# Valknut

> Source: <https://github.com/sibyllinesoft/valknut>
> Published: 2026-09-11 21:08:20+00:00

Valknut is a Rust-native analysis platform that combines structural heuristics, AST-driven complexity metrics, and documentation audits. The CLI ships with CI-friendly output, a documentation linter, and MCP endpoints for IDE automation.

- Docs site: [https://valknut.sibylline.dev](https://valknut.sibylline.dev)
- Live report snapshot: [https://valknut.sibylline.dev/report-dev.html](https://valknut.sibylline.dev/report-dev.html)

- **Comprehensive analysis pipeline** – structure, complexity, dependency graph, coverage, LSH clone detection, semantic cohesion, refactoring scoring, and health metrics driven by`AnalysisPipeline` .
- **Documentation awareness** – the bundled`doc-audit` command finds missing/dated READMEs, TODO clusters, and style regressions with language-specific scanners for Rust, Python, and TypeScript.
- **MCP integration** – run`valknut mcp-stdio` to expose a Model Context Protocol server.
- **High-performance internals** – arena allocation, shared AST caches, SIMD-accelerated similarity, and git-aware file discovery keep large repos manageable.
- **Modular architecture** – cleanly separated detector modules (LSH, complexity, structure, cohesion) with dedicated submodules for metrics, configuration, and analysis stages.
- **Battle-tested reports** – export JSONL/JSON/YAML/CSV/Markdown/HTML/Sonar/CI-summary formats plus colorized console summaries.

| Language | Status | Notes | 
|---|---|---|
| Python | ✅ Full support | Tree-sitter Python with structure/complexity/refactoring detectors | 
| TypeScript / JavaScript | ✅ Full support | Handles `.ts` ,`.tsx` ,`.js` ,`.jsx` ,`.mjs` ,`.cjs` | 
| Rust | ✅ Full support | Ownership-aware complexity & dependency graphs | 
| Go | 🚧 Beta | AST parsing works; recommendations still limited | 
| C++ | 🚧 Beta | Handles `.cpp` ,`.cxx` ,`.cc` ,`.hpp` ,`.h` and more; tested against 40+ major OSS repos | 
| C# | 🚧 Beta | Types, members, calls, and `using` dependencies for`.cs` projects | 

**C++ Support (Beta)**: The C++ adapter has been validated against major open source codebases including fmt, nlohmann/json, googletest, protobuf, OpenCV, TensorFlow, and others with 99%+ parse success rates. Feedback welcome via [GitHub Issues](https://github.com/sibyllinesoft/valknut/issues).

Valknut currently exposes only these adapters in `src/lang/registry.rs`. Other extensions will be skipped unless/until dedicated adapters are implemented.

| Command | Purpose | 
|---|---|
| `valknut analyze [PATH]` | Run the full analysis pipeline with selectable profiles and output formats | 
| `valknut doc-audit --root REPO` | Audit READMEs, TODO hot-spots, and stale docs using the `doc_audit` crate | 
| `valknut list-languages` | Display the runtime language matrix (driven by the actual adapters) | 
| `valknut init-config` /`print-default-config` | Scaffold or inspect `valknut.yml` | 
| `valknut validate-config --config valknut.yml` | Sanity-check custom configuration files | 
| `valknut mcp-stdio` /`mcp-manifest` | Launch the MCP server or emit a manifest for IDE agents | 

Pre-built binaries for supported platforms:

```
npm install -g @sibyllinesoft/valknut
```

| Platform | Architecture | Supported | 
|---|---|---|
| Linux | x64 (glibc) | ✅ | 
| macOS | x64 | ✅ | 
| macOS | ARM64 (Apple Silicon) | ✅ | 
| Windows | x64 | ✅ | 

```
brew tap sibyllinesoft/valknut
brew install valknut
cargo install valknut-rs
```

For platforms without pre-built binaries (ARM Linux, Alpine/musl), compile from source:

```
cargo install --git https://github.com/sibyllinesoft/valknut
# Fast scan with JSONL output (default profile)
valknut analyze ./src --format jsonl

# HTML + Markdown bundle for stakeholders
valknut analyze ./ --format html --profile thorough

# Documentation audit with strict exit codes
valknut doc-audit --root . --strict

# List the languages compiled into your build
valknut list-languages
```

- `--profile fast|balanced|thorough|extreme` selects how many detectors and optimizations run.
- `--no-structure` ,`--no-impact` ,`--no-lsh` , etc., mirror`analysis.modules.*` toggles in`valknut.yml` .
- Clone detection controls live under `--semantic-clones` ,`--denoise` ,`--min-function-tokens` , etc.

