Impact Analysis

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

Impact Analysis

Assess the impact of changes before you make them — find all dependents, trace ripple effects, and plan safe refactoring.

🎯 The Core Question

“If I change X, what breaks?”

Graphify answers this by finding all nodes that depend on X, directly or transitively.

🔍 Finding Direct Dependents

What Depends on This File?

1graphify query "what depends on scripts/dictionary/yt-to-content-v2.py?"
2graphify query "what depends on tasks/content.yaml?"
3graphify query "what depends on data/course/meta/providers-ags-storytelling.yaml?"

What Calls This Function?

1graphify query "what calls mergeParams?"
2graphify query "what calls the vocabulary extraction function?"

What Imports This Module?

1graphify query "what imports scripts/dictionary/extract_vocab.py?"

🌊 Tracing Transitive Dependents (Ripple Effects)

Full Dependency Chain

1# Find ALL transitive dependents (not just direct)
2graphify query "show the full dependency tree for scripts/dictionary/yt-to-content-v2.py"

Path to Each Dependent

1# For each dependent, trace the path
2graphify path scripts/dictionary/yt-to-content-v2.py tasks/content.yaml
3graphify path scripts/dictionary/yt-to-content-v2.py content/courses/ags/storytelling/j-wiebe/youtube-content/articulate-your-thoughts/index.md
4graphify path scripts/dictionary/yt-to-content-v2.py .github/skills/youtube-content/SKILL.md

📋 Pre-Refactoring Checklist

Before Changing a File

 1# 1. Signal activity
 2mkdir -p graphify-out && touch graphify-out/.graphify-activity
 3
 4# 2. Find direct dependents
 5graphify query "what depends on path/to/file.py?"
 6
 7# 3. Find function-level dependents
 8graphify query "what calls functionName in path/to/file.py?"
 9
10# 4. Trace to each dependent
11graphify path path/to/file.py dependent1
12graphify path path/to/file.py dependent2
13
14# 5. Assess risk
15# - How many dependents?
16# - How critical are they?
17# - Are tests covering them?

Before Changing a Function Signature

1# 1. Find all callers
2graphify query "what calls functionName?"
3
4# 2. For each caller, trace the call chain
5graphify path path/to/file.py caller1
6graphify path path/to/file.py caller2
7
8# 3. Check if callers are in tests
9graphify query "which callers of functionName are in test files?"

Before Deleting a File

1# 1. Comprehensive dependent check
2graphify query "what depends on path/to/file.py?"
3
4# 2. Check if it's an entry point
5graphify query "is path/to/file.py an entry point or imported by tasks?"
6
7# 3. Verify no dynamic imports
8grep -r "import.*path/to/file" . --include="*.py" --include="*.js" --include="*.ts"

🎯 Real-World Examples

Example 1: Changing the YouTube Content Script

Scenario: Modify scripts/dictionary/yt-to-content-v2.py to add a new CLI flag.

Risk-Assessment on Ghafoor's Personal Blog

Impact Analysis

Impact Analysis

🎯 The Core Question

🔍 Finding Direct Dependents

What Depends on This File?

What Calls This Function?

What Imports This Module?

🌊 Tracing Transitive Dependents (Ripple Effects)

Full Dependency Chain

Path to Each Dependent

📋 Pre-Refactoring Checklist

Before Changing a File

Before Changing a Function Signature

Before Deleting a File

🎯 Real-World Examples

Example 1: Changing the YouTube Content Script