GitNexus/gitnexus
Gergő Magyar 46606cf210 feat(workers): self-healing worker pool + deferred-resolution observability (#1741) (#1947)
* fix(workers): fail fast instead of silently degrading on worker-pool startup failure (#1741)

When an explicitly-sized worker pool (--workers <N>) fails to start because
every worker crashes during top-of-script init, the parse phase used to log a
swallowed `logger.warn` and silently fall back to the ~10x slower sequential
parser. In #1741 (rc99) that turned a worker-startup regression into a
123-minute "stuck" parse with no explanation.

This change:
- Surfaces the real crash: the pool now spawns workers with `{ stderr: true }`,
  tees + captures each worker's stderr, and attaches the tail to its
  readiness-failure messages (propagated via
  WorkerPoolInitializationError.readinessFailures). "did not report ready"
  now carries the underlying native-binding/import error.
- Gates the fallback: when --workers was explicit and fallback was not opted
  into, a total startup failure throws an actionable error instead of
  degrading. Auto-sized pools still fall back, but loudly (logger.error +
  progress warning). New --allow-sequential-fallback flag (+ i18n) opts back in.
- Adds env-gated worker bootstrap-stage logging (GITNEXUS_WORKER_BOOTSTRAP /
  --verbose): imports+grammars loaded -> ready sent -> first task received, so
  a slow/crashing startup is diagnosable.

Tests: all-workers-failed gating (fatal vs loud degrade), stderr surfacing,
and the updated lazy-cache fallback contract (opt-in flag + fail-fast).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* feat(ingestion): always-on slow-file watchdog for deferred call resolution (#1741)

The original #1741 symptom is a run that appears stuck at "Resolving calls
(all chunks)... (9000/18066 files)" — the progress bar freezes inside a single
file's call resolution and nothing reaches the log. Rich per-file deferred
diagnostics already exist, but only behind --verbose / GITNEXUS_PROFILE_DEFERRED,
so a plain `analyze` run gives the user a frozen bar and silence.

Add an always-on (not verbose-gated) per-file watchdog in
processCallsFromExtracted: when a single file's call resolution exceeds
alwaysOnSlowFileWarnMs() (default 15s, override GITNEXUS_SLOW_FILE_WARN_MS,
0 disables) it emits a throttled logger.warn naming the culprit file and the
files-resolved-so-far — turning the silent stall into one actionable line.
Throttled (>=30s between warnings) so a genuinely slow repo can't storm the log.
The watchdog is observation-only; resolution behavior is unchanged.

Note: deliberately did NOT add a heritage child x parent product cap — the name
lookups are O(1) (type-registry Map.get) and the product is bounded, so the
heritage build is not the bottleneck; a cap would risk dropping real edges for
no measured gain.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* test(ingestion): worker-vs-sequential parity guard for binding/edge collapse (#1741)

rc99 produced almost no bindings/edges (13 bindings vs rc91's 106,305) because
a worker-path failure left extracted results unmerged while the run still
reported success. Rather than an arbitrary "implausibly low" runtime threshold
(which false-positives on legitimately low-binding repos/languages), pin the
invariant directly: for the same repo, worker mode and sequential mode must
produce the same graph.

The test runs the ts-simple cross-file fixture through worker mode
(workerPoolSize + lowered threshold) and sequential mode (skipWorkers), and
asserts: usedWorkerPool is true/false respectively (guards the test itself
against a silent fallback masking divergence), identical CALLS/IMPORTS/DEFINES/
HAS_METHOD edge sets and Class/Function/Method defs, and non-zero CALLS/IMPORTS
(the rc99 collapse signature).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix(workers): arm fail-fast for env-sized pools + fix watchdog /0 denominator (#1741)

Addresses two review findings on the #1741 worker-startup PR:

- Fail-fast gate missed the env channel. `explicitWorkers` keyed only off
  the `--workers` flag, so a pool sized via `GITNEXUS_WORKER_POOL_SIZE`
  (with no `--workers`) silently degraded to sequential on a total
  worker-startup crash — reproducing the original #1741 symptom for
  env-channel operators. The gate now arms on a non-zero size from either
  channel, via a single-source `envWorkerPoolSize()` helper exported from
  worker-pool.ts (also rewired through resolveAutoPoolSize). The fatal
  message now names the channel actually used instead of "--workers undefined".

