dependency-cruiser command line interface

May 29, 2026 · View on GitHub

The command line interface is a straightforward affair - you pass it a bunch of files, and dependency-cruiser will start cruising them:

depcruise [options] <files-or-directories>

Below you'll find a list of command line options you can use, divided into ones that are only available as options on the command line and into those also available in dependency-cruiser configurations.

Contents

Command line only options

  1. arguments - files and/ or directories
  2. --output-type: specify the output format
  3. --config/ --validate: use a configuration with rules and/or options
  4. --no-config: do not use a configuration file
  5. --init
  6. --metrics: calculate stability metrics
  7. --no-metrics: do not calculate stability metrics
  8. --info: show what alt-js are supported
  9. --ignore-known: ignore known violations
  10. --no-ignore-known: don't ignore known violations
  11. --help/ no parameters: get help

Options also available in dependency-cruiser configurations

  1. --do-not-follow: don't cruise modules adhering to this pattern any further
  2. --include-only: only include modules satisfying a pattern
  3. --focus: show modules and their neighbours
  4. --focus-depth: influence how many layers of neighbors --focus shows
  5. --reaches: show modules and their transitive dependents
  6. --affected: show modules and their transitive dependents since a git revision
  7. --highlight: highlight modules
  8. --collapse: summarize to folder depth or pattern
  9. --exclude: exclude dependencies from being cruised
  10. --max-depth
  11. --progress: get feedback on what dependency-cruiser is doing while it's running
  12. --no-progress: don't show feedback on what dependency-cruiser is doing
  13. --prefix prefixing links
  14. --module-systems
  15. --ts-pre-compilation-deps (typescript only)
  16. --ts-config: use a typescript configuration file ('project')
  17. --webpack-config: use (the resolution options of) a webpack configuration`
  18. --preserve-symlinks
  19. --cache: use a cache to speed up cruising
  20. --cache-strategy: influence how the cache functionality detects changes
  21. --no-cache: switch off caching

Standalone formatting of dependency graphs: depcruise-fmt

Baseline dependencies: depcruise-baseline

Make GraphViz output more interactive: depcruise-wrap-stream-in-html

Command line only options

arguments - files and/ or directories

You can pass a bunch of files, directories and 'glob' patterns. dependency-cruiser will

  • resolve the glob patterns (if any) to files and directories
  • scan directories (if any) for files with supported extensions
  • add the passed files to that ... and start the cruise with the files thus found.

Cruising multiple files and directories in one go

Just pass them as arguments. This, e.g. will cruise every file in the folders src, test and lib (recursively) + the file called index.ts in the root.

depcruise --output-type dot src test lib index.ts

passing globs as parameters

dependency-cruiser uses picomatch to make sure globs work the same across platforms. It cannot prevent the environment from expanding globs before it can process it, however.

As each environment interprets globs slightly differently, a pattern like packages/**/src/**/*.js will yield different results.

To make sure glob expansion works exactly the same across platforms slap some quotes around them, so it's not the environment (/ shell) expanding the glob, but dependency-cruiser itself:

depcruise "packages/**/src/**/*.js"

--output-type: specify the output format

err

For use in build scripts, in combination with --config. It's also the default reporter. Sample use:

dependency-cruise --config my-depcruise-rules.json src

This will:

  • ... print nothing and exit with code 0 if dependency-cruiser didn't find any violations of the rules in the configuration file (e.g. .dependency-cruiser.js or .dependency-cruiser.json).
  • ... print the violating dependencies if there is any. Moreover it will exit with exit code number of violations with severity error found in the same fashion linters and test tools do.

See the depcruise target in the package.json for a real world example.

err-long

Similar to err, but in addition for each violation it emits the comment that went with the violated rule, so it's easier to put the rule into context (and if the comment contains that information: why the rule is there, and how to fix it). If you use dependency-cruiser in a lint-staged like setup, this might be a useful format,

dependency-cruise --output-type err-long --config my-depcruise-rules.json src

dot

Supplying dot as output type will make dependency-cruiser write a GraphViz dot format directed graph. Typical use is in concert with GraphViz dot (-T is the short form of --output-type:)

dependency-cruise -x "^node_modules" -T dot src | dot -T svg > dependencygraph.svg

You can customise the look of these graphs. See the theming and summarising sections in the options reference for details. You can also use depcruise-wrap-stream-in-html to make the graphs more interactive.

When dependency-cruiser calculcated instability metrics (command line option --metrics), these will show up in the modules so it's easy to verify whether the stable dependency principle holds.

ddot - summarise on folder level

The ddot reporter is a variant on the dot output. It summarises modules on folder level. You can customise it with themes and filters just like you can the dot reporter output.

archi/ cdot

The archi is a variant on the dot output. The archi reporter can summarise (or 'collapse') dependencies to folders of your own choosing. Great if you want to have a high level overview of your app's dependencies.

By default it collapses to one folder below folders named node_modules, packages, src, lib and test, but you can pass your own patterns as well in the options.reporterOptions.archi section of your dependency-cruiser configuration.

See the summarising section in the options reference for details.

Sample output

high level dependency graph of react

flat/ fdot

Also a variant on the dot output. Where all other graphical reporters group modules into the folders they reside in, this shows all modules on the same level. It is still possible to apply a theme, though.

Sample output

This flat graph of the report folder in dependency cruiser and all things it direct flat graph of the report folder in dependency cruiser

As a comparison, this is the default dot report for the same folder(s) default dot graph of the same folder

This too is a reporter that shows the modules' instability metrics when they have been calculated (--metrics command line switch).

x-dot-webpage

Reporter that runs the dot reporter and pipes it through the GraphViz dot command and wraps the result in an html page. It's the same thing as running ...

dependency-cruise -T dot src | dot -T svg | depcruise-wrap-stream-in-html > dependencygraph.html

... but less typing & easier to remember.

Note

The x in front of the name of the reporter means it is experimental and might change or be removed in the future. See the pull request that introduced the reporter for the rationale.

mermaid

Generates a graph in mermaid format - which can be convenient as e.g. GitHub and GitLab support this out of the box in their on-line rendering of markdown.

Both due to limitations in the mermaid format and to the relative newness of this reporter the graph cannot be (made as) feature rich as those produced by the dot or d2 reporters.

