/analyze-dependencies

description: 'Analyze project dependencies and evaluate architectural health. Trigger with "analyze dependencies", "detect circular dependencies", "architecture issues?", "check module coupling", "find layer violations". Generates dependency matrix, fan-in/fan-out analysis, and prioritized improvement suggestions.'
allowed-tools:
  - Read
  - Grep
  - Glob

Analyze project dependencies and evaluate architectural health

Analyzes your project's dependencies and checks architecture health.

Usage

/dependency-analysis [options]

Options

• `--visual`: Visually display dependencies
• `--circular`: Detect only circular dependencies
• `--depth <number>`: Specify analysis depth (default: 3)
• `--focus <path>`: Focus on specific module/directory

Basic Examples

# Analyze dependencies for entire project
/dependency-analysis

# Detect circular dependencies
/dependency-analysis --circular

# Detailed analysis of specific module
/dependency-analysis --focus src/core --depth 5

What Gets Analyzed

1. Dependency Matrix

Shows how modules connect to each other:

• Direct dependencies
• Indirect dependencies
• Dependency depth
• Fan-in/fan-out

2. Architecture Violations

• Layer violations (when lower layers depend on upper ones)
• Circular dependencies
• Excessive coupling (too many connections)
• Orphaned modules

3. Clean Architecture Check

• Is the domain layer independent?
• Is infrastructure properly separated?
• Do use case dependencies flow correctly?
• Are interfaces being used properly?

Output Example

Dependency Analysis Report
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📊 Metrics Overview
├─ Total modules: 42
├─ Average dependencies: 3.2
├─ Maximum dependency depth: 5
└─ Circular dependencies: 2 detected

⚠️  Architecture Violations
├─ [HIGH] src/domain/user.js → src/infra/database.js
│  └─ Domain layer directly depends on infrastructure layer
├─ [MED] src/api/auth.js ⟲ src/services/user.js
│  └─ Circular dependency detected
└─ [LOW] src/utils/helper.js → 12 modules
   └─ Excessive fan-out

✅ Recommended Actions
1. Introduce UserRepository interface
2. Redesign authentication service responsibilities
3. Split helper functions by functionality

📈 Dependency Graph
[Visual dependency diagram displayed in ASCII art]

Advanced Usage Examples

# Automatic CI/CD checks
/dependency-analysis --circular --fail-on-violation

# Check against architecture rules
/dependency-analysis --rules .architecture-rules.yml

# See how dependencies changed
/dependency-analysis --compare HEAD~10

Configuration File Example (.dependency-analysis.yml)

rules:
  - name: "Domain Independence"
    source: "src/domain/**"
    forbidden: ["src/infra/**", "src/api/**"]

  - name: "API Layer Dependencies"
    source: "src/api/**"
    allowed: ["src/domain/**", "src/application/**"]
    forbidden: ["src/infra/**"]

thresholds:
  max_dependencies: 8
  max_depth: 4
  coupling_threshold: 0.7

ignore:
  - "**/test/**"
  - "**/mocks/**"

Tools We Use

• `madge`: Shows JavaScript/TypeScript dependencies visually
• `dep-cruiser`: Checks dependency rules
• `nx`: Manages monorepo dependencies
• `plato`: Analyzes complexity and dependencies together

Collaboration with Claude

# Check dependencies with package.json
cat package.json
/analyze-dependencies
"Find dependency issues in this project"

# Deep dive into a specific module
ls -la src/core/
/analyze-dependencies --focus src/core
"Check the core module's dependencies in detail"

# Compare design vs reality
cat docs/architecture.md
/analyze-dependencies --visual
"Does our implementation match the architecture docs?"

Notes

• **Run from**: Project root directory
• **Be patient**: Large projects take time to analyze
• **Act fast**: Fix circular dependencies as soon as you find them

Best Practices

1. **Check weekly**: Keep an eye on dependency health 2. **Write rules down**: Put architecture rules in config files 3. **Small steps**: Fix things gradually, not all at once 4. **Track trends**: Watch how complexity changes over time