- Always-on slow-file watchdog printed "Resolved N/0 files". `resolvedTotal`
  was pre-counted only on the profile path, but the watchdog reads it on
  every run, so a plain `analyze` showed a bogus /0 denominator on exactly
  the unprofiled hang the watchdog exists to explain. Pre-count now runs
  whenever its result is read (profile path OR watchdog active).

Tests: strengthened the watchdog test to assert "1/1" (not "/0"); added
env-channel fail-fast/degrade cases and made the gating suite hermetic
against an ambient GITNEXUS_WORKER_POOL_SIZE.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* feat(workers): self-healing worker pool replaces the fail-fast flag (#1741)

Replaces the interim --allow-sequential-fallback flag with automatic,
bounded self-healing in the worker pool — industry-standard supervision
(OTP restart-intensity, systemd StartLimit, circuit-breaker, AWS jittered
backoff) translated to the Node worker_threads pool.

worker-pool.ts — bounded startup self-heal (the missing layer):
- A worker that crashes during top-of-script init is now RETRIED with
  capped, full-jitter backoff (BASE 250ms, CAP 2s) up to a small per-slot
  budget, so a transient blip heals itself with no operator action. The
  prior code dropped an unready initial slot on its first crash.
- A DETERMINISTIC crash-loop (>=2 fresh workers crash with the same
  normalized signature before any reaches ready — the #1741 missing
  native-binding case) is detected and short-circuited, so the pool gives
  up in ~1s instead of burning every slot's budget. Correctness rests on
  the STRUCTURAL signal (zero workers ever ready + budget exhausted), so a
  missed signature only costs a few seconds, never a misfire; even a
  stderr-less crash groups via its normalized "exited with code N" message.
- Backoff sleeps are cancellable (unref'd timer + abort on terminate), so
  terminate() can't be wedged for the backoff duration.
- WorkerPoolInitializationError now carries a crashClass for an accurate,
  flag-free message. The runtime respawn/breaker path is unchanged.

parse-impl.ts — collapse to automatic fail-fast:
- handleWorkerStartupFailure always logs the real cause then THROWS with
  the captured crash + `--workers 0` as the explicit sequential escape.
  No more degrade branch; no dependence on how the pool was sized. This is
  reached only after the bounded self-heal is exhausted, so it can't
  resurrect the #1741 silent 123-minute sequential grind. Construction
  failure (broken install) also fails fast instead of degrading silently.

Removed --allow-sequential-fallback end to end (CLI, run-analyze, pipeline,
i18n). --workers 0 remains the explicit "parse sequentially" path; one flag
removed, none added. Grounded in a research+critique pass; the critique's
hazards (N-parallel race, empty-stderr timing, non-cancellable sleep,
runtime-breaker regression) are addressed or scoped out by design.

Tests: startup self-heal (transient recovers; deterministic fails fast
without burning the budget); gating test rewritten to the fail-fast-always
contract; obsolete degrade test removed.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix(workers): ref + cancel startup backoff so transient retries aren't dropped (#1741 U1)

abortableSleep unref'd its backoff timer, so a transient startup retry could be
silently dropped if that timer was the last ref'd handle on the event loop —
the process could exit mid-recovery. Keep the timer ref'd (a pending retry is
necessary work) and register a cancel fn in a pool-scoped set; terminate() now
clears pending backoffs so it can't be wedged for the backoff cap. A normally
fired timer self-deregisters (clear-on-settle), so no timer lingers after a
slot's retry loop exits. Exposes pendingStartupTimers in getStats.

Tests: terminate-during-backoff cancels + spawns nothing after (R2); the
recovery test now asserts no startup timer lingers after settle (R1).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix(workers): route GITNEXUS_WORKER_POOL_SIZE=0 to sequential, not a phantom fail-fast (#1741 U2)

env=0 (no --workers) built a size-0 pool that threw a fabricated "retry budget
exhausted / native binding" crash. The shouldUseWorkers gate now routes env=0
to the sequential path before pool construction — but only when no explicit
--workers <N> was given, so an explicit positive size wins over an ambient
env=0. The route emits one log line so the undocumented (possibly accidental)
env=0 case is observable instead of a silent degrade.

envWorkerPoolSize is un-exported (module-internal sizing reader); a new
workerPoolDisabledByEnv() predicate serves the gate. Empty/whitespace env is
now treated as unset (auto formula), not 0 — an empty assignment is an accident,
not a request for zero workers. Reattached the detached resolveAutoPoolSize
JSDoc and corrected the stale docstring.

