Dependencies

Dependencies is a panel beside the canvas that shows what is connected to one element, from your boards and their aspects. No model is involved, so the same element always gives the same answer, and it uses no Chat credits. The panel lists what it found, and the canvas shows where each element is.

An insight is a finding someone kept about a board: a risk, an opportunity, a strength. Dependencies is worked out on the spot, and tells you what is connected, not what it means. A route that matters can be saved as an insight.

It shows three types:

An element is a node, table, endpoint, API client, channel or page. ProvenMap follows the edges drawn on the diagram and what the aspects prove, across layers and apps.

Open Dependencies

Dependencies is always about one element, so you open it from the element. On a board you can edit:

• From the inspector. Select a node. The inspector's Dependencies section lists the three types; choose one.
• From the node. Right-click a node, point to Dependencies, and choose a type.

The panel opens on that node, over the whole tree the board belongs to. Route starts from the node and waits for you to name To. The panel takes the same column as the Insights Bar, so opening one closes the other.

Change what it shows

1. Choose a Type.
2. Check Scope. It starts at the top board, which includes every board beneath it. Pick a lower board to keep the answer inside one app, and the canvas moves to that board.
3. Under Element, name the element. For Route, fill From and To; Swap reverses them.

The answer is drawn as soon as it has its element, or both for a Route. The options then fold to one line, so the answer has the panel's height. Select Edit to change them, and Hide options to fold them again.

Pick from the canvas or search

Each of Scope, Element, From and To can be filled two ways.

• On the canvas. Select the target button beside the field, then click a node. For an element, that node becomes the element. For Scope, the node's layer becomes the scope. A node with no layer leaves the scope unchanged. Press Esc, or select Cancel on the canvas, to stop picking.
• By search. Select the field and type a name. Search is the only way to a table, endpoint, API client, channel or page, which have no node of their own to click.

If you click a node on a board outside the current scope, the scope widens to the whole tree.

Tune how far it follows

• Depth is how many hops to follow, from 1 to 6. It starts at 3. Once there is an answer, each depth shows how many elements it reaches. When nothing lies further out, the label says All reached in that many hops, and the depths past it are turned off because they would give the same answer. When more lies beyond the last hop, the next depth shows +, and the answer offers Go one hop deeper.
• Follow chooses which kinds of dependency count: Drawn connections, Data, APIs, Events, Layers and Structure. Structure starts off for every type, and Layers starts off for Depends on.

Route has no Depth: it returns the shortest route.

Read the answer on the canvas

While an answer is showing, the canvas dims every node the answer doesn't name. A label at the top of the canvas names what is shown and counts the named nodes on the board in view. Its close button stops the dimming.

Under the headline, one line says how many systems the elements sit in and the furthest hop they reach. When some are reached only through rows the diagram doesn't draw, it says how many. A Route answer says how many hops it takes, how many boards it crosses, and how many hops are not drawn.

Each answer can be read as a Picture or a Table, and opens on the picture. In both, a circle is a node and a square is an aspect row. A hollow mark or a dashed line is not drawn: an aspect proves it, but no board draws it.

Point at an element in a picture to light its route back to the start. A table shows 12 rows and the tree 14 until you select Show all.

Below the picture or table, Where splits the elements by system, What by kind, and Reached by by whether the last hop is a drawn connection or proven by code only. Below those, the panel lists open work items already changing the elements, insights about them, and boundary rules they break.

Follow an element

Select an element in the picture or the table, and the canvas moves to that element. It opens the element's board if that is another layer and brings the node into view. Everything outside the route that reaches it is dimmed. A table, endpoint, client, channel or page is shown through the node that owns it.

The panel then shows the route as a row of stops, with the evidence when an aspect proves the last hop. From there:

• Select a stop to move the canvas to it.
• Open the table (or endpoint, client, channel, page) opens an aspect row on its own screen.
• The close button returns the canvas to the whole answer.

On a Route answer, select any stop on the route to move the canvas to it.

Narrow the answer

The breakdowns are filters. Select a bar to narrow the table to it; in the picture, the elements outside it fade. Filters combine. Each one appears as a chip under the breakdowns, beside how many elements are left; select the chip to remove it, or Clear to remove them all.

Filtering narrows what is already in the panel. It doesn't fetch the answer again.

Save a route as an insight

Save as insight keeps one route as an insight on the board where the route starts. It appears on a selected element, and under a Route answer. View, on the confirmation, opens the new insight.

The insight's trail is the route, so it reads on the canvas step by step like any other insight. It is saved as an observation you wrote: approved on arrival, in no batch, and editable from the Insights Bar.

A saved insight is the route as it stood when you saved it. To get the same answer from the boards as they stand now, open the insight and select Ask this again in its header.

A whole impact or dependency answer can't be saved as one insight. Save the routes that matter.

Let an agent ask

An agent gets the same three answers through MCP access with trace_impact, trace_dependencies and find_path. All three need only the Read scope.

When an agent records a route with create_insight, it can pass the answer it came from as traceAsk. That insight then carries Ask this again, like one you saved yourself. MCP Tools lists every tool and its scope.

FAQ

Why does an element I expected not appear?

An answer shows what the boards and aspects record. Check that the scope includes the element's board, that Depth reaches it, and that Follow includes the kind of dependency that connects it. The note under the list says when reference links could not be resolved, which lowers the counts.

What does "Not drawn" mean?

The dependency is proven by an aspect, such as code that writes a table or a client that calls an endpoint, and has no edge on the diagram.

Is there a limit to how much an answer covers?

An answer lists the nearest 200 elements and says when there are more. A scope holding more than 20,000 elements is refused; pick a board lower in the tree.

Do uncommitted changes count?

Yes. An element or dependency that is still a proposal is included and marked proposed.

Can I link to an answer?

No. A link to a canvas can carry the open Dependencies panel, but not the element and type in it.

Is Dependencies on published boards?

No. It needs a signed-in session, and an insight saved from it is one you wrote, which a published board doesn't include.

What's next