sounder25/foundational-agent-skills/12-dependency-tree-mapping

SKILL-012: Dependency Tree Mapping

Overview

Executes "Structural Awareness" by building a map of how different parts of the project rely on each other. It uses language-specific tools (nuget, pip, npm, cargo) to extract the graph and visualize it.

Trigger Phrases

• map dependencies
• show dependency tree
• check impact of <library>
• find point of failure

Inputs

Outputs

1. DEPENDENCY_GRAPH.mmd (Mermaid)

Visual graph ready for rendering:

graph TD
    A[Core.Engine] --> B[Utils.Math]
    A --> C[Utils.Logging]
    B --> D[External.NumPy]
    C --> E[External.Serilog]

2. RISK_REPORT.md

Analysis of the graph:

• Critical Nodes: Libraries that >50% of the project depends on.
• Cycle Detection: Circular dependencies that might cause build failures.
• Version Conflicts: Multiple versions of the same library requested.

Preconditions

1. Build files must exist (package.json, *.csproj, pyproject.toml).
2. Dependencies must be resolvable (e.g., npm list works).

Implementation

Script: map_dependencies.ps1

1. Detects Tech Stack: (Uses WORKSPACE_PROFILE.json if available).
2. Extracts Graph:

• Node.js: npm list --json
• .NET: dotnet list package --include-transitive (parsed)
• Python: pipdeptree --json (if installed)

1. Generates Mermaid: Transforms raw data into Mermaid syntax.
2. Analyzes Risk: Calculates centrality of nodes to identify critical points.

Use Cases

1. QA Auditing: Identifying "single-points-of-failure" where a single library version mismatch could crash the system.
2. Refactoring: Knowing that changing "AuthService" impacts "UserDashboard", "AdminPanel", and "ReportingJob".