By default the mermaid reporter 'minifies' its output to circumvent mermaid's input size limits. There's an option to make it emit fully named nodes, though, might you need them for legibility.

dependency-cruiser --output-type mermaid src --output-to dependency-graph.mmd
Sample output 
flowchart LR

subgraph src["src"]
  subgraph src_main["main"]
    subgraph src_main_rule_set["rule-set"]
      src_main_rule_set_normalize_js["normalize.js"]
    end
    src_main_index_js["index.js"]
    subgraph src_main_utl["utl"]
      src_main_utl_normalize_re_properties_js["normalize-re-properties.js"]
    end
  end
end
subgraph test["test"]
  subgraph test_enrich["enrich"]
    subgraph test_enrich_derive["derive"]
      subgraph test_enrich_derive_reachable["reachable"]
        test_enrich_derive_reachable_index_spec_mjs["index.spec.mjs"]
      end
    end
  end
  subgraph test_main["main"]
    subgraph test_main_rule_set["rule-set"]
      test_main_rule_set_normalize_spec_mjs["normalize.spec.mjs"]
    end
  end
  subgraph test_validate["validate"]
    test_validate_parse_ruleset_utl_mjs["parse-ruleset.utl.mjs"]
  end
end
subgraph node_modules["node_modules"]
  subgraph node_modules_lodash["lodash"]
    node_modules_lodash_has_js["has.js"]
    node_modules_lodash_cloneDeep_js["cloneDeep.js"]
  end
end
src_main_rule_set_normalize_js-->src_main_utl_normalize_re_properties_js
src_main_rule_set_normalize_js-->node_modules_lodash_cloneDeep_js
src_main_rule_set_normalize_js-->node_modules_lodash_has_js
src_main_index_js-->src_main_rule_set_normalize_js
test_enrich_derive_reachable_index_spec_mjs-->src_main_rule_set_normalize_js
test_main_rule_set_normalize_spec_mjs-->src_main_rule_set_normalize_js
test_validate_parse_ruleset_utl_mjs-->src_main_rule_set_normalize_js

style src_main_rule_set_normalize_js fill:lime,color:black

d2

Generates a graph in d2 format. D2 is a nice, well thought out alternative to mermaid. It supports a several layout engines, of which ELK looks especially pleasing. The current trade-off between D2 and dot is that its graphs tend to take up more space than the dot ones.

Sample use:

dependency-cruise src/cache --include-only "^src/cache" -T d2 | d2 --layout elk --scale 1 - > dependencygraph.svg
Sample output

d2 representation of dependency-cruiser's caching feature, with d2 set to use the 'ELK' layout

err-html

Generates a stand-alone html report with:

  • a summary with files & dependencies cruised and the number of errors and warnings found
  • all rules, ordered by the number of violations (un-violated ones are hidden by default)
  • a list of all dependency and module violations, ordered by severity, rule name, from module, to module.
dependency-cruise --validate --output-type err-html -f dependency-report.html src test configs
screen shot of an err-html report - the real one is accessible

markdown

Approximately the same content as the err-html reporter, but instead in markdown format, which can be useful in a.o. GitHub actions action summaries or to show results in a PR - potentially along with the mermaid reporter. The markdown reporter is fairly configurable - see the markdown section in the options reference for details.

Note

As compared to the err-html reporter this one doesn't emit links or show a complete list of all run validations. If you need that: create a feature request in the dependency-cruiser repo.

html

Write it to html with a dependency matrix instead:

dependency-cruise -T html -f dependencies.html src

csv

If you supply csv it will write the dependency matrix to a comma separated file - so you can import it into a spreadsheet program and analyse from there.

teamcity

Write the output in TeamCity service message format.

E.g. to cruise src (using the .dependency-cruiser config) and emit TeamCity messages to stdout:

dependency-cruise src -T teamcity
Sample output 
##teamcity[inspectionType id='not-to-dev-dep' name='not-to-dev-dep' description='Don|'t allow dependencies from src/app/lib to a development only package' category='dependency-cruiser' flowId='8970869134' timestamp='2019-06-02T10:37:56.812']
##teamcity[inspectionType id='no-orphans' name='no-orphans' description='Modules without any incoming or outgoing dependencies are might indicate unused code.' category='dependency-cruiser' flowId='8970869134' timestamp='2019-06-02T10:37:56.812']
##teamcity[inspectionType id='not-to-unresolvable' name='not-to-unresolvable' description='' category='dependency-cruiser' flowId='8970869134' timestamp='2019-06-02T10:37:56.812']
##teamcity[inspection typeId='not-to-dev-dep' message='src/asneeze.js -> node_modules/eslint/lib/api.js' file='src/asneeze.js' SEVERITY='ERROR' flowId='8970869134' timestamp='2019-06-02T10:37:56.812']
##teamcity[inspection typeId='not-to-unresolvable' message='src/index.js -> ./medontexist.json' file='src/index.js' SEVERITY='ERROR' flowId='8970869134' timestamp='2019-06-02T10:37:56.812']
##teamcity[inspection typeId='not-to-dev-dep' message='src/index.js -> node_modules/dependency-cruiser/src/main/index.js' file='src/index.js' SEVERITY='ERROR' flowId='8970869134' timestamp='2019-06-02T10:37:56.812']
##teamcity[inspection typeId='not-to-dev-dep' message='src/index.js -> node_modules/eslint/lib/api.js' file='src/index.js' SEVERITY='ERROR' flowId='8970869134' timestamp='2019-06-02T10:37:56.812']
##teamcity[inspection typeId='no-orphans' message='src/orphan.js -> src/orphan.js' file='src/orphan.js' SEVERITY='ERROR' flowId='8970869134' timestamp='2019-06-02T10:37:56.812']

Just like the err reporter the TeamCity reporter has an empty output when there's no violations - and a non-zero exit code when there's errors.

azure-devops

Write the output in Azure DevOps logging command format.

