Exploring Codebases with GitNexus

When to Use

• "How does authentication work?"

• "What's the project structure?"

• "Show me the main components"

• "Where is the database logic?"

• Understanding code you haven't seen before

Workflow

1. READ gitnexus://repos → Discover indexed repos
2. READ gitnexus://repo/{name}/context → Codebase overview, check staleness
3. gitnexus_query({query: "<what you want to understand>"}) → Find related execution flows
4. gitnexus_context({name: "<symbol>"}) → Deep dive on specific symbol
5. READ gitnexus://repo/{name}/process/{name} → Trace full execution flow

If step 2 says "Index is stale" → run npx gitnexus analyze in terminal.

Checklist

• READ gitnexus://repo/{name}/context
• gitnexus_query for the concept you want to understand
• Review returned processes (execution flows)
• gitnexus_context on key symbols for callers/callees
• READ process resource for full execution traces
• Read source files for implementation details

Resources

Resource What you get

gitnexus://repo/{name}/context

Stats, staleness warning (~150 tokens)

gitnexus://repo/{name}/clusters

All functional areas with cohesion scores (~300 tokens)

gitnexus://repo/{name}/cluster/{name}

Area members with file paths (~500 tokens)

gitnexus://repo/{name}/process/{name}

Step-by-step execution trace (~200 tokens)

Tools

gitnexus_query — find execution flows related to a concept:

gitnexus_query({query: "payment processing"}) → Processes: CheckoutFlow, RefundFlow, WebhookHandler → Symbols grouped by flow with file locations

gitnexus_context — 360-degree view of a symbol:

gitnexus_context({name: "validateUser"}) → Incoming calls: loginHandler, apiMiddleware → Outgoing calls: checkToken, getUserById → Processes: LoginFlow (step 2/5), TokenRefresh (step 1/3)

Example: "How does payment processing work?"

1. READ gitnexus://repo/my-app/context → 918 symbols, 45 processes
2. gitnexus_query({query: "payment processing"}) → CheckoutFlow: processPayment → validateCard → chargeStripe → RefundFlow: initiateRefund → calculateRefund → processRefund
3. gitnexus_context({name: "processPayment"}) → Incoming: checkoutHandler, webhookHandler → Outgoing: validateCard, chargeStripe, saveTransaction
4. Read src/payments/processor.ts for implementation details