Always read `COMPONENT_GUIDE.md` before building any UI feature. It contains decision trees for choosing the right component, composition patterns, and the full component index.
This project is indexed by GitNexus as **design-system** (1479 symbols, 2371 relationships, 24 execution flows). Use the GitNexus MCP tools to understand code, assess impact, and navigate safely.
> If any GitNexus tool warns the index is stale, run `npx gitnexus analyze` in terminal first.
## Always Do
- **MUST run impact analysis before editing any symbol.** Before modifying a function, class, or method, run `gitnexus_impact({target: "symbolName", direction: "upstream"})` and report the blast radius (direct callers, affected processes, risk level) to the user.
- **MUST run `gitnexus_detect_changes()` before committing** to verify your changes only affect expected symbols and execution flows.
- **MUST warn the user** if impact analysis returns HIGH or CRITICAL risk before proceeding with edits.
- When exploring unfamiliar code, use `gitnexus_query({query: "concept"})` to find execution flows instead of grepping. It returns process-grouped results ranked by relevance.
- When you need full context on a specific symbol — callers, callees, which execution flows it participates in — use `gitnexus_context({name: "symbolName"})`.
## When Debugging
1.`gitnexus_query({query: "<error or symptom>"})` — find execution flows related to the issue
2.`gitnexus_context({name: "<suspect function>"})` — see all callers, callees, and process participation
3.`READ gitnexus://repo/design-system/process/{processName}` — trace the full execution flow step by step
4. For regressions: `gitnexus_detect_changes({scope: "compare", base_ref: "main"})` — see what your branch changed
## When Refactoring
- **Renaming**: MUST use `gitnexus_rename({symbol_name: "old", new_name: "new", dry_run: true})` first. Review the preview — graph edits are safe, text_search edits need manual review. Then run with `dry_run: false`.
- **Extracting/Splitting**: MUST run `gitnexus_context({name: "target"})` to see all incoming/outgoing refs, then `gitnexus_impact({target: "target", direction: "upstream"})` to find all external callers before moving code.
- After any refactor: run `gitnexus_detect_changes({scope: "all"})` to verify only expected files changed.
## Never Do
- NEVER edit a function, class, or method without first running `gitnexus_impact` on it.
- NEVER ignore HIGH or CRITICAL risk warnings from impact analysis.
- NEVER rename symbols with find-and-replace — use `gitnexus_rename` which understands the call graph.
- NEVER commit changes without running `gitnexus_detect_changes()` to check affected scope.
Before completing any code modification task, verify:
1.`gitnexus_impact` was run for all modified symbols
2. No HIGH/CRITICAL risk warnings were ignored
3.`gitnexus_detect_changes()` confirms changes match expected scope
4. All d=1 (WILL BREAK) dependents were updated
## Keeping the Index Fresh
After committing code changes, the GitNexus index becomes stale. Re-run analyze to update it:
```bash
npx gitnexus analyze
```
If the index previously included embeddings, preserve them by adding `--embeddings`:
```bash
npx gitnexus analyze --embeddings
```
To check whether embeddings exist, inspect `.gitnexus/meta.json` — the `stats.embeddings` field shows the count (0 means no embeddings). **Running analyze without `--embeddings` will delete any previously generated embeddings.**
> Claude Code users: A PostToolUse hook handles this automatically after `git commit` and `git merge`.
## CLI
| Task | Read this skill file |
|------|---------------------|
| Understand architecture / "How does X work?" | `.claude/skills/gitnexus/gitnexus-exploring/SKILL.md` |
| Blast radius / "What breaks if I change X?" | `.claude/skills/gitnexus/gitnexus-impact-analysis/SKILL.md` |
| Trace bugs / "Why is X failing?" | `.claude/skills/gitnexus/gitnexus-debugging/SKILL.md` |