E.g. to cruise src (using the .dependency-cruiser config) and emit Azure DevOps logging commands to stdout:

dependency-cruise src -T azure-devops
Sample output 
##vso[task.logissue type=error;sourcepath=src/asneeze.js;code=not-to-dev-dep;]src/asneeze.js -> node_modules/eslint/lib/api.js
##vso[task.logissue type=error;sourcepath=src/index.js;code=not-to-unresolvable;]src/index.js -> ./medontexist.json
##vso[task.logissue type=error;sourcepath=src/index.js;code=not-to-dev-dep;]src/index.js -> node_modules/eslint/lib/api.js
##vso[task.logissue type=warning;sourcepath=src/orphan.js;code=no-orphans;]src/orphan.js
##vso[task.complete result=Failed;]4 dependency violations (3 error, 1 warning/ informational). 8 modules, 7 dependencies cruised

When there is no violations, the reporter only emits a ##vso[task.complete result=Succeeded;] line with the number of modules and dependencies cruised.

text

This reporter makes a straight, flat dump of all dependencies found in a cruise. Useful for grepping. There's an option to highlight 'focused' modules by underlining them.

dependency-cruise -T text --include-only src/report src/report
output 
src/report/anon/anonymize-path-element.js → src/report/anon/random-string.js
src/report/anon/anonymize-path.js → src/report/anon/anonymize-path-element.js
src/report/anon/index.js → src/report/anon/anonymize-path.js
src/report/csv/index.js → src/report/utl/dependency-to-incidence-transformer.js
src/report/dot/index.js → src/report/dot/dot.template.js
src/report/dot/index.js → src/report/dot/module-utl.js
src/report/dot/index.js → src/report/dot/prepare-custom-level.js
src/report/dot/index.js → src/report/dot/prepare-folder-level.js
src/report/dot/index.js → src/report/dot/theming.js
src/report/dot/module-utl.js → src/report/dot/theming.js
src/report/dot/theming.js → src/report/dot/default-theme.js
src/report/dot/prepare-custom-level.js → src/report/utl/consolidate-to-pattern.js
src/report/dot/prepare-custom-level.js → src/report/dot/module-utl.js
src/report/utl/consolidate-to-pattern.js → src/report/utl/consolidate-module-dependencies.js
src/report/utl/consolidate-to-pattern.js → src/report/utl/consolidate-modules.js
src/report/utl/consolidate-module-dependencies.js → src/report/utl/compare-rules.js
src/report/utl/consolidate-modules.js → src/report/utl/compare-rules.js
src/report/dot/prepare-folder-level.js → src/report/utl/consolidate-to-folder.js
src/report/dot/prepare-folder-level.js → src/report/dot/module-utl.js
src/report/utl/consolidate-to-folder.js → src/report/utl/consolidate-module-dependencies.js
src/report/utl/consolidate-to-folder.js → src/report/utl/consolidate-modules.js
src/report/error-html/index.js → src/report/error-html/error-html.template.js
src/report/error-html/index.js → src/report/error-html/utl.js
src/report/html/index.js → src/report/utl/dependency-to-incidence-transformer.js
src/report/html/index.js → src/report/html/html.template.js
src/report/index.js → src/report/anon/index.js
src/report/index.js → src/report/csv/index.js
src/report/index.js → src/report/dot/index.js
src/report/index.js → src/report/error.js
src/report/index.js → src/report/error-html/index.js
src/report/index.js → src/report/html/index.js
src/report/index.js → src/report/identity.js
src/report/index.js → src/report/json.js
src/report/index.js → src/report/teamcity.js
src/report/index.js → src/report/text.js

... or to find everything connected to the meta module, in combination with grep:

dependency-cruise -v -T text src | grep transpile/meta.js
output 
src/main/resolve-options/normalize.js → src/extract/transpile/meta.js
src/extract/transpile/meta.js → package.json
src/extract/transpile/meta.js → src/extract/transpile/coffeescript-wrap.js
src/extract/transpile/meta.js → src/extract/transpile/javascript-wrap.js
src/extract/transpile/meta.js → src/extract/transpile/livescript-wrap.js
src/extract/transpile/meta.js → src/extract/transpile/typescript-wrap.js
src/extract/transpile/meta.js → src/extract/transpile/vue-template-wrap.js
src/main/index.js → src/extract/transpile/meta.js
src/extract/transpile/index.js → src/extract/transpile/meta.js
src/extract/gather-initial-sources.js → src/extract/transpile/meta.js

json

This emits the internal representation of a cruise as json. It's the input format for depcruise-fmt, and is useful for debugging.

See output-format for more information

anon - obfuscated json

The same as json - but with all paths obfuscated. This enables you to share the result of a cruise for troubleshooting purposes without showing what the source code is about.

To save an anonymized dependency graph to anonymized-result.json do this:

depcruise --validate --output-type anon --output-to anonymized-result.json bin src

e.g. to save an anonymized graph into and svg:

depcruise --validate --output-type anon bin src | depcruise-fmt --output-type dot - | dot -T svg > anonymized_graph.svg
Sample output

Here's a part of dependency-cruiser's own dependency graph both original and obfuscated (after converting it to a graph via depcruise-fmt and dot - so it's easier to compare than the two json's):

Original
original
Obfuscated
obfuscated
How does the obfuscation work?
  • It uses the list of words you pass in options.reporterOptions.anon.wordlist to replace non-common path elements with (src/search/dragonfly-algorithm.js -> src/animal/announce.js, src/search/dragonfly-algorithm.spec.js -> src/animal/announce.spec.js) (see options
  • (You can use any array of strings here - a good one is Sindre Sorhus' mnemonic-words, which you can require into the option if you're using JavaScript as the config file format): 
    ...
options: {
  reporterOptions:
    anon: {
      wordlist: require('mnemonic-words')
    }
}
...
  • It will retain name similarities (like the announce.js/ announce.spec.js above).
  • When there's more path elements in your dependency graph than in the corpus the algorithm falls back to random strings that have the same length and pattern as the original one (secretService-record.ts -> fnwarqVboiuvq-pugnmh.ts).
  • The algorithm considers some patterns to be 'common'. It leaves those alone to retain some readability. 'Common' patterns include src, test, node_modules, ., index etc. You can find the full regexp in anonymize-path.js.
  • The algorithm obfuscates within node_modules is obfuscated as well, so it won't become apparent from the dependency graph which ones your app uses either.

baseline - generate known violations

Generates a list of all current violations you can use as input for the --ignore-known option.

metrics - generate a report with stability metrics for each folder

Shows for each module and each folder (but only when dependency-cruiser was asked to calculate it):

metricabbreviationdescription
Type of componenttypeThe type of the component: 'module' or 'folder'
Number of modulesNThe number of modules in the component (for modules this will always be 1)
Afferent couplingsCaThe number of modules outside this folder that depend on this folder ("coming in")
Efferent couplingsCeThe number of modules this folder depends on outside the current folder ("going out")
InstabilityICe / (Ca + Ce) a number between 0 and 1 that indicates how 'stable' the folder with 0: wholy stable; and 1 wholy unstable
SizesizeThe size in bytes of the module - only available when the experimentalStats option is set to true
Top level statements#tlsThe number of top level statements in the module - only available when the experimentalStats option is set to true

While the term 'instability' has a negative connotation it's also unavoidable in any meaningful system. It's the basis of Martin's variable component stability principle: 'the instability of a folder should be larger than the folders it depends on'.

