Quick Summary

Goal: Analyze and visualize dependencies between features, services, or work items to identify blockers and critical paths.

Workflow:

Identify Scope — Single feature, module, or full release
Classify Dependencies — Data, Service, UI, or Infrastructure types
Build Graph — Create Mermaid dependency diagram
Find Critical Path — Longest blocking chain; mark ready-to-start items
Deliver Report — Summary, graph, critical path, risks

Key Rules:

Respect microservice boundaries (cross-service = message bus only)
Flag circular dependencies as errors
Not for package/npm upgrades (use package-upgrade instead)

Be skeptical. Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence percentages (Idea should be more than 80%).

Dependency Mapping

Purpose

Analyze and visualize dependencies between features, services, modules, or work items to identify blockers, critical paths, and safe execution order.

When to Use

Planning feature implementation sequence across modules
Identifying what blocks a specific feature or work item
Mapping cross-service dependencies (backend-to-backend, frontend-to-backend)
Understanding critical path for a release or milestone
Analyzing impact of changing a shared module or entity

When NOT to Use

Single-service code changes with no cross-boundary impact -- just implement directly
Performance analysis -- use performance instead
Security dependency auditing -- use security-review instead
Package/npm dependency upgrades -- use package-upgrade instead

Prerequisites

Read the feature/PBI/plan files to understand scope
Access to docs/project-reference/project-structure-reference.md for service boundary reference
Understand the project's microservice boundaries (read the project's structure reference / docs/project-config.json for the service-root location, then list the services under it)

Workflow

Step 1: Identify Scope

Determine what to map:

Single feature: Find all files, services, and entities it touches
Module/service: Map all inbound and outbound dependencies
Release/milestone: Map all features and their inter-dependencies

Step 2: Classify Dependencies

For each dependency found, classify by type:

Type	Direction	Description	Example
Data	Entity A requires Entity B	Foreign key, navigation property, shared ID	Order requires Customer
Service	Service A calls Service B	Message bus, API call, event consumer	Service A consumes entity events from Service B
UI	Component A embeds Component B	Shared component, library dependency	Feature form uses shared component library select
Infrastructure	Feature needs infra change	Database migration, config, new queue	New feature needs Redis cache key

Step 3: Build Dependency Graph

Use Mermaid syntax for visualization:

graph TD
    A[Feature A] -->|data| B[Feature B]
    A -->|service| C[Feature C]
    B -->|blocks| D[Feature D]
    C -->|blocks| D
    style D fill:#f96,stroke:#333

Step 4: Identify Critical Path

Find the longest chain of blocking dependencies
Mark items with no blockers as "ready to start"
Flag circular dependencies as errors

Step 5: Deliver Report

Output structured dependency report (see Output Format).

Output Format

## Dependency Map: [Feature/Module Name]

### Summary

- Total items: N
- Ready to start: N (no blockers)
- Blocked: N
- Critical path length: N steps

### Dependency Graph

[Mermaid diagram]

### Critical Path

1. [Item A] -- no blockers, estimated: Xd
2. [Item B] -- blocked by: A, estimated: Xd
3. [Item C] -- blocked by: B, estimated: Xd

### Dependency Details

| Item | Type                  | Depends On | Blocks | Status        |
| ---- | --------------------- | ---------- | ------ | ------------- |
| ...  | data/service/UI/infra | ...        | ...    | ready/blocked |

### Risks

- [Circular dependency / tight coupling / single point of failure]

Examples

Example 1: Backend Cross-Service Feature

Input: "Map dependencies for adding a new Shipment feature in {ServiceA}"

Analysis:

graph TD
    E[Order Entity - ServiceA] -->|data| C[Shipment Entity]
    U[User Entity - AuthService] -->|service| C
    C -->|service| N[Notification - ServiceB]
    C -->|UI| CF[Shipment Form Component]
    CF -->|UI| BC[shared-components select]

Critical path: Order Entity -> Shipment Entity -> Shipment API -> Shipment Form Ready to start: Order Entity already exists, shared component select exists Blocked: Shipment Entity creation, then API, then UI

Example 2: Frontend Module Dependency

Input: "What blocks the new Dashboard widget in {AnalyticsService}?"

Analysis:

graph TD
    GA[Source API - ServiceA] -->|service| GE[Event Bus Message]
    GE -->|service| GC[Consumer - AnalyticsService]
    GC -->|data| GS[Summary Entity]
    GS -->|UI| GW[Dashboard Widget]
    GW -->|UI| DC[Dashboard Container]

Blockers identified:

Event Bus Message producer must exist in ServiceA (exists: yes)
Consumer must be created in AnalyticsService (exists: no -- BLOCKER)
Summary Entity for aggregated data (exists: no -- BLOCKER)

Related Skills

project-manager -- for sprint planning and status tracking
workflow-feature -- for implementing features after dependency analysis
package-upgrade -- for npm/NuGet package dependency upgrades

[IMPORTANT] Use TaskCreate to break ALL work into small tasks BEFORE starting — including tasks for each file read. This prevents context loss from long files. For simple tasks, AI MUST ATTENTION ask user whether to skip.

