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msd-core/docs/features/graphify-cli-first-graph-queries.md
Michel Moreira 76ef60ba25 enhance(#4836): prefer the graphify CLI for planner and researcher graph queries (#4874)
* enhance(#4836): prefer the graphify CLI for planner and researcher graph queries

The planner gets one knowledge-graph query per phase and the researcher two
or three, and that single shot decides which modules the plan treats as
related — and therefore how tasks are ordered into waves. It was spent on
the built-in reader, which seeds by case-insensitive substring match over a
node's label and description and then expands a hardcoded two hops. The
phase "User Authentication" seeds on `author`, `authoring` and
`unauthorized` with the same weight as `authenticate`, and when the
inflated payload exceeds `--budget` the trimmer drops edges by confidence
tier — so the highest-confidence tier can be discarded to fit a payload
that bad seeding inflated in the first place.

The graphify CLI is already a hard dependency of /gsd-graphify build, and
it ranks seeds (IDF weighting, trigram fuzzy matching) and applies context
filters before traversal. Both prompts now prefer it and fall back to the
built-in reader, branching on `command -v graphify` — the same degradation
shape the repo already uses for Context7 to ctx7. Binary presence is a
self-satisfying gate: a graph can only exist if the binary built it, so the
fallback covers edge cases (a CI checkout with a committed graph, a binary
since removed), not the common path. No new config key and no new tool
grant — both agents already have Bash.

The planner additionally runs `graphify affected`. The reference states its
own goal as "which subsystems may be affected by changes in this phase",
which is literally reverse traversal by relation; the built-in reader only
approximates it with undirected two-hop expansion and has no equivalent
verb, so `affected` is skipped on the fallback path.

`graphify status` now reports `graph_path`, the resolved absolute graph
location, on both the present and the missing branch. The CLI takes the
graph location as `--graph`, and the prompts must not re-derive
`.planning/graphs/graph.json` for it: that would point the CLI at a
non-existent local mirror in exactly the umbrella multi-repo setup
`graphify.graph_path` (#1825) exists to serve. For the same reason the
presence gate in both prompts is now the `status` call itself rather than a
bare `ls` of the default location, which was already blind to the override.

Known limit, stated in both prompts rather than implied: the two paths
return different shapes. `graphify query` emits prose and has no `--json`
flag; the built-in emits JSON with per-edge confidence tiers and
budget_met/budget_estimate. `--budget` also counts rendered output on one
and estimated payload bytes on the other (#2738) — same flag name,
different unit. Both are read by a model and nothing machine-parses the
injected block. With graphify absent from PATH the injected context is
byte-identical to before.

Closes #4836

Emitted-Drift-Ack-Growth: gsd-phase-researcher.md — the CLI-first branch, the reason it is preferred, and the output-shape warning are the deliverable; a pointer to a part would not be read at the decision point.
Emitted-Drift-Ack-Growth: gsd-planner.md — one sentence in the load_graph_context step pointer, so it stops naming the default graph path the reference no longer assumes.

* docs(#4836): record the CLI-first graph query in the planner and researcher entries

* chore(#4836): add changeset fragment

* enhance(#4836): name the full domain word in the planner's query-term examples

The reference's own example — phase "User Authentication" → term "auth" — is
the exact collision the CLI-first path exists to avoid, and it stays a
collision whenever the fallback path runs, since that path matches the term as
a substring of label and description.

* fix(#4836): surface graph_path on the unparseable-graph status branch

graphifyStatus() returned graph_path on the exists:true and exists:false
outcomes but not on the third, error, outcome (graph.json present but
unparseable). The planner/researcher prompts gate CLI-first dispatch on
exists, not on this outcome, so a corrupt graph file made them fall
through to the CLI-first branch with the literal <graph> placeholder and
no real path to substitute.

* docs(#4836): note graph_path's trust boundary at the --graph interpolation

graph_path is reflected verbatim into a double-quoted --graph argument the
agent executes via Bash. It comes from graphify.graph_path, a config
surface already trusted elsewhere, so this isn't a new trust boundary --
but it is a new injection site (no --graph flag existed on this call
before). One-line caution for anyone hardening this later.

---------

Co-authored-by: Tom Boucher <trekkie@nomorestars.com>
2026-09-22 19:59:45 -04:00

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3.0 KiB
Markdown

---
id: 4836
title: Graphify CLI Preferred for Planner and Researcher Graph Queries
group: v1.7.0 Features
---
**Purpose:** `gsd-planner` gets **one** knowledge-graph query per phase and
`gsd-phase-researcher` gets two or three. That single shot decides which modules
the plan treats as related, and therefore how tasks are ordered into waves. It
was spent on the built-in reader, which seeds by case-insensitive **substring**
match over a node's label and description and then expands a hardcoded two hops
— so the phase "User Authentication" seeds on `author`, `authoring`, and
`unauthorized` with exactly the same weight as `authenticate`, and when the
inflated result exceeds `--budget` the trimmer drops edges by confidence tier.
The `graphify` CLI, already a hard dependency of `/gsd-graphify build`, ranks
seeds (IDF weighting, trigram fuzzy matching) and applies context filters before
traversal.
**Both prompts now prefer the CLI and fall back to the built-in reader.** The
branch is `command -v graphify`, the same degradation shape the repo already
uses for Context7 → `ctx7` in `references/research-documentation-lookup.md`. No
new config key: a `graph.json` can only exist if `graphify update .` ran, which
requires the binary, so binary presence is a self-satisfying gate. The fallback
covers edge cases — a CI checkout with a committed graph, a binary since removed
— not the common path. No new tool grant either: both agents already have
`Bash`.
**The planner additionally runs `graphify affected`.** The reference states its
own goal as "which subsystems may be affected by changes in this phase", which is
literally reverse traversal by relation. The built-in reader only approximates it
with undirected two-hop expansion, and has no equivalent verb, so `affected` is
skipped on the fallback path.
**`gsd-tools graphify status` now returns `graph_path`.** The CLI takes the graph
location as `--graph`, and the prompts must not re-derive
`.planning/graphs/graph.json` for it — that would point the CLI at a
non-existent local mirror in exactly the umbrella multi-repo setup
`graphify.graph_path` (#1825) exists to serve. `status` already resolves the
override, so it now reports the absolute path it resolved, on both the
graph-present and the graph-missing branch. For the same reason the presence gate
in both prompts is now the `status` call itself rather than a bare `ls` of the
default location.
**Known limits:**
- **The two paths return different shapes.** `graphify query` emits prose and has
no `--json` flag; `gsd-tools graphify query` emits JSON with per-edge
confidence tiers and `budget_met`/`budget_estimate`. Both are consumed by a
model, and nothing machine-parses this block, but the prompts now say so
explicitly instead of implying a stable shape.
- **`--budget` means different things on the two paths** — rendered output on the
CLI, estimated payload bytes in the built-in reader (#2738). Same flag name,
different unit.
- With `graphify` absent from `PATH` the fallback runs and the injected graph
context is byte-identical to before.