With options for the metrics reporter you can show or hide 'module' or 'folder' components, and sort by the name or by any of the metrics/ stats.

Typical output 
type    name                                                 N     Ca     Ce  I (%)        size   #tls
------- ----------------------------------------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ----------- ------
folder  src                                                 13      0      0    0 %      36.125     99
folder  src/cache                                            6      0      6  100 %      25.367     54
module  src/cache/cache.mjs                                  1      0      5  100 %       5.817     12
module  src/cache/content-strategy.mjs                       1      1      2   67 %       3.948      7
module  src/cache/find-content-changes.mjs                   1      1      3   75 %       3.663      6
module  src/cache/helpers.mjs                                1      3      1   25 %       3.612     16
module  src/cache/metadata-strategy.mjs                      1      1      2   67 %       3.720      5
module  src/cache/options-compatible.mjs                     1      1      0    0 %       4.607      8
folder  src/extract                                          2      1      1   50 %       4.985     20
folder  src/extract/transpile                                2      1      1   50 %       4.985     20
module  src/extract/transpile/meta.mjs                       1      1      2   67 %       3.519     10
module  src/extract/transpile/try-import-available.mjs       1      1      0    0 %       1.466     10
folder  src/graph-utl                                        1      1      0    0 %         382      3
module  src/graph-utl/match-facade.mjs                       1      1      0    0 %         382      3
module  src/meta.cjs                                         1      1      0    0 %         467      1
folder  src/utl                                              3      4      0    0 %       4.924     21
module  src/utl/bus.mjs                                      1      3      0    0 %         766     10
module  src/utl/find-all-files.mjs                           1      1      1   50 %       3.040      9
module  src/utl/path-to-posix.mjs                            1      1      0    0 %       1.118      2

null - no output, just an exit code

This dummy 'reporter' will print nothing, not even when there are errors. It will exit with the exit code number of violations with severity error found, though. This reporter primarily exists to help in the development of dependency-cruiser.

--config/ --validate

Validates against a list of rules in a configuration file. This defaults to a file called .dependency-cruiser.js (/ .dependency-cruiser.cjs/ .dependency-cruiser.mjs/ .dependency-cruiser.json), but you can specify your own rules file, which can be in json format or a valid node module returning a rules object literal.

dependency-cruise -x node_modules --config my.rules.json src spec

Caveat: up to version 12, you needed to specify the --config command line option in order for a config file to be used at all. As of version 13 picking up a config file is the default, so you don't need to specify --config anymore unless you want to have an alternate name or location for it. If you want to run without a configuration file use --no-config

Tip: usually you don't need to specify the rules file after --config. However if you run depcruise --config src, src will be interpreted as the rules file. Which is probably is not what you want. To prevent this, place -- after the last option, like so:

dependency-cruise --config -- src

The configuration specifies a bunch of regular expressions pairs your dependencies should adhere tom as well as configuration options that tweak what is cruised and how.

A simple validation configuration that forbids modules in src to use stuff in the test folder and allows everything else:

{
  "forbidden": [
    {
      "from": { "path": "^src" },
      "to": { "path": "^test" }
    }
  ]
}

You can optionally specify a name and an error severity ('error', 'warn' (the default) and 'info') with them that will appear in some reporters:

{
  "forbidden": [
    {
      "name": "no-src-to-test",
      "severity": "error",
      "from": { "path": "^src" },
      "to": { "path": "^test" }
    }
  ]
}

For more information about writing rules see the tutorial and the rules-reference. For options check out the options reference.

For an easy set up of both use --init

--no-config

Use this if you don't want to use a configuration file. Also overrides earlier specified --config (or --validate) options.

If you actually use this, I'm interested in your use case. Please drop an issue on GitHub or contact me on mastodon (@mcmeadow@mstdn.social).

--init

This asks some questions and - depending on the answers - creates a dependency-cruiser configuration with some useful rules to the current folder and exits.

The configuration file is larded with documentation to make it easy to tweak.

If you specified a non-default configuration file name, use --config to have dependency-cruiser take the configuration file into account. If you left the default name in place, dependency-cruiser will pick it up automatically.

Some of the rules that will be in the configuration (either directly or from a preset):
RuleDescription
no-circularflags all circular dependencies
no-orphansflags orphan modules (except typescript .d.ts files)
no-deprecated-coreflags dependencies on deprecated node 'core' modules
no-deprecated-npmflags dependencies on deprecated npm modules
no-non-package-jsonflags (npm) dependencies that don't occur in package.json
not-to-unresolvableflags dependencies that can't be resolved
no-duplicate-dep-typesflags dependencies that occur more than once in package.json
not-to-testDon't allow dependencies from outside test folders to test folders
not-to-specDon't allow dependencies to (typescript/ JavaScript/ CoffeeScript) spec files
not-to-dev-depDon't allow dependencies from src/app/lib to a development only package
optional-deps-usedInform about the use of 'optional' dependencies (so you can ensure their imports a are sufficiently managed)
peer-deps-usedWarn about the use of a peer dependency (they might be OK for you, but it's not typical you have them).
no-duplicate-dep-typesWarn if a dependency occurs in your package.json more than once (technically: has more than one dependency type)

--metrics

Makes dependency-cruiser calculate stability metrics (number of dependents, number of dependencies and 'instability' (# dependencies/ (# dependencies + # dependents))) for all folders. These metrics are adapted from Agile software development: principles, patterns, and practices by Robert C Martin (ISBN 0-13-597444-5).

Currently this output is only reflected in the json and the metrics reporter. Some other reporters will follow suit later.

  • These metrics substitute 'components' and 'classes' from that Martin's book with 'folders' and 'modules'; the closest relatives, that work for the most programming styles in JavaScript (and its derivative languages).
  • For output-type metrics this command line switch is implied, so there's no need to specify it there.
  • Not on by default as it's relatively resource intensive (especially when dependency-cruiser doesn't already derives dependents of folders.)

--no-metrics

Do not calculate metrics. You can use this to override an earlier set --metrics command line option or metrics option in a .dependency-cruiser.js configuration file.

--info show what alt-js are supported

Which alt-js languages dependency-cruiser supports depends on the availability it has to them. To see how dependency-cruiser perceives its environment use depcruise --info (any arguments are ignored).

Typical output 
    dependency-cruiser@18.0.0

    node version supported : ^22||^24||>=26
    node version found     : v24.4.0
    os version found       : arm64 darwin@24.5.0

    If you need a supported, but not enabled transpiler ('x' below), just install
    it in the same folder dependency-cruiser is installed. E.g. 'npm i livescript'
    will enable livescript support if it's installed in your project folder.

