Impact Analysis Skill

Determine what code changes will affect and find dependencies using DevAC's Analytics Layer.

Triggers

This skill activates when users ask about:

• "what will this affect"
• "find dependencies"
• "impact of change"
• "call graph"
• "who calls this function"
• "what uses this"
• "ripple effect"

Capabilities

Affected Files Analysis

Determine which files would be impacted by changes to a specific file or symbol.

Dependency Graphs

Trace dependencies both upstream (what this depends on) and downstream (what depends on this).

Call Graph Exploration

Understand how functions call each other throughout the codebase.

Change Impact Assessment

Before making changes, understand the blast radius.

CLI Commands (Primary)

Use DevAC CLI commands for impact analysis. CLI is preferred for lower context overhead.

devac query affected

Get files that would be affected by changes to a specific file.

devac query affected src/core/auth.ts
devac query affected src/services/user.ts --depth 2

devac query deps

Get dependencies of a specific file or symbol.

devac query deps src/services/user.ts
devac query deps src/core/auth.ts --direction both

devac call-graph

Get the call graph for a specific function or method.

devac call-graph validateUser --depth 3
devac call-graph login --direction callers

devac query

Advanced queries for complex dependency analysis.

devac query "SELECT DISTINCT callee_symbol, callee_file FROM calls WHERE caller_file = 'src/core/auth.ts'"

Example Interactions

User: "What will be affected if I change the UserService class?"

Response approach:

1. Use devac query affected src/services/user.ts to find impacted files
2. Use devac call-graph UserService to show function-level impact
3. Present a summary of the blast radius with risk assessment

User: "Show me the call graph for the login function"

Response approach:

1. Use devac query symbol login to locate the function
2. Use devac call-graph login --depth 3
3. Visualize the call chain (callers and callees)

User: "What are the dependencies of the payment module?"

Response approach:

1. Use devac query deps src/payment/ on payment module files
2. Categorize into internal vs external dependencies
3. Highlight any circular dependencies

MCP Tools (Alternative)

If MCP server is configured, these tools provide equivalent functionality:

get_affected

get_affected(file_path: "src/core/auth.ts")

get_dependencies

get_dependencies(file_path: "src/services/user.ts")

get_call_graph

get_call_graph(symbol: "validateUser", depth: 3)

query_sql

SELECT DISTINCT callee_symbol, callee_file
FROM calls
WHERE caller_file = 'src/core/auth.ts'

Notes

• Impact analysis is most accurate after recent devac sync
• Consider running analysis before major refactoring
• Cross-repo impact is available when using hub mode
• Large blast radius may indicate tight coupling
• CLI and MCP share the same devac-core implementation and return identical results