Madge is a developer tool for generating a visual graph of your module dependencies, finding circular dependencies, and giving you other useful info. Joel Kemp’s awesome dependency-tree is used for extracting the dependency tree.

• Works for JavaScript (AMD, CommonJS, and ES6 modules)
• Also works for CSS preprocessors (Sass, Stylus, and Less)
• NPM installed dependencies are excluded by default (can be enabled)
• All core Node.js modules (assert, path, fs, etc) are excluded
• Will traverse child dependencies automatically

Read the changelog for latest changes.

I’ve worked with Madge on my free time for the last couple of years and it’s been a great experience. It started as an experiment but turned out to be a very useful tool for many developers. I have many ideas for the project and it would definitely be easier to dedicate more time to it with some financial support 🙏

Regardless of your contribution, thanks for your support!

Examples

Graph generated from madge’s own code and dependencies.

A graph with circular dependencies. Blue has dependencies, green has no dependencies, and red has circular dependencies.

See it in action

Installation

npm -g install madge

Graphviz (optional)

Graphviz is only required if you want to generate visual graphs (e.g. in SVG or DOT format).

Mac OS X

brew install graphviz || port install graphviz

Ubuntu

apt-get install graphviz

API

madge(path: string|array|object, config: object)

path is a single file or directory, or an array of files/directories to read. A predefined tree can also be passed in as an object.

config is optional and should be the configuration to use.

Returns a Promise resolved with the Madge instance object.

Functions

.obj()

Returns an Object with all dependencies.

const madge = require('madge');

madge('path/to/app.js').then((res) => {
	console.log(res.obj());
});

.warnings()

Returns an Object of warnings.

const madge = require('madge');

madge('path/to/app.js').then((res) => {
	console.log(res.warnings());
});

.circular()

Returns an Array of all modules that have circular dependencies.

const madge = require('madge');

madge('path/to/app.js').then((res) => {
	console.log(res.circular());
});

.circularGraph()

Returns an Object with only circular dependencies.

const madge = require('madge');

madge('path/to/app.js').then((res) => {
	console.log(res.circularGraph());
});

.depends()

Returns an Array of all modules that depend on a given module.

const madge = require('madge');

madge('path/to/app.js').then((res) => {
	console.log(res.depends('lib/log.js'));
});

.orphans()

Return an Array of all modules that no one is depending on.

const madge = require('madge');

madge('path/to/app.js').then((res) => {
	console.log(res.orphans());
});

.leaves()

Return an Array of all modules that have no dependencies.

const madge = require('madge');

madge('path/to/app.js').then((res) => {
	console.log(res.leaves());
});

.dot([circularOnly: boolean])

Returns a Promise resolved with a DOT representation of the module dependency graph. Set circularOnly to only include circular dependencies.

const madge = require('madge');

madge('path/to/app.js')
	.then((res) => res.dot())
	.then((output) => {
		console.log(output);
	});

.image(imagePath: string, [circularOnly: boolean])

Write the graph as an image to the given image path. Set circularOnly to only include circular dependencies. The image format to use is determined from the file extension. Returns a Promise resolved with a full path to the written image.

const madge = require('madge');

madge('path/to/app.js')
	.then((res) => res.image('path/to/image.svg'))
	.then((writtenImagePath) => {
		console.log('Image written to ' + writtenImagePath);
	});

.svg()

Return a Promise resolved with the XML SVG representation of the dependency graph as a Buffer.

const madge = require('madge');

madge('path/to/app.js')
	.then((res) => res.svg())
	.then((output) => {
		console.log(output.toString());
	});

Configuration

You can use configuration file either in .madgerc in your project or home folder or directly in package.json. Look here for alternative locations for the file.