    ✔ transpiler             versions supported  version found
    - ---------------------- ------------------- ------------------------
    ✔ javascript             *                   acorn@8.15.0
    ✔ babel                  >=7.0.0 <8.0.0      @babel/core@7.28.0
    ✔ coffee-script          >=1.0.0 <2.0.0      coffeescript@2.7.0
    ✔ coffeescript           >=1.0.0 <3.0.0      coffeescript@2.7.0
    x livescript             >=1.0.0 <2.0.0      -
    ✔ svelte                 >=3.0.0 <6.0.0      svelte/compiler@5.36.13
    ✔ swc                    >=1.0.0 <2.0.0      @swc/core@1.13.1
    ✔ typescript             >=2.0.0 <6.0.0      typescript@5.8.3
    ✔ vue-template-compiler  >=2.0.0 <3.0.0      vue-template-compiler
    ✔ @vue/compiler-sfc      >=3.0.0 <4.0.0      vue-template-compiler

    ✔ extension
    - ---------
    ✔ .js
    ✔ .cjs
    ✔ .mjs
    ✔ .jsx
    ✔ .ts
    ✔ .tsx
    ✔ .d.ts
    ✔ .cts
    ✔ .d.cts
    ✔ .mts
    ✔ .d.mts
    ✔ .vue
    ✔ .svelte
    x .ls
    ✔ .coffee
    ✔ .litcoffee
    ✔ .coffee.md
    ✔ .csx
    ✔ .cjsx

--ignore-known: ignore known violations

This feature was recently (september 2021) introduced. It is useful, well tested, stable and it will stay. However, the file format and the ergonomics of the command(s) to deal with known violations might still shift a bit without dependency-cruiser getting a major version bump.

The err, err-long and err-html reporters have been adapted to reflect the results of this feature well. Other reporters to which it is relevant (e.g. all of the dot family, html, teamcity) will follow in releases after dependency-cruiser v10.3.0.

With this option engaged dependency-cruiser will ignore known violations as saved in the file you pass it as a parameter. If you don't pass a filename dependency-cruiser will assume the known violations to live in a file called .dependency-cruiser-known-violations.json.

You can generate a known violations file with the baseline reporter e.g. like so:

dependency-cruiser src --config --output-type baseline --output-to .dependency-cruiser-known-violations.json

... or with the depcruise-baseline command which simplifies this a bit:

# will assume a .dependency-cruiser.{js,cjs,json} to exist and will write
# the baseline output to .dependency-cruiser-known-violations.json
depcruise-baseline src

How dependency-cruiser ignores known violations

For all violations dependency-cruiser finds in the known violations file it will lower the severity to ignore. It depends on the reporter how these show up. E.g. the err/ err-long reporters will hide all ignored violations, but add a warning if there's violations ignored:

✔ no dependency violations found (454 modules, 1078 dependencies cruised)
⚠ 20 known violations ignored. Run with --no-ignore-known to see them.

When is this useful?

When you first deploy dependency-cruiser in a large code base chances are it will detect quite some violations - even when it only uses the default set of rules that comes with --init. It will not always possible to fix all the violations right away. This means that any run of dependency-cruiser will show violations you already decided to fix later - possibly burying any new violations (which you probably want to avoid).

With this option you can avoid that.

--no-ignore-known

Don't ignore known violations. Use this if you want to override an --ignore-known option set earlier on the command line.

--help / no parameters

Running with no parameters or with --help gets you help. It doesn't show all options documented here in order to keep it inviting to use. The ones left out are:

  • the implied ones (e.g. --config implies the existence of a --no-config option).
  • ones that have an alias to prevent a breaking change (--validate is an alias for --config).
  • ones that have been superseded by better options but were left in for backwards compatibility. E.g. --max-depth has been superseded by the --focus/ --focus-depth and --collapse which are both more powerful and mor to the point for most use cases.
  • those that better live in the configuration file, but are still cli options for backwards compatibility (e.g. --ts-config, --webpack-config, --ts-pre-compilation-deps, --module-systems, --preserve-symlinks)

Options also available in dependency-cruiser configurations

Some of the options in dependency-cruiser configurations are also available as command line options. They override what's in the configuration, so they're great if you need to quickly experiment with an option, or when you want to use one configuration for multiple purposes.

The first four options below will be of use when you want to tame the size of the visual representation of a big dependency graph. For the rest of the options you're typically best off setting in a configuration file (generate one with depcruise --init).

--do-not-follow: don't cruise modules adhering to this pattern any further

If you do want to see certain modules in your reports, but are not interested in these modules' dependencies, you'd pass the regular expression for those modules to the --do-not-follow (short: -X) option. A typical pattern you'd use with this is "node_modules" (but be sure to check out the possibilities you have with the doNotFollow option)

dependency-cruise -X "^node_modules" -T html -f deps-with-unfollowed-node_modules.html src

Details and more ways to limit dependency-cruiser from following things: check out the doNotFollow option in the options reference.

--include-only: only include modules satisfying a pattern

E.g. to only take modules into account that are in the src tree (and exclude all node_modules, core modules and modules otherwise outside it):

dependency-cruise --include-only "^src" -T dot src | dot -T svg > internal-dependency-graph.svg

See includeOnly in the options reference for more details.

--focus: show modules and their neighbours

You can use this e.g. to inspect one module or folder and see what the direct dependencies are and which modules are direct dependents.

Takes a regular expression in the same fashion --include-only, --exclude and --do-not-follow do.

dependency-cruise src --include-only "^src" --focus "^src/main" -T dot | dot -T svg > focus-on-main-dir-graph.svg

See focus in the options reference for more details.

--focus-depth: influence how many layers of neighbors --focus shows

If you want to increase the number of layers of neighbors (transitive dependencies & dependents) the focus option shows as context, you can specify that with this command line switch. A value of 1 (which is also the default) means direct neighbours only. 2 also shows the neighbour's neighbours, etc. The value 0 means 'infinite'.

dependency-cruise src --include-only "^src" --focus "^src/main" --focus-depth 0 -T dot |\
  dot -T svg > focus-on-main-dir-graph.svg

See focus depth in the options reference for more details

--reaches: show modules and their transitive dependents

If you want to e.g. analyze what modules will directly or indirectly be affected by a change you make in one or modules you can use this option.

Note

If you're using git for revision control the --affected option might be a better fit for you.

Just like the filter options above, takes a regular expression:

dependency-cruise src --include-only "^src/report" --reaches "^src/report/utl/index.js" -T dot | dot -T svg > reaches-example.svg

See reaches in the options reference for more details.