Tests: env=0 → sequential (no spawn); explicit --workers wins over env=0;
workerPoolDisabledByEnv unit (0=true, positive/empty/invalid=false); getStats
shape updated for pendingStartupTimers.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix(workers): make deterministic crash-loop detection conservative (#1741 U3)

The old tally counted crash EVENTS in a shared signature->count map, so a
simultaneous transient crash storm (e.g. spawn EAGAIN under fork pressure) or
a single slot crashing identically twice falsely tripped "deterministic" and
hard-aborted work that would have self-healed. Replace it: a crash counts
toward deterministic only after its signature REPRODUCES across a respawn on
the same slot, and the short-circuit fires once >=2 distinct slots reproduced
(or 1 for a size-1 pool). Every slot now gets >=1 self-heal attempt before any
short-circuit; the structural budget floor still bounds the worst case.

crashSignature now also collapses Windows backslash paths and bare (no-0x) hex
runs so the fast-path fires on those platforms; exported for unit testing.

Tests: simultaneous storm self-heals (the discriminator vs an attempt-0 rule);
distinct-per-attempt crashes classify transient-exhausted; single-slot
reproduction classifies deterministic; crashSignature normalization unit.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix(workers): class-aware startup failure hint + reattach detached JSDoc (#1741 U4)

The "often a missing/broken native binding" hint was appended to every
failure class, including a pool *construction* failure where no worker ever
ran (a missing build / bad worker path). Make the hint class-aware: keep it
for the readiness/init classes, use a construction-specific hint otherwise,
and surface the construction error (e.g. "Worker script not found: …")
verbatim. Reattach the waitForWorkerReady JSDoc that the stderr-capture block
had detached from its function. (The abortableSleep docstring was already
corrected in U1.)

Tests: construction message surfaces the real error + drops the native-binding
guess; deterministic/transient messages keep the hint (regression guard).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-05-31 13:52:04 +01:00
..
.claude feat(cpp): sfinae filter (#1623) 2026-05-16 20:23:13 +01:00
bench perf(ingestion): linearize scope-capture across all languages + Python import resolution (O(n²)→O(n)) (#1918) 2026-05-30 19:44:22 +01:00
hooks feat(setup): implement antigravity integration setup and hook adapter… (#1730) 2026-05-25 14:46:17 +01:00
scripts fix(lbug): resolve non-ASCII paths for KuzuDB on Windows (#1811) (#1817) 2026-05-25 21:28:12 +01:00
shadow-parity-dashboard feat(ingestion): shadow-mode parity harness + static dashboard (#923, RFC #909 Ring 2 PKG) (#972) 2026-04-18 21:30:43 +01:00
skills docs: clarify PostToolUse hook is notification-only, not auto-reindex (#1070) 2026-04-26 06:06:15 +01:00
src feat(workers): self-healing worker pool + deferred-resolution observability (#1741) (#1947) 2026-05-31 13:52:04 +01:00
test feat(workers): self-healing worker pool + deferred-resolution observability (#1741) (#1947) 2026-05-31 13:52:04 +01:00
vendor fix(install): materialize vendored grammars to fix Windows EPERM (#1728) (#1729) 2026-05-21 16:47:22 +01:00
.env.example feat: add .env.example, empty batch guard, dimension mismatch warning 2026-03-20 20:15:59 -04:00
.npmignore fix: add preinstall cleanup to prevent ENOTEMPTY on global upgrade (#843) 2026-04-15 14:10:49 +01:00
CHANGELOG.md chore: release v1.6.5 (#1645) 2026-05-16 17:11:25 +01:00
Dockerfile.test fix(security): Pin Docker Node base images, remove runtime package-manager CVE surface, verify Trivy on PRs, and harden Dependabot policy (#1455) 2026-05-09 16:55:31 +01:00
package-lock.json chore(deps)(deps): bump node-addon-api from 8.7.0 to 8.8.0 in /gitnexus (#1911) 2026-05-30 06:23:31 +01:00
package.json chore(ci): consolidate parity shards and narrow cross-platform matrix (#1798) 2026-05-24 12:10:10 +01:00
README.md feat(cli): add --uid/--file/--kind disambiguation flags to impact (#1907) (#1914) 2026-05-30 11:03:13 +01:00
tsconfig.json feat: configure prettier with pre-commit hook (#563) 2026-03-28 14:58:04 +00:00
tsconfig.test.json test: add test suite with vitest (unit + integration + fixtures) 2026-03-01 20:07:02 +05:30
vitest.config.ts fix(lbug): resolve non-ASCII paths for KuzuDB on Windows (#1811) (#1817) 2026-05-25 21:28:12 +01:00

