Understand Anything

An open-source tool that combines LLM intelligence with static analysis to help anyone understand any codebase — from junior developers to product managers.

Current Status

Phase 2 complete. The core analysis engine, web dashboard, and Claude Code skill are all functional. The project includes fuzzy search, schema validation, staleness detection, layer auto-detection, and an interactive chat interface.

Features

Phase 1 — Foundation

• Knowledge Graph — Automatically maps your codebase into an interactive graph of files, functions, classes, and their relationships
• Multi-Panel Dashboard — Graph view, code viewer, chat, and learn panels in a workspace layout
• Natural Language Search — Search your codebase with plain English: "which parts handle authentication?"
• Tree-sitter Analysis — Accurate structural analysis for TypeScript, JavaScript (more languages coming)
• LLM-Powered Summaries — Every node gets a plain-English description of what it does and why

Phase 2 — Intelligence

• Fuzzy Search — Fast, typo-tolerant search across all graph nodes via Fuse.js (SearchEngine in core)
• Schema Validation — Zod-based runtime validation when loading knowledge graphs, with detailed error messages
• Staleness Detection — Detects changed files via git diff and incrementally merges graph updates
• Layer Auto-Detection — Heuristic-based layer grouping (API, Service, Data, UI, Utility) with LLM refinement
• /understand-chat Skill — Ask questions about your codebase directly in the terminal via Claude Code
• Dashboard Chat Panel — Context-aware Q&A integrated into the web dashboard (Claude API)
• Dagre Auto-Layout — Automatic hierarchical graph layout for clean visualization
• Layer Visualization — Color-coded layer grouping with collapsible groups and a legend panel

Quick Start

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Build the core package
pnpm --filter @understand-anything/core build

# Build the skill package
pnpm --filter @understand-anything/skill build

# Start the dashboard dev server
pnpm dev:dashboard

Commands

Command	Description
pnpm install	Install all dependencies
pnpm --filter @understand-anything/core build	Build the core package
pnpm --filter @understand-anything/core test	Run core tests
pnpm --filter @understand-anything/skill build	Build the skill package
pnpm --filter @understand-anything/skill test	Run skill tests
pnpm --filter @understand-anything/dashboard build	Build the dashboard
pnpm dev:dashboard	Start dashboard dev server

Claude Code Skill

Once installed as a Claude Code skill, use the /understand-chat command to ask questions about your codebase directly in the terminal:

/understand-chat How does authentication work in this project?
/understand-chat What files are related to the payment system?

Project Structure

packages/
  core/        — Analysis engine: types, persistence, tree-sitter, search, schema, staleness, layers
  dashboard/   — React + TypeScript web dashboard with chat panel
  skill/       — Claude Code skill (/understand-chat command)

Tech Stack

• TypeScript, pnpm workspaces
• React 18, Vite, TailwindCSS
• React Flow (graph visualization)
• Monaco Editor (code viewer)
• Zustand (state management)
• tree-sitter (static analysis)
• Fuse.js (fuzzy search)
• Zod (schema validation)
• Dagre (graph layout)

License

MIT