SuperAPI AI Directory

dependency-map

General & other

View repository

Updated 10-16 00:31

About this skill

Dependency Map

Analyze project build and package files to generate a visual map of all external dependencies grouped by functional category. Save to .github/modernize/assessment/engines/facts/dependency-map.md.

This skill focuses exclusively on declared external dependencies (libraries, frameworks, packages). For internal application structure and component relationships, see the architecture-diagram skill.

Input Parameters

  • workspace-path (optional): Path to the project to analyze (defaults to current directory)

⚠ Mermaid Safety Constraints — read BEFORE you write the ```mermaid block

Mermaid is unforgiving: one illegal character anywhere in the block crashes the whole diagram with Syntax error in text, not just the offending line. Stay strictly inside this subset:

  1. Chart kind. flowchart LR only.

  2. Subgraph form. Always subgraph <AlphaNumId>["display label"] (id matches [A-Za-z][A-Za-z0-9_]*, no spaces, no punctuation). NEVER use the anonymous form subgraph "label" — it crashes whenever the label contains (, ), /, -, etc.

  3. Node form. Use Id["label"] for libraries; pick one shape per node — do not stack brackets.

  4. Arrow form. Solid -->, dotted -.-> for transitive/indirect. Arrow labels MUST be double-quoted: -->|"persistence"|. Never bare -->|persistence|.

  5. No line breaks in labels. The escape \n was removed in modern Mermaid and is the #1 cause of failures. Keep labels on one line (e.g., "Spring Boot 2.7.18" not "Spring Boot\n2.7.18").

  6. Banned characters inside any label or subgraph title. Use the ASCII replacement:

    Banned Why it breaks Replacement
    \n (literal two chars) escape removed drop, or <br/>
    — (em-dash, U+2014) parser treats as edge - (ASCII hyphen)
    – (en-dash, U+2013) parser treats as edge -
    { } opens an entity block drop braces
    " inside a label closes the label early ' (single quote)
    | inside a label breaks edge-label parser rephrase
    @ # $ % & unsafe rephrase or drop
    ( ) outside ["..."] unbalanced parens crash only inside the quoted label
    smart quotes " " ' ' not ASCII regular " and '
  7. Unique node IDs across the whole diagram. No two nodes/subgraphs may share an id.

  8. subgraph must be closed by a matching end on its own line.

Mandatory self-attestation

Immediately before writing the ```mermaid opening fence, emit this exact one-line HTML comment in the markdown (it does not render — it is for your own visible attestation):

<!-- mermaid-checked: no \n, no em-dash/en-dash, no {} in labels, subgraphs are id["label"], arrows are -->|"label"|, all subgraphs closed by end, ids unique -->

If you cannot truthfully emit that comment, fix the diagram first.


Execution Steps

Step 1: Generate Dependencies Section

Analyze build files and produce the complete ## Dependencies section in one pass:

Analysis — examine only build and package management files (do NOT scan source code — that is the architecture-diagram skill's job):

  • Java: pom.xml, build.gradle, settings.gradle, gradle.properties, gradle lockfiles
  • .NET: *.csproj, Directory.Build.props, packages.config, Directory.Packages.props
  • JavaScript/TypeScript: package.json, package-lock.json, yarn.lock, pnpm-lock.yaml

For each dependency extract:

  • Group/package name and artifact name
  • Declared version (or version range)
  • Scope (compile, runtime, test, provided)

Also detect:

  • Parent POM / BOM imports (Java)
  • Central package management (.NET Directory.Packages.props)
  • Transitive dependencies where visible from lock files or BOM

Categorize dependencies into functional groups:

Category Examples
Web Frameworks Spring Web, ASP.NET Core MVC, JAX-RS
Database / ORM Hibernate, Entity Framework, JDBC drivers
Messaging Kafka client, RabbitMQ, Azure Service Bus
Caching Redis, EhCache, MemoryCache
Logging SLF4J, Log4j, Serilog, NLog
Security Spring Security, Microsoft.Identity, OAuth libs
Observability Micrometer, OpenTelemetry, Application Insights
Utilities Guava, Apache Commons, Lombok, AutoMapper

Rules:

  • Exclude test-scoped dependencies (JUnit, xUnit, Mockito, etc.) from the main diagram and Dependency Summary table — they are not relevant for modernization planning
  • If a dependency doesn't fit any category, put it under "Utilities"
  • Collect test-scoped dependencies separately for the Test Dependencies section (Step 2)

Diagram — Mermaid flowchart LR (re-read the Safety Constraints above before writing):

  • Application as the central left-side node
  • One subgraph per functional category, using the subgraph Id["display label"] form
  • Each dependency as a node showing name and version: Lib["Library Name 1.2.3"] (single line, no \n)
  • Arrows from Application to each category subgraph
  • If a BOM/parent POM manages versions, show it as a separate node linked to the dependencies it governs

