Anvien Exploring

Exploring Codebases with Anvien

When to Use

• "How does authentication work?"
• "What's the project structure?"
• "Show me the main components"
• "Where is the database logic?"
• Understanding code you haven't seen before

Workflow

1. READ anvien://repos                          → Discover indexed repos
2. READ anvien://repo/{name}/context             → Codebase overview, check staleness
3. query({query: "<what you want to understand>"})  → Find related execution flows
4. context({name: "<symbol>"})            → Deep dive on specific symbol
5. READ anvien://repo/{name}/process/{name}      → Trace full execution flow

If step 2 says "Index is stale" → run anvien analyze in terminal.

Checklist

- [ ] READ anvien://repo/{name}/context
- [ ] query for the concept you want to understand
- [ ] Review returned processes (execution flows)
- [ ] context on key symbols for callers/callees
- [ ] READ process resource for full execution traces
- [ ] Read source files for implementation details

Resources

Tools

query — find execution flows related to a concept:

query({query: "payment processing"})
→ Processes: CheckoutFlow, RefundFlow, WebhookHandler
→ Symbols grouped by flow with file locations

context — 360-degree view of a symbol:

context({name: "validateUser"})
→ Incoming calls: loginHandler, apiMiddleware
→ Outgoing calls: checkToken, getUserById
→ Processes: LoginFlow (step 2/5), TokenRefresh (step 1/3)

Example: "How does payment processing work?"

1. READ anvien://repo/my-app/context       → 918 symbols, 45 processes
2. query({query: "payment processing"})
   → CheckoutFlow: processPayment → validateCard → chargeStripe
   → RefundFlow: initiateRefund → calculateRefund → processRefund
3. context({name: "processPayment"})
   → Incoming: checkoutHandler, webhookHandler
   → Outgoing: validateCard, chargeStripe, saveTransaction
4. Read src/payments/processor.ts for implementation details