Visualization

graphlens visualize renders the graph as a self-contained, interactive HTML file powered by vis.js and opens it in your browser. The file has no external dependencies, so you can commit it as a CI artifact or share it directly.

graphlens visualize ./my-project

Options

Flag	Default	Description
--lang	auto	Adapter(s) to use (auto-detect all by default)
--show-external	off	Include stdlib / third-party external symbol nodes
--show-structure	off	Add CONTAINS / DECLARES structural edges
--max-nodes N	1500	Prune low-degree nodes above N
--output PATH, -o	graph-<name>.html	Write HTML to PATH
--no-open	off	Do not open the browser automatically

# Focus on application code, cap the graph, write to a fixed path, stay headless
graphlens visualize . --lang python --max-nodes 500 --output graph.html --no-open

Pruning

Large graphs become unreadable. By default graphlens keeps the structural backbone (PROJECT, MODULE, FILE nodes stay pinned) and removes the lowest-degree nodes once the total exceeds --max-nodes. Raise the cap to see more, lower it for a high-level overview.

By default external symbols and structural CONTAINS/DECLARES edges are hidden so the call/reference graph stands out. Add --show-external and --show-structure to bring them back.

Interacting with the viewer

• Search and filters sit in the sidebar — filter by node kind or search by name.
• Click a node to open its info panel (kind, qualified name, file, span).
• For FUNCTION and METHOD nodes the panel has a Show callers button. Clicking it switches the graph into focus mode: only the selected node and everything that calls or references it are shown, with the caller list in the sidebar.
• Click empty space or press ← Back to return to the full graph.

Generating a viewer from a saved graph

The CLI re-analyzes the project each time. If you already have a graph.json and want a viewer from it, the standalone script in the repository's examples/visualize_graph.py renders the same HTML from an in-memory GraphLens, which you can build with GraphLens.from_json(...).

In CI

Because the output is a single static file, it drops neatly into a pipeline as a downloadable artifact:

- name: Build code graph viewer
  run: graphlens visualize . --no-open --output graph.html
- uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
  with:
    name: code-graph
    path: graph.html

See CI integration for the full picture.