DevLens

A CLI tool to quickly understand unfamiliar codebases through structured analysis.

DevLens is a lightweight CLI tool that analyzes a codebase and provides a structured summary of its technology stack, architecture, and organization.

It is designed to help developers quickly understand unfamiliar repositories without manual exploration.

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Installation

Option 1: Install globally

go install ./cmd/devlens

Ensure your Go bin directory is added to PATH:

C:\Users\<your-username>\go\bin

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Option 2: Build locally

go build -o devlens.exe ./cmd/devlens

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Usage

Analyze a project

devlens analyze .

Analyze a remote repository (fast mode)

devlens analyze https://github.com/user/repo --fast

• Uses GitHub API (no cloning required)
• Faster for large repositories
• May have limited accuracy for framework detection

JSON output

devlens analyze . --json

or

devlens analyze . --json > report.json

Other commands

devlens --version
devlens --help

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Features

Technology Detection

Identifies technologies using file patterns such as:

• go.mod → Go
• package.json → Node.js
• requirements.txt → Python
• Dockerfile → Docker
• firebase.json → Firebase

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Framework Detection

Detects commonly used frameworks, including:

• React, Next.js, Vite
• FastAPI, Django, Flask
• Express.js

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Project Type Inference

Infers project type based on structure and files:

• CLI Tool
• Backend Service
• Frontend Application

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Structure Analysis

Identifies key directories and their roles:

• /backend, /api → backend logic
• /frontend, /ui → frontend layer
• /scripts → automation
• /config → configuration

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Entry Point Detection

Detects likely entry points such as:

• main.go
• app.py
• index.js
• App.jsx

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Observations

Provides heuristic insights such as:

• Dockerized setup detected
• Environment variables used
• Monorepo-like structure
• Presence of test files

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Example Output

Standard Output

DevLens Analysis

Project Type:
  CLI Tool

Tech Stack:
 - Backend: Go

Frameworks:

Entry Points:
 - cmd/devlens/main.go

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JSON Output

{
  "project_type": "CLI Tool",
  "tech_stack": {
    "Backend": "Go"
  },
  "frameworks": [],
  "entry_points": [
    "cmd/devlens/main.go"
  ]
}

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Design Philosophy

• Prefer simple heuristics over complex parsing
• Optimize for speed and clarity
• Avoid external dependencies
• Keep behavior predictable and transparent

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Limitations

• Heuristic-based detection may not cover all edge cases
• No deep code parsing
• Framework detection is best-effort

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Roadmap

• Parallel scanning for performance improvement
• Enhanced architecture detection
• Project complexity analysis
• Plugin system
• Editor integrations

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please open an issue or submit a pull request for improvements or feature suggestions.

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License

MIT