gitnexus context

360-degree view of a code symbol

Syntax

gitnexus context [name]

Description

Provides a 360-degree view of a code symbol: callers, callees, processes it participates in, and more. This is a direct CLI wrapper for the context MCP tool.

Use this to understand:

• Who calls this symbol
• What this symbol calls
• Which execution flows use this symbol
• Where this symbol is defined
• Related symbols in the same cluster

Arguments

name · string

Symbol name to look up (e.g., “validateUser”, “AuthService”).

Omit if using --uid for direct lookup.

Options

--repo · string

Target repository name. Omit if only one repository is indexed.

--uid · string

Direct symbol UID for zero-ambiguity lookup.

Example: --uid "file:src/auth.ts:function:validateUser"

--file · string

File path to disambiguate common symbol names.

Example: --file src/auth/validator.ts

--content · boolean

Include full symbol source code in results.

Default: false

Usage Examples

Look up symbol by name

gitnexus context validateUser

Disambiguate with file path

gitnexus context Logger --file src/utils/logger.ts

Direct UID lookup

gitnexus context --uid "file:src/auth.ts:function:validateUser"

Include source code

gitnexus context validateUser --content

Specific repository

gitnexus context AuthService --repo backend-api

Output Format

Results are returned as JSON on stderr:

{
  "symbol": {
    "name": "validateUser",
    "type": "Function",
    "file": "src/auth/validator.ts",
    "line": 42,
    "uid": "file:src/auth/validator.ts:function:validateUser"
  },
  "callers": [
    {
      "name": "login",
      "file": "src/auth/login.ts",
      "line": 18,
      "type": "Function"
    }
  ],
  "callees": [
    {
      "name": "hashPassword",
      "file": "src/auth/crypto.ts",
      "line": 12,
      "type": "Function"
    }
  ],
  "processes": [
    {
      "name": "user_authentication_flow",
      "entry_point": "login"
    }
  ],
  "cluster": "auth",
  "content": "export function validateUser(username: string, password: string) { ... }"
}

When to Use

Use gitnexus context instead of the MCP tool when:

• Writing shell scripts
• Running in CI/CD pipelines
• Performing batch analysis
• You need machine-readable output
• Debugging from the terminal

For interactive use in AI editors, the MCP tool is preferred.

Symbol Disambiguation

When multiple symbols share the same name (e.g., multiple Logger classes), use --file to disambiguate:

gitnexus context Logger --file src/utils/logger.ts

Or use --uid for zero-ambiguity lookup:

gitnexus context --uid "file:src/utils/logger.ts:class:Logger"

Multi-Repo Support

If you have multiple repositories indexed, specify which one:

gitnexus context AuthService --repo backend-api

Output Destination

All output goes to stderr instead of stdout because KuzuDB’s native module captures stdout at the OS level.

To redirect to a file:

gitnexus context validateUser 2> context.json

Related Commands

• gitnexus query — Search for execution flows
• gitnexus impact — Blast radius analysis
• gitnexus cypher — Raw graph queries