GitNexus

Graph-powered code intelligence for AI agents. Index any codebase into a knowledge graph, then query it via MCP or CLI.

Works with Cursor, Claude Code, Antigravity (Google), Codex, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode, and any MCP-compatible tool.

npm version License: PolyForm Noncommercial


Why?

AI coding tools don't understand your codebase structure. They edit a function without knowing 47 other functions depend on it. GitNexus fixes this by precomputing every dependency, call chain, and relationship into a queryable graph.

Three commands to give your AI agent full codebase awareness.

Quick Start

# Index your repo (run from repo root)
npx gitnexus analyze

That's it. This indexes the codebase, installs agent skills, registers Claude Code hooks, and creates AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md context files — all in one command.

To configure MCP for your editor, run npx gitnexus setup once — or set it up manually below.

gitnexus setup auto-detects your editors and writes the correct global MCP config. You only need to run it once.

Editor Support

Editor MCP Skills Hooks (auto-augment) Support
Claude Code Yes Yes Yes (PreToolUse) Full
Cursor Yes Yes Yes (postToolUse, manual install) Full
Antigravity (Google) Yes Yes Yes (AfterTool, Gemini CLI hooks schema) Full
Codex Yes Yes — MCP + Skills
Windsurf Yes — — MCP
OpenCode Yes Yes — MCP + Skills

Claude Code gets the deepest integration: MCP tools + agent skills + PreToolUse hooks that automatically enrich grep/glob/bash calls with knowledge graph context.

Community Integrations

Agent Install Source
pi pi install npm:pi-gitnexus pi-gitnexus

MCP Setup (manual)

If you prefer to configure manually instead of using gitnexus setup:

Claude Code (full support — MCP + skills + hooks)

# macOS / Linux
claude mcp add gitnexus -- npx -y gitnexus@latest mcp

# Windows
claude mcp add gitnexus -- cmd /c npx -y gitnexus@latest mcp

Codex (full support — MCP + skills)

codex mcp add gitnexus -- npx -y gitnexus@latest mcp

Cursor / Windsurf

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global — works for all projects):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gitnexus": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@latest", "mcp"]
    }
  }
}

OpenCode

Add to ~/.config/opencode/config.json:

{
  "mcp": {
    "gitnexus": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "gitnexus@latest", "mcp"]
    }
  }
}

How It Works

GitNexus builds a complete knowledge graph of your codebase through a multi-phase indexing pipeline:

  1. Structure — Walks the file tree and maps folder/file relationships
  2. Parsing — Extracts functions, classes, methods, and interfaces using Tree-sitter ASTs
  3. Resolution — Resolves imports and function calls across files with language-aware logic
    • Field & Property Type Resolution — Tracks field types across classes and interfaces for deep chain resolution (e.g., user.address.city.getName())
    • Return-Type-Aware Variable Binding — Infers variable types from function return types, enabling accurate call-result binding
  4. Clustering — Groups related symbols into functional communities
  5. Processes — Traces execution flows from entry points through call chains
  6. Search — Builds hybrid search indexes for fast retrieval

The result is a LadybugDB graph database stored locally in .gitnexus/ with full-text search and semantic embeddings.

MCP Tools

Your AI agent gets these tools automatically:

Tool What It Does repo Param
list_repos Discover all indexed repositories —
query Process-grouped hybrid search (BM25 + semantic + RRF) Optional
context 360-degree symbol view — categorized refs, process participation Optional
impact Blast radius analysis with depth grouping and confidence Optional
detect_changes Git-diff impact — maps changed lines to affected processes Optional
rename Multi-file coordinated rename with graph + text search Optional
cypher Raw Cypher graph queries Optional

With one indexed repo, the repo param is optional. With multiple, specify which: query({query: "auth", repo: "my-app"}).

