Daily Usage
Most common Graphify query patterns for daily development work.
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Daily Usage
The most common Graphify queries you’ll run during daily development. Keep this page bookmarked.
🔑 The Golden Rule
Signal activity before EVERY command:
1mkdir -p graphify-out && touch graphify-out/.graphify-activity
🏗️ Architecture Questions
Project Overview
1graphify query "project overview"
Use when: Starting work, onboarding, or need a refresher.
How a System Works
1graphify query "how does the youtube content pipeline work?"
2graphify query "how does the dictionary extraction work?"
3graphify query "how does the anki generation work?"
Use when: Need to understand a subsystem before modifying it.
List Components
1graphify query "what are the main subsystems?"
2graphify query "list all skills in the project"
3graphify query "what scripts are in scripts/dictionary/"
Use when: Exploring codebase structure.
🔍 Finding Code
Locate a Feature
1graphify query "where is user authentication handled?"
2graphify query "where is the vocabulary YAML created?"
3graphify query "which file handles YouTube transcript fetching?"
Use when: Need to find the implementation of a feature.
What Depends on X
1graphify query "what depends on tasks/content.yaml?"
2graphify query "what depends on scripts/dictionary/yt-to-content-v2.py?"
3graphify query "what imports the anki styles module?"
Use when: Before refactoring or deleting a file.
🔗 Tracing Relationships
Path Between Two Points
1# Script → config
2graphify path scripts/dictionary/yt-to-content-v2.py tasks/content.yaml
3
4# Module → output
5graphify path scripts/dictionary/extract_vocab.py data/dictionary/capitalism/vocabulary.yaml
6
7# Task → script
8graphify path tasks/content.yaml scripts/dictionary/yt-to-content-v2.py
Use when: Understanding how data flows from A to B.
🧠 Deep-Dives
Explain a File
1graphify explain scripts/dictionary/yt-to-content-v2.py
2graphify explain scripts/anki/generate_apkg.mjs
3graphify explain content/docs/graphify/_index.md
Use when: Need full detail on a single component (functions, classes, imports, calls).
Explain a Symbol
1graphify explain mergeParams
2graphify explain dict-extract.sh
Use when: Want to understand a specific function/class.
🔄 Rebuilding
When to Rebuild
| Trigger | Command |
|---|---|
| 5+ files changed | graphify update . --code-only |
| Branch merged | graphify update . --code-only |
| Graph >4 hours old | graphify update . --code-only |
| API key added | graphify update . (full) |
| Deleted file referenced | graphify update . --code-only |
Rebuild Commands
1# Signal activity
2mkdir -p graphify-out && touch graphify-out/.graphify-activity
3
4# Code-only rebuild (fast, no API key)
5graphify update . --code-only
6
7# Full rebuild (needs API key)
8graphify update .
📊 Visual Exploration
1# Generate communities and HTML report
2graphify cluster-only .
3
4# Open in browser
5open graphify-out/graph.html
Use when: Want to visually explore clusters, search nodes, understand codebase topology.
💡 Pro Tips
Use Specific Names
1# ❌ Vague
2graphify query "how does auth work?"
3
4# ✅ Specific
5graphify query "how does the JWT authentication in scripts/auth/jwt.py work?"
Iterate from Broad to Specific
1# 1. Broad
2graphify query "project overview"
3
4# 2. Subsystem
5graphify query "how does the dictionary pipeline work?"
6
7# 3. Component
8graphify explain scripts/dictionary/extract_vocab.py
9
10# 4. Relationship
11graphify path scripts/dictionary/extract_vocab.py data/dictionary/output.yaml
Rebuild Strategically
- Don’t rebuild after every edit
- Do rebuild after: PR merged, 5+ files changed, switching branches, adding API key
- Code-only is fast (~30s); full is slower (~2 min) but richer
Combine with Grep
1# Graphify for architecture, grep for syntax
2graphify query "where are vocabulary YAML files created?"
3# Then: grep -r "vocabulary.yaml" scripts/
🎯 Quick Reference Card
| Task | Command |
|---|---|
| Project overview | graphify query "project overview" |
| How X works | graphify query "how does X work?" |
| Find feature | graphify query "where is X handled?" |
| Dependencies of X | graphify query "what depends on X?" |
| Trace A → B | graphify path A B |
| Deep-dive file | graphify explain path/to/file |
| Deep-dive symbol | graphify explain symbolName |
| Rebuild code-only | graphify update . --code-only |
| Rebuild full | graphify update . |
| Visual report | graphify cluster-only . && open graphify-out/graph.html |
Next Steps
- Architecture Queries - Deeper system understanding
- Dependency Tracing - Advanced relationship tracing