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

> Source: <https://github.com/animesh-94/Onboard-CLI>
> Published: 2026-07-08 20:09:03+00:00

## 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 using`tree-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 against`drift`

)`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](/animesh-94/Onboard-CLI/blob/main/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](/animesh-94/Onboard-CLI/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md) and [AI Usage Policy](/animesh-94/Onboard-CLI/blob/main/AI_USAGE.md) 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.