**Structure Analysis** – deterministic directory/file re-organization packs (`src/detectors/structure/`) surface imbalance, whale files, and recommended splits with dedicated modules for cohesion, imports, and partitioning.

**Complexity Intelligence** – AST-backed cyclomatic/cognitive metrics and severity classification per entity (`src/detectors/complexity/`).

**Semantic Cohesion** – TF-IDF weighted symbol extraction and optional embedding-based analysis for measuring how well related code entities are grouped (`src/detectors/cohesion/`).

**Dependency & Impact Analysis** – `ProjectDependencyAnalysis` builds call graphs, detects cycles, and feeds choke-point scoring plus similarity cliques.

**Clone Detection (opt-in)** – locality-sensitive hashing with shingle generation, AST-based stop motif filtering, and SIMD-accelerated similarity for semantic clone clusters (`src/detectors/lsh/`).

**Coverage Awareness** – auto-discover or pin coverage files, surface gap summaries, and include them in health metrics.

**Refactoring Scoring** – aggregated feature vectors drive health, maintainability, and technical-debt indices for gating.

GitHub Actions example:

```
name: Valknut Quality Gate
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  quality:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm install -g @sibyllinesoft/valknut
      - run: |
          valknut analyze ./src \
            --format html \
            --out quality-reports \
            --quality-gate \
            --max-complexity 70 \
            --min-health 65
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        if: always()
        with:
          name: quality-reports
          path: quality-reports
```

Quality gates can also be expressed in config (`analysis.quality`) or via CLI flags (`--max-debt`, `--max-issues`, `--max-critical`, etc.).

The `doc-audit` command walks the repo, scores directory complexity, and tracks README freshness:

```
valknut doc-audit --root . --complexity-threshold 10 --max-readme-commits 8 --strict
```

Use `--ignore-dir` / `--ignore-suffix` to skip generated assets. The audit exits non-zero in `--strict` mode when gaps exist, making it ideal for CI.

- **Model Context Protocol** :`valknut mcp-stdio` exposes the analyze/list/gate abilities to IDE agents. Use`valknut mcp-manifest --output manifest.json` to publish the schema from`src/bin/cli/commands.rs` .

- Run `valknut init-config` to generate`.valknut.yml` (see`valknut.yml.example` for every toggle).
- CLI → API → pipeline config layers are merged via `src/bin/cli/config_layer.rs` . Settings such as coverage search paths, structure thresholds, or LSH tuning can live in config files, environment variables, or direct flags.
- Profiles, module toggles, and quality gates can be version-controlled to keep CI deterministic.

Select via `--format`:

- `jsonl` ,`json` ,`yaml` – machine-friendly ingestion.
- `markdown` ,`html` ,`pretty` – human-friendly reports powered by`src/io/reports` handlebars templates.
- `csv` – spreadsheet-ready metrics.
- `sonar` – SonarQube compatibility.
- `ci-summary` – concise JSON for bots.

```
cargo fmt && cargo clippy
cargo test
./scripts/install_parsers.sh  # install/update tree-sitter grammars
```

The codebase follows a modular architecture with clear separation of concerns:

- `src/core/` – pipeline orchestration, AST services, dependency analysis
- `src/detectors/` – analysis modules (complexity, structure, lsh, cohesion, coverage)
- `src/doc_audit/` – documentation gap detection with language-specific scanners
- `src/bin/cli/` – command handling, quality gates, config building, report generation

Helpful references:

- `docs/CLI_USAGE.md` – CLI walkthroughs.
- `docs/ARCHITECTURE_DEEP_DIVE.md` – November 2025 architectural analysis and modernization plan.
- `docs/CONFIG_GUIDE.md` /`docs/QUALITY_GATES_GUIDE.md` – configuration details.

MIT License – see [LICENSE](/sibyllinesoft/valknut/blob/main/LICENSE).