Impact Analysis with GitNexus When to Use "Is it safe to change this function?" "What will break if I modify X?" "Show me the blast radius" "Who uses this code?" Before making non-trivial code changes Before committing — to understand what your changes affect Workflow 1. gitnexus_impact({target: "X", direction: "upstream"}) → What depends on this 2. READ gitnexus://repo/{name}/processes → Check affected execution flows 3. gitnexus_detect_changes() → Map current git changes to affected flows 4. Assess risk and report to user If "Index is stale" → run npx gitnexus analyze in terminal. Checklist - [ ] gitnexus_impact({target, direction: "upstream"}) to find dependents - [ ] Review d=1 items first (these WILL BREAK) - [ ] Check high-confidence (>0.8) dependencies - [ ] READ processes to check affected execution flows - [ ] gitnexus_detect_changes() for pre-commit check - [ ] Assess risk level and report to user Understanding Output Depth Risk Level Meaning d=1 WILL BREAK Direct callers/importers d=2 LIKELY AFFECTED Indirect dependencies d=3 MAY NEED TESTING Transitive effects Risk Assessment Affected Risk <5 symbols, few processes LOW 5-15 symbols, 2-5 processes MEDIUM
15 symbols or many processes HIGH Critical path (auth, payments) CRITICAL Tools gitnexus_impact — the primary tool for symbol blast radius: gitnexus_impact({ target: "validateUser", direction: "upstream", minConfidence: 0.8, maxDepth: 3 }) → d=1 (WILL BREAK): - loginHandler (src/auth/login.ts:42) [CALLS, 100%] - apiMiddleware (src/api/middleware.ts:15) [CALLS, 100%] → d=2 (LIKELY AFFECTED): - authRouter (src/routes/auth.ts:22) [CALLS, 95%] gitnexus_detect_changes — git-diff based impact analysis: gitnexus_detect_changes({scope: "staged"}) → Changed: 5 symbols in 3 files → Affected: LoginFlow, TokenRefresh, APIMiddlewarePipeline → Risk: MEDIUM Example: "What breaks if I change validateUser?" 1. gitnexus_impact({target: "validateUser", direction: "upstream"}) → d=1: loginHandler, apiMiddleware (WILL BREAK) → d=2: authRouter, sessionManager (LIKELY AFFECTED) 2. READ gitnexus://repo/my-app/processes → LoginFlow and TokenRefresh touch validateUser 3. Risk: 2 direct callers, 2 processes = MEDIUM