--affected: show modules and their transitive dependents since a git revision

Only include modules changed since the revision + all modules that can reach them. For 'revision' you can use everything git understands as a revision (e.g. a commit hash, a branch name, a tag, HEAD~1, etc.).

When not specified, revision defaults to main.

This can be useful when you want to see the modules that are impacted by a change you made.

dependency-cruise src --affected main -T dot | dot -T svg > affected-example.svg

In combination with the mermaid reporter you can use it in your github action workflow to generate a graph of the affected modules and put it in a PR comment or in the workflow summary:

- name: on pull requests emit the affected graph to the step summary with changed modules highlighted
  if: always() && github.event_name == 'pull_request' && github.ref_name != github.event.repository.default_branch
  run: |
    echo '## Modules changed and affected by this PR' >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
    echo Modules changed in this PR have a fluorescent green color. All other modules in the graph are those directly or indirectly affected by changes in the green modules. >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
    echo '```mermaid' >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
    npx dependency-cruiser src test --output-type mermaid --affected ${{github.event.pull_request.base.sha}}  >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
    echo '' >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
    echo '```' >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY

This option is 'syntactic sugar' around the --reaches option. These invocations are equivalent:

dependency-cruise src --affected -T dot | dot -T svg > affected-with-affectd.svg
dependency-cruise src --reaches "$(watskeburt main)" -T dot | dot -T svg > affected-with-reaches.svg

--highlight: highlight modules

This option takes a regular expression and reporters that recognize the highlight option1 will highlight the modules that match that regular expression.

dependency-cruise src --include-only "^src/report" --highlight "^src/report/utl/index.js" -T dot | dot -T svg > highlight-example.svg

This can be useful when you want to display what modules have changed since the last commit2. Especially when the number of modules of your project is limited this can be more effective than using the --reaches option for the same.

dependency-cruise src --highlight "$(watskeburt main)" -T dot | dot -T svg > highlight-diff-example.svg
Example output

With --highlight it shows the whole code base (suitable when your codebase is not that big). Command used:

npx depcruise src types --include-only '^(src|types)' --highlight "$(watskeburt main)" --config --output-type dot | dot -T svg > with-highlight.svg

shows all modules that make up watskeburt with changes to one module

With --reaches it shows only part of the code base (suitable when your codebase is large). Command used:

npx depcruise src types --include-only '^(src|types)' --highlight "$(watskeburt main)" --config --output-type dot | dot -T svg > with-highlight.svg

shows the one changed module, with all modules that can reach it

See highlight in the options reference for more details, like how to adjust the attributes used for highlighting in the dot-like reporters.

--collapse: summarize to folder depth or pattern

If you feel the need for reporting on a higher level (e.g. on packages in a mono repo, or the main folders in src) you can use the --collapse option. It takes either a single digit or a regular expression.

--collapse: single digit

The most typical use for collapsing is to limit the folder depth. It is possible to do this with regular expressions (see below, and in the options reference). As this case occurs a lot you can pass

depcruise src --include-only ^src --collapse 2 -T dot | dot -T svg > collapsed.svg

Under water dependency-cruiser translates the single digit into a regular expression again. For 2 e.g. it generates /node_modules/[^/]+|^[^/]+\/[^/]+\//

--collapse: regular expression

If you need more flexibility, you can also pass a regular expression to --collapse. E.g. to only collapse stuff under node_modules and lib (but not under e.g. test and src) you can pass this:

depcruise src --do-not-follow node_modules --collapse "^(node_modules|lib)/[^/]+" -T dot | dot -T svg > collapsed.svg

--collapse works the same as the dot/ archi specific collapsePattern option, except it works for all reports instead of for only the dot and archi reporters. This means you can not only use it to make graphical output look better, but also to show simple textual output of relations between high level components e.g.

depcruise packages --include-only ^packages --collapse "^packages/[^/]+" -T text

--exclude: exclude dependencies from being cruised

If you don't want to see certain modules in your report (or not have them validated), you can exclude them by passing a regular expression to the --exclude (short: -x) option. Two examples:

dependency-cruise -x "node_modules" -T html -f deps-without-node_modules.html src

dependency-cruise -x "^(coverage|test|node_modules)" -T html -f deps-without-stuffs.html src

See the exclude option in the options reference for details.

--max-depth

Note

Using max-depth is typically a terrible idea. It only exists for backwards compatibility. Instead consider one of these options; they serve the same goal, look better and are more accurate:

  • the --collapse option
  • use a collapsePattern in conjunction with your dot reporter to hide details you don't want to see right now
  • use filters like --include-only and --focus to only show a relevant part of your graph
  • use the archi reporter that produces a high level dependency-graph based on heuristics.

Only cruise the specified depth, counting from the specified root-module(s). This command was mostly useful in combination with visualisation output like dot to keep the generated output to a manageable size.

dependency-cruise --max-depth 2 -T dot src/main/index.ts | dot -T svg > depth-limited-dependency-graph.svg

See maxDepth

This will only be effective when you pass one file as an argument.

--progress: get feedback on what dependency-cruiser is doing while it's running

If the number of files dependency-cruiser needs to analyse is large, it can be busy for awhile. To get an impression of what dependency-cruiser is doing you can pass the --progress option.

cli-feedback (the default when you pass --progress without an option)

Gives a one-line summary of what dependency-cruiser is currently doing (e.g. parsing input, reading files, analyzing them, making a report about them). When dependency-cruiser is done it erases that feedback again so it doesn't clutter your logs. It also writes to stderr, so you can still safely redirect without the progress messages ending up in your output.

Typical output 
  ◼◼◼◼◼◻◻◻◻ 60% reading files ...

none (the default when you don't pass --progress )

Make sure dependency-cruiser doesn't print any feedback. Useful if you want to override the progress option configured in a configuration file.

performance-log

Writes a detailed overview of the time and memory each step in dependency-cruiser's processing takes to stderr. The main purpose is to get a quick high-level overview of what dependency-cruiser is spending its time (and memory) on, so the results stay in view when dependency-cruiser is done.