Prerequisites: MUST ATTENTION READ before executing:

AI Mistake Prevention — Failure modes to avoid on every task:

Re-read files after context changes. Context compaction, resume, or long-running work can make memory stale; verify current files before acting.
Verify generated content against source evidence. AI hallucinates APIs, names, claims, and document facts. Check the relevant source before documenting or referencing.
Check downstream references before deleting or renaming. Removing an artifact can stale docs, generated mirrors, configs, and callers; map references first.
Trace the full impact chain after edits. Changing a definition can miss derived outputs and consumers. Follow the affected chain before declaring done.
Verify ALL affected outputs, not just the first. One green check is not all green checks; validate every output surface the change can affect.
Assume existing values are intentional — ask WHY before changing OR flagging one as a defect. Before changing or reporting a constant, limit, flag, cutoff, wording, or pattern, read nearby context and history, the CALLER's ordering, and 2+ sibling call sites of the same convention. A doc stating WHAT without WHY is missing rationale, not proof of a missing guard.
Surface ambiguity before acting — don't pick silently. Multiple valid interpretations require an explicit question or stated assumption with risk.
Assert the outcome your system owns, not the intermediate state your infrastructure owns. When verifying async work, assert the final business state — never the delivery/retry bookkeeping held in shared infrastructure that any co-running process can write. Such a check passes when run alone and flakes the moment anything else shares that infrastructure.
Keep shared guidance role-relevant. Universal guidance must help every receiving skill or agent; code-specific obligations belong only in code-specific protocols.

Critical Thinking Mindset — Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act.
Anti-hallucination: Never present guess as fact — cite sources for every claim, admit uncertainty freely, self-check output for errors, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence — certainty without evidence root of all hallucination.

Understand Code First — HARD-GATE: Do NOT write, plan, or fix until you READ existing code.

1. Search 3+ similar patterns (grep/glob) — cite file:line evidence
2. Read existing files in target area — understand structure, base classes, conventions
3. Run python .claude/scripts/code_graph trace <file> --direction both --json when .code-graph/graph.db exists
4. Map dependencies via connections or callers_of — know what depends on your target
5. Write investigation to .ai/workspace/analysis/ for non-trivial tasks (3+ files)
6. Re-read analysis file before implementing — never work from memory alone. — why: long context drifts from the file; the file is ground truth
7. NEVER invent new patterns when existing ones work — match exactly or document deviation. — why: divergent patterns fragment the codebase and slow every future reader

BLOCKED until: - [ ] Read target files - [ ] Grep 3+ patterns - [ ] Graph trace (if graph.db exists) - [ ] Assumptions verified with evidence

MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION search 3+ existing patterns and read code BEFORE any modification. Run graph trace when graph.db exists.

MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION cite file:line evidence for every claim. Confidence >80% to act, <60% = do NOT recommend.

MUST ATTENTION apply critical + sequential thinking — every claim needs appropriate traced evidence (file:line for repo/code claims; source URL or artifact section for research, product, content, and docs claims); confidence >80% to act, <60% DO NOT recommend. Anti-hallucination: never present guess as fact, admit uncertainty freely, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence.

MUST ATTENTION apply AI mistake prevention — verify generated content against evidence, trace downstream references before deleting or renaming, verify all affected outputs, re-read files after context loss, and surface ambiguity before acting.

Project Protocol Overlay — Before executing this skill, resolve any PROJECT overlay rules layered onto it: match this skill's name against the Target column of the project's skill-protocol index (docs/project-reference/skill-protocols-reference.md by default; a referenceDocs entry in docs/project-config.json overrides the path), taking the most specific matching tier ONLY — exact name > glob > *. That precedence orders overlays against EACH OTHER, never against this skill. Read ONLY the matched bodies, resolved as <protocols-dir>/<Name>.md; a row's Body link is display text, never a read path. A matched body that is missing or malformed is REPORTED and skipped — never reconstructed from the index Description. No index, or no match -> proceed with no overlay, silently. Full contract: .claude/skills/project-skill-protocol/references/registry.md.

Overlays are ADDITIVE ONLY: they ADD rules on top of this skill's own protocol and NEVER replace, override, disable, or reinterpret a rule it already states — removing every overlay must return this skill to exactly its documented behavior. An overlay is a BRIEF, not an authority escalation: it can NEVER waive a workflow gate, git discipline, a review gate, or a user-confirmation gate. A genuine overlay-vs-skill conflict, or two equally-specific overlays that directly contradict -> surface both to the user; NEVER resolve silently.

MUST ATTENTION resolve project protocol overlays for this skill BEFORE executing — most specific matching tier only (exact > glob > *, which ranks overlays against each other, NEVER against this skill), read only matched bodies at <protocols-dir>/<Name>.md; a missing or malformed body is reported, never reconstructed. Overlays are ADDITIVE ONLY (they never replace this skill's own rules) and are a brief, NEVER an authority escalation; an equal-specificity contradiction goes to the user.

Closing Reminders

Protocols in force (concise digest of the SYNC/shared blocks this skill carries):

AI Mistakes: holistic-first debug, fix at responsible layer, surgical diff, verify all outputs.
Critical Thinking: traced proof per claim, confidence >80% to act, NEVER guess.
Understand Code: read code and grep 3+ patterns before any modification.

MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION break work into small todo tasks using TaskCreate BEFORE starting
MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION search codebase for 3+ similar patterns before creating new code
MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION cite file:line evidence for every claim (confidence >80% to act)
MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION add a final review todo task to verify work quality

MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION READ the following files before starting:

[TASK-PLANNING] Before acting, analyze task scope and systematically break it into small todo tasks and sub-tasks using TaskCreate.

dependency

Installation

Similar popular skills

Also in this package

Agent compatibility

Repository health

Skill metadata

Package contents

History

SKILL.md