diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 994d9c3..ce9b7fd 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -3,3 +3,9 @@ members = [
     "ggdt",
     "examples/*",
 ]
+
+# some stuff is becoming noticably slow with default dev profile settings (opt-level = 0). especially any of the
+# fancier triangle_2d drawing stuff. while there are many optimizations still left to be made, it seems like a good
+# compromise on build time vs optimizations to keep opt-level at 1 while actively developing.
+[profile.dev]
+opt-level = 1
\ No newline at end of file