MCP Resources

Resource Purpose
gitnexus://repos List all indexed repositories (read first)
gitnexus://repo/{name}/context Codebase stats, staleness check, and available tools
gitnexus://repo/{name}/clusters All functional clusters with cohesion scores
gitnexus://repo/{name}/cluster/{name} Cluster members and details
gitnexus://repo/{name}/processes All execution flows
gitnexus://repo/{name}/process/{name} Full process trace with steps
gitnexus://repo/{name}/schema Graph schema for Cypher queries

MCP Prompts

Prompt What It Does
detect_impact Pre-commit change analysis — scope, affected processes, risk level
generate_map Architecture documentation from the knowledge graph with mermaid diagrams

CLI Commands

gitnexus setup                   # Configure MCP for your editors (one-time)
gitnexus analyze [path]          # Index a repository (or update stale index)
gitnexus analyze --repair-fts    # Fast path: rebuild/verify only FTS indexes on existing index data
gitnexus analyze --force         # Full rebuild: re-parse + graph rebuild + FTS rebuild
gitnexus analyze --embeddings    # Enable embedding generation (slower, better search)
gitnexus analyze --skip-agents-md  # Preserve custom AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md gitnexus section edits
gitnexus analyze --verbose       # Log skipped files when parsers are unavailable
gitnexus analyze --max-file-size 1024  # Skip files larger than N KB (default: 512, cap: 32768)
gitnexus analyze --worker-timeout 60  # Increase worker idle timeout for slow parses
gitnexus analyze --wal-checkpoint-threshold 67108864  # 64 MiB. Control LadybugDB WAL auto-checkpoint threshold (default: 67108864 = 64 MiB; -1 keeps Ladybug stock ~16 MiB)
gitnexus mcp                     # Start MCP server (stdio) — serves all indexed repos
gitnexus serve                   # Start local HTTP server (multi-repo) for web UI
gitnexus index                   # Register an existing .gitnexus/ folder into the global registry
gitnexus list                    # List all indexed repositories
gitnexus status                  # Show index status for current repo
gitnexus clean                   # Delete index for current repo
gitnexus clean --all --force     # Delete all indexes
gitnexus wiki [path]             # Generate LLM-powered docs from knowledge graph
gitnexus wiki --model <model>    # Wiki with custom LLM model (default: gpt-4o-mini)

# Direct graph queries — the same tools the MCP server exposes, no MCP daemon needed
gitnexus query "<concept>"                                    # Process-grouped hybrid search
gitnexus context <symbol> [--uid <uid> | --file <path>]       # 360° symbol view; flags disambiguate a shared name
gitnexus impact <symbol> [--uid <uid> | --file <path> | --kind <kind>]  # Blast radius; flags disambiguate a shared name
gitnexus detect-changes          # Map the working-tree diff to affected symbols and execution flows
gitnexus cypher "<query>"        # Run a raw Cypher query against the knowledge graph

# Repository groups (multi-repo / monorepo service tracking)
gitnexus group create <name>                                   # Create a repository group
gitnexus group add <group> <groupPath> <registryName>          # Add a repo to a group. <groupPath> is a hierarchy path (e.g. hr/hiring/backend); <registryName> is the repo's name from the registry (see `gitnexus list`)
gitnexus group remove <group> <groupPath>                      # Remove a repo from a group by its hierarchy path
gitnexus group list [name]                                     # List groups, or show one group's config
gitnexus group sync <name>                                     # Extract contracts and match across repos/services
gitnexus group contracts <name>  # Inspect extracted contracts and cross-links
gitnexus group query <name> <q>  # Search execution flows across all repos in a group
gitnexus group status <name>     # Check staleness of repos in a group

Remote Embeddings

Set these env vars to use a remote OpenAI-compatible /v1/embeddings endpoint instead of the local model:

export GITNEXUS_EMBEDDING_URL=http://your-server:8080/v1
export GITNEXUS_EMBEDDING_MODEL=BAAI/bge-large-en-v1.5
export GITNEXUS_EMBEDDING_DIMS=1024          # optional, default 384
export GITNEXUS_EMBEDDING_API_KEY=your-key   # optional, default: "unused"
gitnexus analyze . --embeddings

Works with Infinity, vLLM, TEI, llama.cpp, Ollama, LM Studio, or OpenAI. When unset, local embeddings are used unchanged.

