This tutorial walks you through analyzing a real .NET codebase with CodeGraph.
For details on what nodes and edges CodeGraph extracts, see the Analyzer page. Step 1: Choose a Codebase For this tutorial, we’ll use a sample project. You can substitute your own .sln file.
# Clone a sample project git clone https://github.com/dotnet/samples.git cd samples/core/console-apps
Or use any .NET solution you have locally.
Step 2: Run the Analysis npx @dotenvx/dotenvx run -- sh -c 'dotnet run --project src/adapters/driving/cli -- analyze /path/to/YourSolution.sln'
Understanding the Output Analyzing /path/to/YourSolution.sln... [1/4] Loading solution... Found 5 projects: - MyApp.Core - MyApp.Infrastructure - MyApp.Web - MyApp.Tests - MyApp.IntegrationTests [2/4] Extracting nodes... Namespaces: 23 Classes: 156 Interfaces: 34 Methods: 892 Total: 1,105 [3/4] Extracting edges... Dependencies: 2,341 Inheritance: 45 Implementations: 67 Total: 2,453 [4/4] Saving to Neo4j... Clearing existing data... Writing nodes... done Writing edges... done Analysis complete! Duration: 6.3s Nodes: 1,105 Edges: 2,453
Step 3: Verify in Neo4j Open Neo4j Browser at http://localhost:7474 and run:
// Count all nodes MATCH ( n : CodeNode ) RETURN count ( n ) as nodes // See node types MATCH ( n : CodeNode ) RETURN n . type , count ( * ) ORDER BY count ( * ) DESC // View a sample class MATCH ( n : CodeNode { type : 'Class' } ) RETURN n LIMIT 5
Step 4: Explore Node Attributes Each node has attributes that you can query:
MATCH ( n : CodeNode { name : 'UserService' } ) RETURN n . name , n . type , n . filePath , n . namespace
Attribute Description nameEntity name typeNode type (Class, Interface, etc.) fullNameFully qualified name filePathSource file path namespaceContaining namespace visibilityPublic, Private, Internal isAbstractWhether class is abstract isStaticWhether class is static
Analysis Options Verbose Mode See detailed progress:
codegraph analyze ./Solution.sln --verbose
Filter by Project Analyze only specific projects:
codegraph analyze ./Solution.sln --include "*.Core" --include "*.Domain"
Exclude Test Projects codegraph analyze ./Solution.sln --exclude "*Tests*"
Method-Level Analysis By default, CodeGraph analyzes at class level. For method-level:
codegraph analyze ./Solution.sln --depth methods
Method-level analysis can produce very large graphs. Start with class-level for large codebases.
Incremental Analysis For large codebases, you can analyze incrementally:
# First full analysis codegraph analyze ./Solution.sln # Later, only changed files codegraph analyze ./Solution.sln --incremental
Troubleshooting
Analysis fails with 'Could not load project'
Make sure you can build the solution normally: dotnet restore ./Solution.sln dotnet build ./Solution.sln
Exclude test projects with --exclude "*Tests*"
Use class-level analysis instead of method-level
Check Neo4j memory settings
Some dependencies might not be detected if they’re:
Dynamic (reflection-based)
In third-party assemblies
Loaded at runtime
What’s Next?
Explore the 3D Graph Navigate and interact with your visualization
