Getting Started

Introduction

Nest Graph Inspector generates runtime dependency graphs from your NestJS application.

Nest Graph Inspector is a NestJS module that generates a runtime dependency graph from the Nest application container to be visualized dynamically in our Interactive Web Viewer or exported to JSON.

The generated graph shows:

  • Loaded modules from the root module
  • Import relationships between modules
  • Providers and controllers in each module
  • Dependencies between providers/controllers
  • Internal dependencies, external module dependencies, and selected NestJS core dependencies
You can try the interactive viewer directly at our View Page.
The graph is generated from the runtime Nest container, not from static source parsing. What you see is what's actually running.

Use Cases

Important to see what's actual problem that can be solved with this, we think you have them too!

Impact Analysis

  • narrowing regression test scope to the most relevant modules/providers
  • reducing unnecessary testing for unrelated areas
  • understanding the likely blast radius before making a change

Test Prioritization

  • selecting critical providers/use cases for fast validation
  • understanding dependency chains between providers/controllers
  • prioritizing which flows should be checked first after a change

Architecture Visibility

  • onboarding engineers faster
  • spotting highly coupled modules/providers
  • making refactors safer by visualizing relationships before changes

What You Get

When you add Nest Graph Inspector to your project, it produces a complete map of your application architecture:

Module Graph

See every module and how they import each other.

Provider Dependencies

Trace which providers depend on which, across module boundaries.

Controller Dependencies

Understand what each controller needs to function.

Interactive Web Viewer

Explore results dynamically in our Interactive Web Viewer to understand complex interactions at a glance.

Version Support

Official support: NestJS 10-11.

Earlier versions may still work but are not officially supported. You can force install with npm install nest-graph-inspector --force. If it works for you, raise an issue so support coverage can be updated.