Multi-Repo Support

GitNexus supports indexing multiple repositories. Each gitnexus analyze registers the repo in a global registry (~/.gitnexus/registry.json). The MCP server serves all indexed repos automatically.

Supported Languages

TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Java, C, C++, C#, Go, Rust, PHP, Kotlin, Swift, Ruby

Language Feature Matrix

Language Imports Named Bindings Exports Heritage Type Annotations Constructor Inference Config Frameworks Entry Points
TypeScript ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
JavaScript ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ — ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Python ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Java ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ — ✓ ✓
Kotlin ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ — ✓ ✓
C# ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Go ✓ — ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Rust ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ — ✓ ✓
PHP ✓ ✓ ✓ — ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Ruby ✓ — ✓ ✓ — ✓ — ✓ ✓
Swift — — ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
C — — ✓ — ✓ ✓ — ✓ ✓
C++ — — ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ — ✓ ✓

Imports — cross-file import resolution · Named Bindings — import { X as Y } / re-export tracking · Exports — public/exported symbol detection · Heritage — class inheritance, interfaces, mixins · Type Annotations — explicit type extraction for receiver resolution · Constructor Inference — infer receiver type from constructor calls (self/this resolution included for all languages) · Config — language toolchain config parsing (tsconfig, go.mod, etc.) · Frameworks — AST-based framework pattern detection · Entry Points — entry point scoring heuristics

Agent Skills

GitNexus ships with skill files that teach AI agents how to use the tools effectively:

  • Exploring — Navigate unfamiliar code using the knowledge graph
  • Debugging — Trace bugs through call chains
  • Impact Analysis — Analyze blast radius before changes
  • Refactoring — Plan safe refactors using dependency mapping

Installed automatically by both gitnexus analyze (per-repo) and gitnexus setup (global).

Requirements

  • Node.js >= 18
  • Git repository (uses git for commit tracking)

Release candidates

Stable releases publish to the default latest dist-tag. When a pull request with non-documentation changes merges into main, an automated workflow also publishes a prerelease build under the rc dist-tag, so early adopters can try in-flight fixes without waiting for the next stable cut. (Docs-only merges are skipped.)

# Try the latest release candidate (pre-stable — may change at any time)
npm install -g gitnexus@rc
# — or —
npx gitnexus@rc analyze

Release-candidate versions follow the standard semver prerelease format X.Y.Z-rc.N, where X.Y.Z is the next stable target (bumped from the current latest by patch by default; minor or major when kicking off a bigger cycle) and N increments per published rc. Example sequence: 1.6.2-rc.1, 1.6.2-rc.2, …, then once 1.6.2 ships stable, 1.6.3-rc.1. See the Releases page for the full list; stable latest is unaffected.

Troubleshooting

Cannot destructure property 'package' of 'node.target' as it is null

This crash was caused by a dependency URL format that is incompatible with certain npm/arborist versions (npm/cli#8126). It is fixed in gitnexus v1.6.2+. Upgrade to the latest version:

npx gitnexus@latest analyze          # always uses the newest release
# — or —
npm install -g gitnexus@latest       # upgrade a global install

If you still hit npm install issues after upgrading, these generic workarounds may help:

npm install -g npm@latest            # update npm itself
npm cache clean --force              # clear a possibly corrupt cache

Installation fails with native module errors

Some optional language grammars (Dart, Kotlin, Swift) require native compilation. If they fail, GitNexus still works — those languages will be skipped.

If npm install -g gitnexus fails on native modules:

# Ensure build tools are available (Linux/macOS)
# Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt install python3 make g++
# macOS: xcode-select --install

# Retry installation
npm install -g gitnexus

Analyze warns about unavailable FTS or VECTOR extensions

GitNexus uses optional DuckDB extensions for BM25 and vector search. The gitnexus serve and MCP read paths only ever try to LOAD the extensions — they never block on a network install. The analyze command, by default, attempts one bounded out-of-process INSTALL if LOAD fails and proceeds even when that install times out, so the index is always written to disk; BM25/vector search degrade gracefully until the extensions become available.

