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Show HN: Onboard-CLI, a LLM powered and AST-based tool to visualize codebase

Onboard-CLI, an open-source tool that uses LLMs and AST parsing to visualize and analyze codebases, has been released. The CLI generates interactive dependency graphs, detects architectural drift, and supports multiple programming languages including Go, JavaScript, and Python. Developers can use it to map code structures, enforce architecture rules, and integrate drift detection into CI/CD pipelines.

read3 min views1 publishedJul 8, 2026
Show HN: Onboard-CLI, a LLM powered and AST-based tool to visualize codebase
Image: source

Untitled.design.1.1.mp4 #

Developer platform for code parsing, systems profiling, and canvas-based node visualization.

Onboard-CLI is an advanced command-line interface tool and web-based visualizer designed to help developers quickly understand and map out large, complex codebases. By leveraging AST (Abstract Syntax Tree) parsing via Tree-sitter, Onboard-CLI generates structural topology graphs and enforces architectural boundaries, presenting them through an intuitive React Flow canvas.

AST Slicing Engine: Deep code parsing usingtree-sitter

for accurate structural node generation across multiple languages (Go, JS, TS, Python, Java).Interactive Visualizer (: Automatically spins up a local React Flow canvas (map

)http://localhost:3000/app

) to visually explore code paths, dependencies, and topological maps within a specified radius.Architecture Drift Detection (: Analyzes codebase againstdrift

)architecture.yml

rules to detect unauthorized cross-file imports and boundary violations, ensuring long-term code health.Comprehensive Ecosystem: Built-in commands for config management, impact analysis, code exporting, owner tracking, and project pulse.** Modern Tech Stack**: Blazing fast CLI written in Go, paired with a rich frontend utilizing Vite, React 19,@xyflow/react

(React Flow), Framer Motion, and Tailwind CSS.

Language Support: 5+ Built-in parsers (Go, TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Java).** Visualization Radius**: Configurable deep-mapping (default radius: 1, scales to complex dependency trees).** Rule Enforcement**: Sub-second boundary regex evaluation for architectural drift across thousands of files.** Frontend Performance**: Optimized canvas rendering for large node sets, powered by Vite & SWC/Oxc linting.

You can install Onboard-CLI using the provided installation scripts:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/onboard-cli/install.sh | bash

(Or run ./install.sh directly from the repository).

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://raw.githubusercontent.com/onboard-cli/install.ps1 -OutFile install.ps1; .\install.ps1

Generate the necessary .onboard

.

onboard init

For CI/CD fokes use below command to generate the necessary configurations and architecture.yaml

file

onboard init --template clean-architecture

(Available templates: generic, clean-architecture, modular-monolith, mvc, serverless)

Trigger the context engine to map a symbol or file path, and boot up the visualizer server.

onboard map --target "internal/parser" --radius 2

👉 Click the provided link ( http://localhost:3000/app) to view the interactive canvas. Press Ctrl+P in the UI to use the Fuzzy Finder! Toggle Dark Mode and Compact Mode from the top right.

Automatically map backend API routes to their exact file and line handler locations across various frameworks (Express, Gin, FastAPI, Spring).

onboard routes --protocol rest --framework express

Check for violations against your defined architecture rules.

onboard drift --rules architecture.yml

Integrate onboard drift

into your GitHub Actions workflow to enforce architectural boundaries on every Pull Request. Check out the template at docs/onboard-action.yml.

onboard impact

: Analyze the impact of a proposed code change.onboard owners

: Track code ownership and maintainers.onboard export

: Export graphical/AST data.onboard pulse

: Get a quick summary of codebase health and recent activity.

(Note: You can pass the --no-update-check global flag to any command to disable the automatic async version checker).

CLI Engine: Go, Cobra, Go-Tree-Sitter, YAML.** Web UI**: React 19, TypeScript, Vite,@xyflow/react

(React Flow), Tailwind CSS, Framer Motion, Lucide React.Code Highlighting & Markdown: Shiki, MDX, Rehype.

We welcome contributions! Please check out the cmd

and internal

directories for CLI logic, and the ui

directory for the React frontend.

Please read our Contributing Guidelines and AI Usage Policy before submitting a Pull Request.

  • Fork the repository
  • Create your feature branch ( git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature

) - Commit your changes ( git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature'

) - Push to the branch ( git push origin feature/amazing-feature

) - Open a Pull Request

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE

for more information.

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