impact

---
name: "impact"
description: "Blast radius analysis via GitNexus CLI (gitnexus). CLI ONLY - NO MCP server exists, never use readMcpResource with gitnexus://."
license: "MIT"
---

# GitNexus Impact Analysis

> **CLI ONLY — no MCP server exists. Never use `readMcpResource` with `gitnexus://` URIs.**

Analyze the blast radius of changing a symbol — who calls it, what processes it participates in, and what tests cover it.

> **Self-Evolving Skill**: This skill improves through use. If instructions are wrong, parameters drifted, or a workaround was needed — fix this file immediately, don't defer. Only update for real, reproducible issues.

## When to Use

- Before modifying a function with many callers
- "What breaks if I change X?"
- "Is it safe to modify Y?"
- "What's the blast radius of changing Z?"

## Workflow

### Step 0: Pre-flight — Ensure CLI Is Callable

The `gitnexus` binary is installed via npm/mise. The mise shim may fail if node isn't active in the current project. Run this pre-flight before any gitnexus command:

```bash
# Test if gitnexus is actually callable (not just a broken shim)
gitnexus --version 2>/dev/null || mise use node@25.8.0
```

All commands below run from the repo root. If multiple repos are indexed in the workspace, add `--repo <repo-name>` to specify the target. Otherwise `--repo` is optional.

### Step 1: Auto-Reindex If Stale

```bash
gitnexus status
```

If stale (indexed commit ≠ HEAD), **automatically reindex before proceeding** — do not ask the user:

```bash
gitnexus analyze
```

Then re-check status to confirm index is current.

### Step 2: Upstream Blast Radius

```bash
gitnexus impact "<symbol>" --depth 3
```

This shows everything that depends on the symbol (callers, transitive callers up to depth 3).

If multiple candidates are returned, disambiguate:

```bash
gitnexus impact "<symbol>" --uid "<full-uid>" --depth 3
# or
gitnexus impact "<symbol>" --file "<file-path>" --depth 3
```

### Step 3: Downstream Dependencies (Optional)

```bash
gitnexus impact "<symbol>" --direction downstream --depth 3
```

Shows what the symbol depends on — useful for understanding if dependencies might change.

### Step 4: Test Coverage

```bash
gitnexus impact "<symbol>" --include-tests
```

Shows which test files exercise this symbol.

### Step 5: Risk Assessment

Based on the number of direct dependents:

| Dependents | Risk Level   | Recommendation                                      |
| ---------- | ------------ | --------------------------------------------------- |
| < 5        | **LOW**      | Safe to modify with basic testing                   |
| 5–20       | **MEDIUM**   | Review all callers, run related tests               |
| 20–50      | **HIGH**     | Consider backward-compatible API, extensive testing |
| 50+        | **CRITICAL** | Needs deprecation strategy, phased migration        |

### Step 6: Structured Report

Present:

- **Risk level** with dependent count
- **Top affected processes** — execution flows that include this symbol
- **Direct callers** — functions/methods that call this directly
- **Test coverage** — tests that exercise this symbol (or gaps)
- **Recommendation** — safe to modify, needs tests, needs migration plan

## Example

User: "What breaks if I change RangeBarProcessor?"

```bash
gitnexus impact "RangeBarProcessor" --depth 3
gitnexus impact "RangeBarProcessor" --include-tests
```

Output: "CRITICAL risk — 73 dependents across 12 processes. 8 test files cover it. Recommend backward-compatible changes only."

## Post-Execution Reflection

After this skill completes, reflect before closing the task:

0. **Locate yourself.** — Find this SKILL.md's canonical path before editing.
1. **What failed?** — Fix the instruction that caused it.
2. **What worked better than expected?** — Promote to recommended practice.
3. **What drifted?** — Fix any script, reference, or dependency that no longer matches reality.
4. **Log it.** — Evolution-log entry with trigger, fix, and evidence.

Do NOT defer. The next invocation inherits whatever you leave behind.