.madgerc

{
  "fontSize": "10px",
  "graphVizOptions": {
    "G": {
      "rankdir": "LR"
    }
  }
}

package.json

{
  "name": "foo",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  ...
  "madge": {
    "fontSize": "10px",
    "graphVizOptions": {
      "G": {
        "rankdir": "LR"
      }
    }
  }
}

CLI

Examples

List dependencies from a single file

madge path/src/app.js

List dependencies from multiple files

madge path/src/foo.js path/src/bar.js

List dependencies from all *.js files found in a directory

madge path/src

List dependencies from multiple directories

madge path/src/foo path/src/bar

List dependencies from all *.js and *.jsx files found in a directory

madge --extensions js,jsx path/src

Finding circular dependencies

madge --circular path/src/app.js

Show modules that depends on a given module

madge --depends wheels.js path/src/app.js

Show modules that no one is depending on

madge --orphans path/src/

Show modules that have no dependencies

madge --leaves path/src/

Excluding modules

madge --exclude '^(foo|bar)\.js$' path/src/app.js

Save graph as a SVG image (requires Graphviz)

madge --image graph.svg path/src/app.js

Save graph with only circular dependencies

madge --circular --image graph.svg path/src/app.js

Save graph as a DOT file for further processing (requires Graphviz)

madge --dot path/src/app.js > graph.gv

Using pipe to transform tree (this example will uppercase all paths)

madge --json path/src/app.js | tr '[a-z]' '[A-Z]' | madge --stdin

Debugging

To enable debugging output if you encounter problems, run madge with the --debug option then throw the result in a gist when creating issues on GitHub.

madge --debug path/src/app.js

Running tests

npm install
npm test

Creating a release

npm run release

FAQ

Missing dependencies?

It could happen that the files you’re not seeing have been skipped due to errors or that they can’t be resolved. Run madge with the --warning option to see skipped files. If you need even more info run with the --debug option.

Using both Javascript and Typescript in your project?

Madge uses dependency-tree which uses filing-cabinet to resolve modules. However it requires configurations for each file type (js/jsx) and (ts/tsx). So provide both webpackConfig and tsConfig options to madge.

Using mixed import syntax in the same file?

Only one syntax is used by default. You can use both though if you’re willing to take the degraded performance. Put this in your madge config to enable mixed imports.

For ES6 + CommonJS:

{
  "detectiveOptions": {
    "es6": {
      "mixedImports": true
    }
  }
}

For TypeScript + CommonJS:

{
  "detectiveOptions": {
    "ts": {
      "mixedImports": true
    }
  }
}

How to ignore import type statements in ES6 + Flow?

Put this in your madge config.

{
  "detectiveOptions": {
    "es6": {
      "skipTypeImports": true
    }
  }
}

How to ignore import in type annotations in TypeScript?

Put this in your madge config.

{
  "detectiveOptions": {
    "ts": {
      "skipTypeImports": true
    }
  }
}

How to ignore dynamic imports in Typescript?

Put this in your madge config.

{
  "detectiveOptions": {
    "ts": {
      "skipAsyncImports": true
    },
    "tsx": {
      "skipAsyncImports": true
    }
  }
}

Note: tsx is optional, use this when working with JSX.

Mixing TypesScript and Javascript imports?

Ensure you have this in your .tsconfig file.

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "commonjs",
    "allowJs": true
  }
}

What’s the “Error: write EPIPE” when exporting graph to image?

Ensure you have installed Graphviz. If you’re running Windows, note that Graphviz is not added to the PATH variable during install. You should add the folder of gvpr.exe (typically %Graphviz_folder%/bin) to the PATH variable manually.

How do I fix the “Graphviz not built with triangulation library” error when using sfdp layout?

Homebrew doesn’t include GTS by default. Fix this by doing:

brew uninstall graphviz
brew install gts
brew install graphviz

The image produced by madge is very hard to read, what’s wrong?

Try running madge with a different layout, here’s a list of the ones you can try:

• dot “hierarchical” or layered drawings of directed graphs. This is the default tool to use if edges have directionality.

• neato "spring model'' layouts. This is the default tool to use if the graph is not too large (about 100 nodes) and you don’t know anything else about it. Neato attempts to minimize a global energy function, which is equivalent to statistical multi-dimensional scaling.

• fdp "spring model'' layouts similar to those of neato, but does this by reducing forces rather than working with energy.

• sfdp multiscale version of fdp for the layout of large graphs.

• twopi radial layouts, after Graham Wills 97. Nodes are placed on concentric circles depending their distance from a given root node.

• circo circular layout, after Six and Tollis 99, Kauffman and Wiese 02. This is suitable for certain diagrams of multiple cyclic structures, such as certain telecommunications networks.

Credits

Contributors

This project exists thanks to all the people who contribute.

Donations ❤️

Thanks to the awesome people below for making donations! 🙏Donate

License

MIT License