gitnexus-impact-analysis

name: gitnexus-impact-analysis description: "Use when the user wants to know what will break if they change something, or needs safety analysis before editing code. Examples: "Is it safe to change X?", "What depends on this?", "What will break?""

Impact Analysis with GitNexus

IMPORTANT — How to use GitNexus: GitNexus is a standalone CLI tool. Run it directly via gitnexus <command> in the Bash tool. Do NOT use mcpl call gitnexus ... or npx gitnexus ... — gitnexus is installed globally and invoked by name.

Multi-repo note: Always pass --repo <name> to every command that operates on a specific repo to avoid "multiple repositories" errors.

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 "X" --direction upstream --repo <name>  → What depends on this
2. gitnexus detect-changes --repo <name>                   → Map current git changes to affected flows
3. Assess risk and report to user

If "Index is stale" → run gitnexus analyze in terminal.

Checklist

- [ ] gitnexus impact "<symbol>" --direction upstream --repo <name> to find dependents
- [ ] Review d=1 items first (these WILL BREAK)
- [ ] Check high-confidence (>0.8) dependencies
- [ ] gitnexus detect-changes --repo <name> for pre-commit check
- [ ] Assess risk level and report to user

Understanding Output

Risk Assessment

CLI Commands Reference

All commands are run directly via the Bash tool. Do not use mcpl or npx.

Example: "What breaks if I change validateUser?"

1. gitnexus impact "validateUser" --direction upstream --repo my-app
   → d=1: loginHandler, apiMiddleware (WILL BREAK)
   → d=2: authRouter, sessionManager (LIKELY AFFECTED)

2. Risk: 2 direct callers, 2 processes = MEDIUM