Typical output 
        ∆ rss   ∆ heapTotal    ∆ heapUsed    ∆ external     ⏱  system       ⏱  user       ⏱  real after step...
------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------------------------------------
   +198,656kB    +101,760kB     +64,202kB     +11,242kB          48ms         375ms         298ms startup: nodejs loading
     +1,184kB      +1,792kB        +571kB           0kB           0ms           8ms           3ms startup: parse options
     +1,376kB      +1,440kB      +4,739kB        +469kB           2ms          10ms          11ms startup: import analytical modules
    +13,248kB     +11,776kB     +11,926kB           0kB           2ms          30ms          17ms startup: parse rule set
        +32kB           0kB         +29kB           0kB           0ms           0ms           0ms startup: get resolve options
   +152,320kB    +144,224kB     +75,456kB      -8,777kB          43ms         537ms         301ms extract
    +18,864kB     +18,432kB      +1,970kB           0kB           4ms          73ms          44ms analyze
        +48kB           0kB      +1,942kB          +8kB           0ms           3ms           3ms report
          0kB           0kB        +255kB           0kB           0ms           0ms           0ms end: really done
------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------------------------------------
   +385,728kB    +279,424kB    +160,840kB      +2,942kB          99ms       1,037ms         677ms

Number formatting takes place with the Intl API, so in your locale the numbers and units might look slightly different.

ndjson

Emits roughly the same data as performance-log to stderr, but in ndjson format so it's easy to process. It's designed for running detailed performance tests of each individual step in dependency-cruiser's processing with statistical significance, and as such the format can and will change without dependency-cruiser getting a major bump.

Typical output 
dependency-cruiser src bin test configs types tools --no-cache -Tnull --progress ndjson 2>> performance-log.ndjson

{"runStartTime":"2025-12-24T19:25:50.037Z","runId":213435185128416,"message":"startup: nodejs loading","time":297855,"elapsedTime":297855,"user":366111,"elapsedUser":366111,"system":48490,"elapsedSystem":48490,"rss":196329472,"heapUsed":78937168,"heapTotal":97124352,"external":11581186}
{"runStartTime":"2025-12-24T19:25:50.037Z","runId":213435185128416,"message":"startup: parse options","time":300133,"elapsedTime":2278,"user":368517,"elapsedUser":2406,"system":48671,"elapsedSystem":181,"rss":196706304,"heapUsed":79231160,"heapTotal":97124352,"external":11581226}
{"runStartTime":"2025-12-24T19:25:50.037Z","runId":213435185128416,"message":"startup: import analytical modules","time":315104,"elapsedTime":14971,"user":409243,"elapsedUser":40726,"system":52464,"elapsedSystem":3793,"rss":205144064,"heapUsed":57310320,"heapTotal":104366080,"external":2748843}
{"runStartTime":"2025-12-24T19:25:50.037Z","runId":213435185128416,"message":"startup: parse rule set","time":326651,"elapsedTime":11547,"user":430393,"elapsedUser":21150,"system":52820,"elapsedSystem":356,"rss":205635584,"heapUsed":70138952,"heapTotal":104366080,"external":2757035}
{"runStartTime":"2025-12-24T19:25:50.037Z","runId":213435185128416,"message":"startup: get resolve options","time":326741,"elapsedTime":90,"user":430467,"elapsedUser":74,"system":52836,"elapsedSystem":16,"rss":205635584,"heapUsed":70199840,"heapTotal":104366080,"external":2757035}
{"runStartTime":"2025-12-24T19:25:50.037Z","runId":213435185128416,"message":"extract","time":523713,"elapsedTime":196971,"user":803754,"elapsedUser":373287,"system":77658,"elapsedSystem":24822,"rss":333938688,"heapUsed":121507992,"heapTotal":227934208,"external":2688354}
{"runStartTime":"2025-12-24T19:25:50.037Z","runId":213435185128416,"message":"analyze","time":548901,"elapsedTime":25189,"user":843483,"elapsedUser":39729,"system":78831,"elapsedSystem":1173,"rss":336887808,"heapUsed":96978728,"heapTotal":230031360,"external":2688354}
{"runStartTime":"2025-12-24T19:25:50.037Z","runId":213435185128416,"message":"report","time":551008,"elapsedTime":2107,"user":847523,"elapsedUser":4040,"system":78948,"elapsedSystem":117,"rss":336904192,"heapUsed":99378056,"heapTotal":230031360,"external":2688354}

--no-progress: don't show feedback on what dependency-cruiser is doing

The equivalent of --progress none.

As showing no progress is dependency-cruiser's default the only use for this option is to override a progress setting from a configuration file or a --progress command line option set earlier on the command line.

In the dot output prefix links to the source files with a string - useful to link to e.g. an on line repository.

dependency-cruise --prefix "https://github.com/you/yourrepo/tree/master/" -T dot src | dot -T svg > dependency-graph-with-links-to-gh.svg

See prefix in the options reference for details.

--module-systems

Here you can pass a list of module systems dependency-cruiser should use to detect dependencies. It defaults to amd, cjs, es6.

See moduleSystems in the options reference.

--ts-pre-compilation-deps (typescript only)

By default dependency-cruiser does not take dependencies between typescript modules that don't exist after compilation to JavaScript. Pass this command line switch to do take them into account.

For details see tsPreCompilationDeps in the options reference.

--ts-config: use a typescript configuration file ('project')

If you use typescript and want dependency-cruiser to take the baseDir's and/ or paths in your tsconfig.json into account- can pass it with this option.

Although it's possible to pass it as a command line option, you typically want to do this in a configuration file - see tsConfig section in the options reference for details.

Tip

If you happen to use a jsconfig.json you can pass that as well - the syntax for tsconfig.json and jsconfig.json is identical for all practical purposes.

--webpack-config: use (the resolution options of) a webpack configuration

With a webpack config you can drastically alter how module names resolve to files on disk, a.o. with aliases. If you want dependency-cruiser to take that into account (you probably do), you can pass the webpack config here.

However, just like with tsconfigs, you probably want to put this in a configuration file - see the webpackConfig section in the options reference.

Whether to leave symlinks as is or resolve them to their realpath. This option defaults to false (which is also nodejs' default behavior since release 6).

You'll typically want to set this in the configuration file with the preserveSymlinks option.

--cache: use a cache to speed up cruising

Available from version 11.14.0.

With --cache you instruct dependency-cruiser to use a cache. When you don't specify a location it uses node_modules/.cache/dependency-cruiser as the folder for the cache.

Dependency-cruiser will use the cache as long as it's not invalidated, which happens when

  • changes to files that would be part of a cruise have happened. This includes modifications of files already included in the earlier cruise, new files, file deletions and file renaming. By default dependency-cruiser uses git to do this (see --cache-strategy below for other options).
  • The parameters/ options of the cruises are still "compatible". The rule of thumb is that if the existing cache has a broader scope than the new one, the cruises are compatible and the new cruise can use the cache. Currently dependency-cruiser takes a simplified approach to this:
    • if the arguments are not equal the cache is not valid anymore
    • if the cache was created as the result of a filter (e.g. includeOnly, reaches or collapse) the new cruise can be served from the cache when the filters are exactly the same.
    • if the cache was created without a filter, but the new cruise includes one, the new cruise can be served from the cache.

