explaingit

scheidydude/codeindex

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

35PythonAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5Setup · easy

TLDR

A command-line tool that maps file dependencies in a codebase and scores each file's 'blast radius' to show how risky a change would be.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((codeindex))
    What it does
      Dependency mapping
      Blast radius scoring
      Symbol index
    Integrations
      Git pre-commit hook
      CLAUDE.md symbol map
      MCP server
    Tech stack
      Python
      pip install
    Use cases
      Assess change risk before editing
      Speed up AI code lookups

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Check a file's blast radius score before changing it to gauge how many other files depend on it

USE CASE 2

Build a symbol index so an AI coding assistant can look up a function's location in one step instead of scanning every file

USE CASE 3

Install a git pre-commit hook that warns or blocks commits touching high blast-radius files

USE CASE 4

Visualize the codebase's dependency graph as a force layout, 3D network, matrix, or treemap

What is it built with?

Python

How does it compare?

scheidydude/codeindexalex-nlp/denoiserlbytedance-seed/cola-dlm
Stars353535
LanguagePythonPythonPython
Setup difficultyeasyhardhard
Complexity2/55/54/5
Audiencedeveloperresearcherresearcher

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Single pip install with no external dependencies beyond the Python standard library.

No license terms are stated in the explanation provided.

In plain English

Codeindex is a command-line tool that analyzes how the files in a code repository depend on each other, then uses that dependency map to calculate a "blast radius" score for each file. The blast radius score tells you how many other files would be affected if you changed a particular file. A file that many other parts of the codebase import from will have a high blast score, a file that nothing else depends on will have a low one. This is intended to help developers, and AI coding assistants, understand the risk of making a change before they make it. The tool works with over a dozen programming languages including Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, Ruby, Rust, Java, PHP, and others. It also analyzes Docker service dependencies, GitHub Actions workflow step dependencies, and database schema foreign key relationships. Running the analysis writes a file called codeindex.json into the project, which records every file, what it imports, what imports it, its blast score, and its size in lines of code. A separate command builds a symbol index, which is a map from every function, class, and type name to the exact file and line where it is defined. The README notes that AI coding tools normally find a function by scanning every file in a project, which uses a lot of tokens. With a symbol index, the AI can do a single lookup instead. There is an option to append a compressed version of this symbol map into a CLAUDE.md file so that Claude Code loads it automatically at the start of every session. The tool can also install a git pre-commit hook that checks the blast score of any file you are about to commit and either warns or blocks the commit if the score is above a threshold you set. An optional visualization server renders the dependency graph in a browser as a 2D force layout, 3D network, dependency matrix, or treemap. For AI tool integration specifically, codeindex can run as an MCP server, which is a protocol that lets AI assistants like Claude call it as a tool directly during a conversation. The installation is a single pip command and the tool has no external dependencies beyond the Python standard library.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Explain how codeindex calculates a file's blast radius score from its dependency graph
Prompt 2
Help me set up codeindex's symbol index and append it to my project's CLAUDE.md file
Prompt 3
Show me how to configure codeindex's git pre-commit hook to block commits above a blast score threshold
Prompt 4
Walk me through running codeindex as an MCP server so Claude can call it directly

Frequently asked questions

What is codeindex?

A command-line tool that maps file dependencies in a codebase and scores each file's 'blast radius' to show how risky a change would be.

What language is codeindex written in?

Mainly Python. The stack also includes Python.

What license does codeindex use?

No license terms are stated in the explanation provided.

How hard is codeindex to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is codeindex for?

Mainly developer.

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