graphify

AI coding assistant skill for building and querying knowledge graphs from codebases, docs, and media. Use for: understanding complex codebases, architectural analysis, context sharing with OpenClaw/Claude Code, and extracting design rationale from multimodal sources. Always check graphify-out/GRAPH_REPORT.md before grepping or globbing to find relevant files.

Graphify Skill

Graphify turns a folder of code, docs, images, and videos into a queryable knowledge graph. After running graphify ., the generated GRAPH_REPORT.md is referenced by the assistant when you ask it to explore the codebase. Use it to navigate unfamiliar codebases, trace architectural intent, and share context efficiently.

Credential note: Semantic extraction (docs, PDFs, images) calls an external LLM using your own API key (ANTHROPIC_API_KEY or OPENAI_API_KEY). AST code extraction and Whisper transcription run fully locally with no API key required.

Token efficiency: Reading GRAPH_REPORT.md is ~71.5× cheaper than reading raw source files. Always check it first.

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Installation

Minimum install

bash

pip install graphify

Recommended install with all extras

bash

pip install "graphify[pdf,video,watch,svg]"

Extra	Adds support for
pdf	PDF papers and documents
video	Video/audio transcription via faster-whisper
watch	--watch file monitoring
svg	--svg export
mcp	Model Context Protocol server
neo4j	Neo4j graph database integration
office	Word/Excel/PowerPoint documents

Register with OpenClaw

bash

graphify claw install

This copies the skill into OpenClaw's global skill directory and writes an AGENTS.md to the project root so the graph is consulted on every tool call.

Register with other platforms

bash

graphify claude install     # Claude Code (CLAUDE.md + PreToolUse hook)
graphify cursor install     # Cursor (.cursorrules)
graphify codex install      # Codex (AGENTS.md)
graphify copilot install    # GitHub Copilot CLI
graphify gemini install     # Gemini CLI
graphify aider install      # Aider

Git post-commit hook (optional, local project only)

Installs a hook in the current project's .git/hooks/ — no global changes.

bash

graphify hook install

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Building a Knowledge Graph

First run

bash

graphify .

Graphify runs a three-pass pipeline:

1. AST extraction — deterministic tree-sitter parsing of all code files (no LLM calls)
2. Transcription — local Whisper processing of any video/audio
3. Semantic extraction — parallel LLM calls (using your configured API key) analyze docs, papers, and images

Incremental update (changed files only)

bash

graphify . --update

Uses a SHA-256 cache in graphify-out/cache/ — safe to run after every save.

Watch mode (auto-sync as files change)

bash

graphify . --watch

Deep mode (aggressive inferred-edge extraction)

bash

graphify . --mode deep

Adds INFERRED edges with confidence scores (0.0–1.0) and AMBIGUOUS edges flagged for review.

Preserve edge directionality

bash

graphify . --directed

Re-cluster without re-extracting

bash

graphify . --cluster-only

Skip HTML visualization (faster CI runs)

bash

graphify . --no-viz

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Output Artifacts

All artifacts land in graphify-out/:

File	Purpose
GRAPH_REPORT.md	Read this first. God nodes, community structure, surprising connections, suggested questions.
graph.html	Interactive browser visualization — open for human review.
graph.json	Raw graph data for programmatic querying via CLI or script.
cache/	SHA-256 incremental cache — commit everything except this directory.

Additional export formats

bash

graphify . --svg        # SVG visualization
graphify . --graphml    # Gephi / yEd compatible export
graphify . --wiki       # Wikipedia-style article per node

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Querying the Graph

bash

# Natural-language semantic search
graphify query "where is authentication handled?"

# Trace a specific path (DFS traversal)
graphify query "how does the request reach the database?" --dfs

# Shortest path between two nodes
graphify path "AuthMiddleware" "PostgresAdapter"

# Plain-language explanation of a node
graphify explain "UserSessionManager"

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Adding External Content

bash

graphify add <arxiv-url>     # Fetch and index a research paper
graphify add <x.com-url>     # Fetch and index a tweet
graphify add <video-url>     # Download and transcribe video/audio

After adding, run graphify . --update to integrate the new nodes into the graph.

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Ignoring Files

Create .graphifyignore in the project root (same syntax as .gitignore):

text

node_modules/
dist/
build/
.next/
vendor/
*.generated.*
*.min.js
*.lock
graphify-out/cache/

See templates/graphifyignore.txt in this skill for a comprehensive starter.

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Relationship Types

Tag	Meaning
EXTRACTED	Found directly in source (AST, explicit reference)
INFERRED	Reasonable inference; includes confidence score 0.0–1.0
AMBIGUOUS	Low-confidence; flagged for manual review

Use --mode deep to maximize INFERRED coverage. Filter AMBIGUOUS edges when precision matters.

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Best Practices for OpenClaw / Claude Code

1. Always read the report before exploring

text

Read graphify-out/GRAPH_REPORT.md

The report identifies "god nodes" (highest-degree concepts), community clusters, and suggested entry-point questions. Use these to focus subsequent searches.

2. Map communities to features

Each community in the report corresponds to a functional area of the codebase. When fixing a bug or adding a feature, identify the relevant community first, then limit file reads to that cluster.

3. Use graphify query before grep

For open-ended questions ("where is X handled?"), prefer graphify query — it searches the semantic graph and returns ranked node paths rather than raw text matches.

4. Use graphify path for impact analysis

Before editing a node, run graphify path "NodeA" "NodeB" to find coupling chains and assess blast radius.

5. Use --update aggressively

After any significant edit, run graphify . --update to keep the graph current. The cache makes this cheap.

6. Team workflows

• Commit graphify-out/ (excluding graphify-out/cache/) so teammates get graph context immediately on checkout.
• One team member builds the initial graph; all others benefit without LLM cost.
• Install graphify hook install to auto-rebuild on every commit.

7. Multimodal context

Place architecture diagrams, whiteboard photos, or design mockups in the project directory before running graphify .. Claude vision will link visual concepts to code nodes.

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Supported Languages

Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, Rust, Java, C, C++, Ruby, C#, Kotlin, Scala, PHP, Swift, Lua, Zig, PowerShell, Elixir, Objective-C, Julia, Verilog, SystemVerilog, Vue, Svelte, Dart

Plus: Markdown, MDX, HTML, plain text, RST, PDF, PNG/JPG/WebP/GIF images, MP4/MOV/MKV/WebM/MP3/WAV/M4A/OGG media.

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Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
graphify: command not found	Run pip install graphify and ensure pip's bin directory is on PATH
Graph is stale after edits	Run graphify . --update
Missing nodes for a language	Confirm tree-sitter grammar is installed; run graphify . --update
Video transcription slow	Expected — Whisper runs locally. Add GPU acceleration or use --no-viz to skip unrelated steps
AMBIGUOUS edges dominating	Switch from --mode deep to default mode, or filter by confidence > 0.7 in graph.json
AGENTS.md not picked up	Re-run graphify claw install from the project root