Reference example (this block satisfies every Safety Constraint — match its shape):

flowchart LR
    App["MyApplication"]

    subgraph Web["Web Frameworks"]
        SpringMVC["Spring MVC 5.3.x"]
        Thymeleaf["Thymeleaf 3.0"]
    end
    subgraph DB["Database / ORM"]
        Hibernate["Hibernate 5.6"]
        PgDriver["PostgreSQL Driver 42.6"]
    end
    subgraph Messaging["Messaging"]
        Kafka["Kafka Client 3.4"]
    end
    subgraph Cache["Caching"]
        Redis["Jedis 4.3"]
    end
    subgraph Log["Logging"]
        SLF4J["SLF4J 1.7"]
        Logback["Logback 1.2"]
    end
    subgraph Sec["Security"]
        SpringSec["Spring Security 5.7"]
    end
    subgraph Util["Utilities"]
        Lombok["Lombok 1.18"]
        Jackson["Jackson 2.14"]
    end

    App -->|"web"| Web
    App -->|"persistence"| DB
    App -->|"messaging"| Messaging
    App -->|"caching"| Cache
    App -->|"logging"| Log
    App -->|"security"| Sec
    App -->|"utilities"| Util
    SLF4J -.->|"implementation"| Logback

Textual explanations (write immediately after the diagram):

  • Dependency Summary table: Category | Count | Key Libraries | Notes (e.g., Web Frameworks | 2 | ASP.NET MVC 5.2.7, Razor 3.2.7 | Legacy MVC stack on .NET Framework)
  • Version & Compatibility Risks: A short paragraph highlighting dependencies that are outdated, end-of-life, or have known migration concerns (e.g., ".NET Framework 4.7.2 is in maintenance mode; Entity Framework 6 has a migration path to EF Core")
  • Notable Observations: 2-4 bullet points on anything noteworthy — duplicate functionality across libraries, deprecated packages, security-sensitive dependencies, or unusually large transitive trees

Step 2: Generate Test Dependencies Section

Collect all test-scoped dependencies (excluded from the main diagram) and produce the complete ## Test Dependencies section:

  • List detected test frameworks and supporting libraries with their versions (e.g., JUnit 5, Mockito, AssertJ, Testcontainers, xUnit, Jest)
  • Report the total number of test-scope dependencies
  • Note any test infrastructure concerns (e.g., outdated test framework version, missing contract-testing library, no integration test framework detected)

Step 3: Save Output

Save to .github/modernize/assessment/engines/facts/dependency-map.md with this exact structure:

# Dependency Map

A brief introduction (1-2 sentences) stating project name and total dependency count.

## Dependencies

< Mermaid flowchart LR here >

### Dependency Summary

[Table: Category | Count | Key Libraries | Notes]

### Version & Compatibility Risks

[Short paragraph on outdated or end-of-life dependencies]

### Notable Observations

[2-4 bullet points on noteworthy findings]

## Test Dependencies

[Table: Framework | Version | Notes]

Total test-scope dependencies: N
[1-2 sentences on test infrastructure observations, or "No test dependencies detected."]

Scaling Rules

  • If the project has more than 50 declared dependencies, collapse minor utilities into a single aggregate node (e.g., Utils["12 utility libraries"]) and only show individually the top dependencies by importance
  • Keep the diagram under 40 nodes to ensure readability and GitHub rendering compatibility
  • For multi-module projects (e.g., multi-module Maven/Gradle, multi-project .sln), show shared dependencies once and module-specific dependencies grouped by module

Common failure patterns observed in past runs

Each row below is something the model actually produced that crashed the diagram. Use the ✅ form.

❌ Past mistake ✅ Safe form Why the ❌ crashed
subgraph "Database / ORM" subgraph DB["Database / ORM"] Anonymous subgraph + / in title
Spring["Spring Boot\n2.5.12"] Spring["Spring Boot 2.5.12"] Literal \n
App -->|persistence| DB App -->|"persistence"| DB Bare arrow label
Lib["Spring Boot — 2.5"] Lib["Spring Boot - 2.5"] em-dash inside label
Lib["foo {bar}"] Lib["foo bar"] {} inside label

Error Handling

  • Unsupported project type: Output a single line: > ERROR: Unsupported project type. This skill supports Java, .NET, JavaScript, and TypeScript projects only.
  • No build files found: Output: > ERROR: No recognized build files found at workspace-path. Verify the path is correct.
  • Incomplete dependency info: Generate a best-effort diagram from available data. Add a note inside the diagram: Note["Some dependencies could not be fully resolved"]

Success Criteria

  • Mermaid diagram renders correctly with dependencies grouped by functional category
  • Each dependency shows name and version
  • Dependency Summary table lists categories with counts and key libraries
  • Version & Compatibility Risks paragraph highlights outdated or end-of-life dependencies
  • Notable Observations lists 2-4 noteworthy findings
  • Test Dependencies section lists detected test frameworks with versions and total count
  • The ```mermaid block is preceded by the <!-- mermaid-checked: ... --> attestation comment
  • File saved to .github/modernize/assessment/engines/facts/dependency-map.md