the host system over a communication link. The target component may be included as part of an instrumented version of a graphics device driver.