Installation

Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 18 — codebase-vis uses ESM modules and modern JS features
• C++ compiler toolchain — required by tree-sitter to compile native parser modules on first install

Platform	Package
Linux	build-essential (sudo apt install build-essential)
macOS	Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install)
Windows	MSVC Build Tools or Visual Studio with "Desktop development with C++"

Install Globally

npm install -g codebase-vis

Run Without Installing

npx codebase-vis <command>

Verify Installation

codebase-vis --help

You should see the list of available commands with their flags and descriptions.

Platform Notes

Linux

Make sure build-essential or equivalent is installed before running npm install -g codebase-vis, as tree-sitter needs to compile native C++ bindings.

macOS

Run xcode-select --install if you haven't already. This installs clang, make, and other build tools.

Windows

Install "Desktop development with C++" workload via the Visual Studio Installer. Both MSVC and Clang toolchains work.

Updating

npm update -g codebase-vis

codebase-vis also checks for updates automatically once per hour when you run any command (non-blocking, prints a yellow notice if a newer version is available).