dependency-graph.md

title	See the dependency graph
summary	`mdsmith deps` lists what a file pulls in — includes, catalogs, build inputs, and links — or, with `--incoming`, every file that points at it. The LSP call-hierarchy walks the same graph in your editor.
icon	network
weight	10
group	A connected docs tree
link	/reference/cli/deps/

See the dependency graph

mdsmith already tracks every cross-file edge: <?include?>, <?catalog?>, <?build?>, and Markdown links. The same graph that powers cross-file integrity checks answers two questions directly.

To see what a file pulls in, ask for its outgoing edges:

mdsmith deps docs/index.md

To see what depends on a file — run this before you move or delete a page, so a refactor never strands an include or a link — ask for its incoming edges:

mdsmith deps docs/api.md --incoming

Output is one row per edge, in text or JSON, with stable keys for CI and agents. Exit codes follow the usual convention: 0 when edges exist, 1 when none, 2 on error.

The editor surface is the same graph. mdsmith lsp exposes it as a call hierarchy: walk incoming and outgoing edges over includes, catalogs, builds, and links without leaving the file. The CLI and the LSP read one index, so a dependency the command prints is the dependency the editor navigates.

See the mdsmith deps reference and the LSP reference.