lucasg/dependencies

★ 11,482C#Audience · developerComplexity · 1/5Setup · easy

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Dependencies))
    What it does
      Shows DLL tree
      Finds missing files
      Replaces depends.exe
    Interfaces
      GUI viewer
      CLI version
    Use Cases
      Troubleshoot crashes
      Pre-ship checks
      CI automation
    Audience
      Windows developers
      QA engineers

mindmap root((Dependencies)) What it does Shows DLL tree Finds missing files Replaces depends.exe Interfaces GUI viewer CLI version Use Cases Troubleshoot crashes Pre-ship checks CI automation Audience Windows developers QA engineers

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Diagnose why a Windows program fails to launch by finding missing DLL files in its dependency tree.

USE CASE 2

Automate DLL dependency checking in a build or CI pipeline using the command-line version.

USE CASE 3

Verify that all required libraries are present before shipping software to a customer machine.

USE CASE 4

Interactively browse the full dependency chain of any Windows executable or DLL file.

Tech stack

C#.NETWindows

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Download and unzip, no installer needed. Runs directly on Windows with no additional dependencies.

In plain English

Dependencies is a Windows application written in C# that shows you which other files a Windows program depends on to run. Windows programs often rely on shared library files called DLLs (dynamic link libraries). When a program fails to start or crashes with a missing DLL error, figuring out exactly which file is missing and why can be confusing. This tool visualizes the dependency tree so you can see exactly what a program needs and whether it can find it. It is a modern rewrite of an old Microsoft tool called Dependency Walker (depends.exe) that was included with Windows developer toolkits but stopped being updated around 2006. The original tool does not handle many features of modern Windows, so this project rebuilds the same concept with current APIs and adds a cleaner interface. The application comes in two versions: a graphical interface called DependenciesGui.exe that shows a tree view you can browse interactively, and a command-line version called Dependencies.exe that is better suited for scripting and automation. You download a zip file, unzip it, and run the executable directly with no installer needed. One thing to be aware of is that by default the tool only analyzes one level of dependencies rather than recursively mapping the full chain. This is intentional: a full recursive analysis of even a simple program can consume many gigabytes of memory. A setting in the options menu lets you enable deeper analysis if your machine can handle it. The tool is aimed at Windows developers and is particularly useful when troubleshooting why a program or DLL will not load on a fresh machine or in a different environment.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

I have a Windows EXE that crashes with a missing DLL error. How do I use the Dependencies GUI to find exactly which DLL is missing and where Windows is looking for it?

Prompt 2

Using Dependencies.exe from the command line, check whether myapp.dll has all its dependencies resolved and output the results as text I can log in CI.

Prompt 3

I am shipping a Windows app to a client machine. Walk me through using Dependencies to confirm no DLL is missing before I package the installer.

Prompt 4

How do I enable recursive dependency analysis in Dependencies without running out of memory, and what is the recommended way to interpret the results?

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