Rebuilding the Graph

hello@ghafoorsblog.com (AG Sayyed) — Mon, 09 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Rebuilding the Graph

When and how to refresh your Graphify knowledge graph to stay current with your codebase.

🔄 When to Rebuild

✅ Rebuild Triggers

Trigger	Reason	Command
5+ files changed	Significant code changes since last build	`graphify update . --code-only`
Branch merged / PR merged	New code from other branches	`graphify update . --code-only`
Switched branches	Different codebase state	`graphify update . --code-only`
Graph >4 hours old	Stale during active development	`graphify update . --code-only`
API key added/changed	Enable/disable full graph	`graphify update .`
Deleted file referenced	Graph has stale references	`graphify update . --code-only`
Major refactor	Structural changes	`graphify update . --code-only`

❌ Don’t Rebuild When

1-2 small edits (query existing graph)
Graph <1 hour old, no code changes
Only documentation typos fixed (code-only unaffected)
Just exploring — query current graph

🛠️ Rebuild Commands

Code-Only Rebuild (Fast, No API Key)

1# 1. Signal activity (REQUIRED)
2mkdir -p graphify-out && touch graphify-out/.graphify-activity
3
4# 2. Rebuild
5graphify update . --code-only
6
7# Typical time: 30-60 seconds
8# Output: Updated graphify-out/graph.json

Full Graph Rebuild (Needs API Key)

 1# 1. Ensure API key is set
 2export GEMINI_API_KEY="your-key"
 3
 4# 2. Signal activity
 5mkdir -p graphify-out && touch graphify-out/.graphify-activity
 6
 7# 3. Rebuild
 8graphify update .
 9
10# Typical time: 60-120 seconds
11# Output: Updated graphify-out/graph.json (larger, includes docs)

First Build (No graphify-out/)

1# Same as rebuild but initial
2mkdir -p graphify-out && touch graphify-out/.graphify-activity
3graphify . --code-only # or without flag for full

⚡ Quick Rebuild Alias

1# Add to ~/.bashrc
2alias graphify-rebuild='mkdir -p graphify-out && touch graphify-out/.graphify-activity && graphify update . --code-only'
3alias graphify-rebuild-full='mkdir -p graphify-out && touch graphify-out/.graphify-activity && graphify update .'
4
5# Usage
6graphify-rebuild
7graphify-rebuild-full

🔍 Verification After Rebuild

 1# 1. Check graph size
 2ls -lh graphify-out/graph.json
 3# Should be > 500 KB (3.3 MB in this project)
 4
 5# 2. Test query
 6mkdir -p graphify-out && touch graphify-out/.graphify-activity
 7graphify query "project overview"
 8# Should return fresh architectural summary
 9
10# 3. Check timestamp
11stat graphify-out/graph.json
12# Modified time should be recent

🤖 CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions: Auto-Rebuild on Main

 1# .github/workflows/graphify-rebuild.yml
 2name: Rebuild Graphify Graph
 3on:
 4 push:
 5 branches: [main]
 6 paths:
 7 - 'scripts/**'
 8 - 'tasks/**'
 9 - '.github/skills/**'
10 - 'content/docs/**'
11
12jobs:
13 rebuild:
14 runs-on: ubuntu-latest
15 steps:
16 - uses: actions/checkout@v4
17 - name: Install Graphify
18 run: |
19 curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
20 echo "$HOME/.local/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
21 uv tool install graphifyy
22 graphify install
23 - name: Build code-only graph
24 run: |
25 mkdir -p graphify-out
26 touch graphify-out/.graphify-activity
27 graphify update . --code-only
28 - name: Upload graph artifact
29 uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
30 with:
31 name: graphify-graph
32 path: graphify-out/graph.json
33 retention-days: 7

Pre-Commit Hook (Optional)

1# .git/hooks/pre-commit
2#!/bin/bash
3# Rebuild if Python/JS files changed
4if git diff --cached --name-only | grep -E '\.(py|js|ts|go|rs)$' | head -5 | grep -q .; then
5 echo "Rebuilding Graphify graph..."
6 mkdir -p graphify-out && touch graphify-out/.graphify-activity
7 graphify update . --code-only
8fi

📊 Rebuild Performance

Mode	Files	Time	Graph Size
Code-only (incremental)	~100	~15s	3.3 MB
Code-only (full)	~944	~45s	3.3 MB
Full (incremental)	~100	~30s	~15 MB
Full (full)	~3,000	~90s	~15 MB

🚨 Common Rebuild Issues

Issue	Solution
`graph.json` not updated	Forgot to signal activity: `touch graphify-out/.graphify-activity`
Stale references persist	Full rebuild: `graphify . --code-only` (not `update`)
API key error on full rebuild	Check `GEMINI_API_KEY` env var; fallback to `--code-only`
Build hangs	Kill with Ctrl+C; check disk space; try `--code-only`
Graph still empty after rebuild	Run `graphify . --code-only` (initial build, not update)

📋 Rebuild Checklist

Signaled activity (mkdir -p graphify-out && touch graphify-out/.graphify-activity)
Chose correct mode (--code-only vs full)
API key set (if full graph)
Command completed without errors
Graph file updated (check stat graphify-out/graph.json)
Test query works (graphify query "project overview")
(Optional) Regenerate clusters: graphify cluster-only .

Next Steps

Daily Usage - Use the fresh graph
VS Code Integration - Auto-signal activity in editor

Maintenance on Ghafoor's Personal Blog

Rebuilding the Graph

Rebuilding the Graph

🔄 When to Rebuild

✅ Rebuild Triggers

❌ Don’t Rebuild When

🛠️ Rebuild Commands

Code-Only Rebuild (Fast, No API Key)

Full Graph Rebuild (Needs API Key)

First Build (No graphify-out/)

⚡ Quick Rebuild Alias

🔍 Verification After Rebuild

🤖 CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions: Auto-Rebuild on Main

Pre-Commit Hook (Optional)

📊 Rebuild Performance

🚨 Common Rebuild Issues

📋 Rebuild Checklist

Next Steps