Configure the behavior with two environment variables:

Variable Values Default Effect
GITNEXUS_LBUG_EXTENSION_INSTALL auto, load-only, never auto auto runs one bounded INSTALL if LOAD fails. load-only only uses already-installed extensions (recommended for offline / firewalled environments). never skips optional extensions entirely.
GITNEXUS_LBUG_EXTENSION_INSTALL_TIMEOUT_MS positive integer 15000 Wall-clock budget for the out-of-process INSTALL child before it is killed.
GITNEXUS_WAL_CHECKPOINT_THRESHOLD integer >= -1 67108864 (64 MiB) LadybugDB WAL auto-checkpoint threshold during analyze (bytes). Auto-checkpoint remains enabled; -1 keeps Ladybug's stock ~16 MiB. Larger thresholds reduce checkpoint frequency but increase the WAL size at rotation time — choose a smaller value on disk-constrained environments.
# Offline/airgapped: never reach the network for extensions
GITNEXUS_LBUG_EXTENSION_INSTALL=load-only npx gitnexus analyze

# Slow network: give extension downloads more time
GITNEXUS_LBUG_EXTENSION_INSTALL_TIMEOUT_MS=30000 npx gitnexus analyze

Analysis runs out of memory

For very large repositories:

# Increase Node.js heap size
NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=16384" npx gitnexus analyze

# Exclude large directories
echo "vendor/" >> .gitnexusignore
echo "dist/" >> .gitnexusignore

Large files are being skipped

By default the walker skips files larger than 512 KB (see log line Skipped N large files (>512KB)). Raise the threshold via either the CLI flag or the environment variable — both accept a value in KB:

# CLI flag (takes precedence over the env var)
npx gitnexus analyze --max-file-size 2048     # skip only files > 2 MB

# Environment variable (persists across commands)
export GITNEXUS_MAX_FILE_SIZE=2048
npx gitnexus analyze

Values above 32768 KB (32 MB) are clamped to the tree-sitter parser ceiling; invalid values fall back to the 512 KB default with a one-time warning. When an override is active, analyze prints the effective threshold in its startup banner (e.g. GITNEXUS_MAX_FILE_SIZE: effective threshold 2048KB (default 512KB)).

Analyze reports a worker timeout

Worker parse timeouts are recoverable. GitNexus retries stalled worker jobs with backoff, splits large jobs to isolate slow files, and falls back to the sequential parser when needed. If a large repository needs more time per worker job, use either:

# CLI flag, in seconds
npx gitnexus analyze --worker-timeout 60

# Environment variable, in milliseconds
export GITNEXUS_WORKER_SUB_BATCH_TIMEOUT_MS=60000
npx gitnexus analyze

For repositories with very large source files, GITNEXUS_WORKER_SUB_BATCH_MAX_BYTES controls the worker job byte budget. The default is 8388608 bytes (8 MB).

Worker pool resilience tuning

Three env vars expose the pool's resilience layers (respawn budget, cumulative-timeout cap, circuit breaker). Defaults are tuned for typical repos; bump them when an analyze legitimately needs more retries, or lower them to fail-fast on a known-bad shape.

Variable Default Effect
GITNEXUS_WORKER_MAX_RESPAWNS_PER_SLOT 3 Max replacement spawns per slot before the slot is dropped from the active rotation.
GITNEXUS_WORKER_MAX_CUMULATIVE_TIMEOUT_MS 5 × subBatchTimeoutMs Total retry wall-time budget per job before quarantining. Bounds exponentially-growing retry waits.
GITNEXUS_WORKER_CONSECUTIVE_FAILURE_THRESHOLD max(3, poolSize) Per-slot consecutive deaths before the pool's circuit breaker trips. After tripping, dispatches require a fresh pool.

Privacy

  • All processing happens locally on your machine
  • No code is sent to any server
  • Index stored in .gitnexus/ inside your repo (gitignored)
  • Global registry at ~/.gitnexus/ stores only paths and metadata

Web UI

GitNexus also has a browser-based UI at gitnexus.vercel.app — 100% client-side, your code never leaves the browser.

Local Backend Mode: Run gitnexus serve and open the web UI locally — it auto-detects the server and shows all your indexed repos, with full AI chat support. No need to re-upload or re-index. The agent's tools (Cypher queries, search, code navigation) route through the backend HTTP API automatically.

License

PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0

Free for non-commercial use. Contact for commercial licensing.