Repository Relationships and Code Dependencies
A codebase is more than a directory tree. Its important structure is the set of repository relationships between symbols, files, packages and projects.
Kivgraph indexes those relationships into a canonical code graph so an AI coding agent can navigate dependencies without reading every file first.
Relationships Kivgraph can answer
Section titled “Relationships Kivgraph can answer”The graph represents questions such as:
- Which symbols call this function?
- Which declarations does this implementation reference?
- What reaches this symbol within a bounded depth?
- Which repository consumes a symbol from another repository?
- Which packages and files are affected by a change?
Use find_references for direct incoming and outgoing references, trace_dependencies for paths outward, and get_blast_radius for bounded incoming impact.
Cross-repository dependencies
Section titled “Cross-repository dependencies”Each registered repository keeps its identity in the graph. Cross-repository consumers are reported separately from local callers, so an agent can tell whether a change affects one project or a wider workspace.
The find_cross_repo_consumers tool reports consumers in another repository when the index has enough evidence. A package dependency alone is not presented as a symbol use.
Evidence is part of the relationship
Section titled “Evidence is part of the relationship”Kivgraph does not promote a plausible name match to an exact edge. Results carry confidence and provenance. Facts that cannot be resolved remain UNRESOLVED with their reason, while weaker analyzer results remain CANDIDATE instead of being presented as exact.
How strong that evidence is depends on the language. Go, TypeScript and Rust edges are type-checked; Dart edges are resolved by Dart Analysis Server; Python uses exact semantic facts when a configured analyzer provides them and CANDIDATE facts in its bundled AST fallback. A Python relationship read from the fallback is a candidate, and the response says so.
That distinction is what makes repository relationship queries useful in code review and impact analysis: the agent can see what is proven, what is uncertain and what the index could not load. It is not a reason to route every question through the graph — on five of the 29 benchmark questions plain grep answered correctly for fewer tokens, and the comparison names them.
Read the resolution vocabulary before relying on a result in an automated workflow.