--cache-strategy: influence how the cache functionality detects changes

Available from version 12.5.0

With this option you can tell dependency-cruiser how it should detect whether files have changed. The default (metadata) uses git for this. The other one (content) is there in case you don't have git available or are working on a shallow clone of your repository (which might be the only practical way on a continuous integration server). The content strategy looks at the content of the files.

When you don't pass --cache-strategy (and don't specify a strategy in the cache option in you .dependency-cruiser.js) the strategy defaults to metadata.

Tip

The checking cache freshness step with the metadata strategy is about 7x slower when dependency-cruiser is run from a script from within package.json as when dependency-cruiser is run directly with nodejs (265ms vs 37ms on a MacBook Pro with an M4 processor). Note that even then a run-from cache is still significantly faster than a non-cached run.

The content strategy doesn't suffer from this 'running from package.json' penalty, so in some scenarios it might be unexpectedly faster than the metadata strategy.

--no-cache: switch off caching

This overrides any --cache, --cache-strategy options set earlier on the command line as well as the cache configuration option.

depcruise-fmt

depcruise-fmt is a separate command line program, that takes the (json) output of a dependency-cruise and runs one of the reporters over it. This could be useful if you want to display the results of the same cruise in different ways, without having to run the cruise repeatedly. Especially on bigger code bases this can save time. Cruising all code can sometimes take more than a minute, while formatting usually takes well below a second.

For instance, to report any violations to console, create a distributable report and generate a dependency graph. With only the depcruise command this would look like

depcruise -v -T err-long src
depcruise -v -T err-html src -f violation-report.html
depcruise -v -T dot src | dot -T svg > dependency-graph.svg

With depcruise-fmt there's one cruise and three quick depcruise-fmt commands

depcruise -v -T json src -f cruise_result.json
depcruise-fmt -T err-long cruise_result.json
depcruise-fmt -T err-html -f violation-report.html cruise_result.json
depcruise-fmt -T dot cruise_result.json | dot -T svg > dependency-graph.svg

filters

You can also use the filters --focus, --include-only and --exclude to peruse parts of the dependency-graph. This could be useful for chopping up humongous graphs efficiently, or to quickly find the uses of a module:

depcruise -v -T json src -f cruise_result.json
depcruise-fmt -T dot --focus "^src/main" cruise_result.json | dot -T svg > main.svg
depcruise-fmt -T dot --focus "^src/juggle" cruise_result.json | dot -T svg > juggle.svg
depcruise-fmt -T dot --include-only "^src/the-law" cruise_result.json | dot -T svg > the-law.svg

## or to find dependencies going into or departing from the spelunk-me module
## and emitting them to stdout:
depcruise-fmt -T text --focus "^src/main/spelunk-me\\.ts$" cruise_result.json

highlight

The --highlight option is also available in case you want to just highlight modules without filtering them. See the --highlight documentation of the regular depcruise command for more information.

collapse/ summarize

Summarize or collapse to either a folder depth or (if you're feeling fancy) a regular expression. It works the same as the regular depcruise command's --collapse option.

prefix

To enable different prefixes on the same depcruise run, you can uses the --prefix option to set (or override) the prefix used in e.g. the err-html and the dot-like reporters. It works the same as depcruise's option of the same name

See prefix in the options reference for details.

getting non-zero exit codes

If you want to see non-zero exit codes when there's error level dependency violations, you can use the --exit-code (short: -e). This only works for the output types that support non-zero exit codes (err, err-long and TeamCity). Example for the default output type (err):

depcruise-fmt -e cruise_result.json

What --help will tell you

Usage: depcruise-fmt [options] <dependency-cruiser-json>

Format dependency-cruiser output json.
Details: https://github.com/sverweij/dependency-cruiser

Options:
  -f, --output-to <file>      file to write output to; - for stdout (default:
                              "-")
  -T, --output-type <type>    output type; e.g. err, err-html, dot, ddot, archi,
                              flat, baseline or json (default: "err")
  -I, --include-only <regex>  only include modules matching the regex
  -F, --focus <regex>         only include modules matching the regex + their
                              direct neighbours
  -x, --exclude <regex>       exclude all modules matching the regex
  -S, --collapse <regex>      collapse the modules to the regex pattern E.g.
                              ^packages/[^/]+/ collapses to modules/ folders
                              directly under your packages folder. Or pass a
                              single digit (e.g. 2) to collapse to a folder
                              depth.
  -e, --exit-code             exit with a non-zero exit code when the input
                              json contains error level dependency violations.
                              Works for err, err-long and teamcity output types
  -V, --version               output the version number
  -h, --help                  display help for command

depcruise-baseline

To create a baseline of known violations. You can use the resulting file to tell regular dependency-cruiser you want to ignore them for now and to only focus on new ones.

Shortcut for depcruise -c -T baseline -f .dependency-cruiser-known-violations.json which might be a bit of an elaborate incantation for generating a list of known violations.

If your sources & test live in src, test and you use the default filenames for the dependency-cruiser configuration and known violations (recommended) then...

depcruise-baseline src test

... will generate the baseline of known violations to .dependency-cruiser-known-violations.json.

The two command line options exist in case you want these files to live in different spots; --config to specify where the config file lives, --output-to to write to an alternative output location.

depcruise-wrap-stream-in-html

With depcruise-wrap-stream-in-html you can wrap the graphical output of GraphViz dot into html that is geared to make the graph easier to use. It adds a.o.:

  • highlighting dependencies on hover
  • the ability to 'pin' that highlight with a left mouse click ("on context menu"). Can be cleared with a left mouse click on something not a module or dependency or by pressing the Escape key.
highlight on hover

Typical use:

$ depcruise -v -T dot src | dot -T svg | depcruise-wrap-stream-in-html > dependency-graph.html

This works for all dot-based reporters, including archi and ddot

Some examples:

Daphne's dependencies - a gentle introduction

Daphne's dependencies sport a visual overview of all the output formats. It also shows how Daphne and her colleagues use them in their workflow.

Footnotes

  1. Currently only dot (and its variants) and mermaid. ↩

  2. This uses watskeburt which by default generates a regular expression that includes all modules changed since the last commit. Here we pass the main branch to it so we can see all modules that make up the diff between that branch and wherever we are currently in the git history. ↩