dep-inspector-cli

Advanced CLI tool to analyze your Node.js project dependencies — with vulnerability scanning, outdated version detection, dependency chain tracing, and optional AI-powered insights via Groq.

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What it does

• 🌳 Dependency tree — visual tree of all your dependencies with outdated version highlights
• 🛡️ Vulnerability scan — runs npm audit and surfaces issues with severity levels
• 🔗 Dependency chains — traces exactly which package pulled in a vulnerable dependency
• 📦 Package info — shows homepage, author, repo link for each flagged package
• 🔄 Alternatives — suggests modern replacements for deprecated/risky packages
• 🤖 AI insights — optional Groq-powered analysis with actionable fix suggestions
• 📄 JSON output — machine-readable output for CI/CD pipelines

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Installation

npm install -g dep-inspector-cli

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Usage

Run from your project root (where package.json lives):

# Basic analysis
dep-inspector

# Same as above using explicit subcommand
dep-inspector analyze

# Enable AI-powered insights (requires GROQ_API_KEY)
dep-inspector --ai

# Output as JSON (great for CI/CD pipelines)
dep-inspector --json

# Limit dependency tree depth (useful for large projects)
dep-inspector --depth 3

# Combine flags
dep-inspector --ai --depth 2
dep-inspector analyze --json --depth 4

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Commands & Flags

Command / Flag	Description
dep-inspector	Run full analysis (default)
dep-inspector analyze	Explicit analyze subcommand
--ai	Enable AI analysis via Groq LLM
--json	Output results as JSON
--depth <n>	Limit dependency tree to n levels deep

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Example Output

🌳 Dependency Tree

└── my-project@1.0.0
    ├── axios@0.21.1 (latest: 1.7.2) ❌ HIGH
    ├── express@4.18.2
    │   ├── body-parser@1.20.1
    │   └── serve-static@1.15.0
    └── lodash@4.17.21

⚠️  Vulnerability Analysis

📦 axios
  Severity   : HIGH
  Version    : 0.21.1 → 1.7.2
  ⚠️  Breaking change possible!
  About      : Promise based HTTP client
  Docs       : https://axios-http.com
  Author     : Matt Zabriskie
  Repo       : https://github.com/axios/axios
  Alternative: —
  Tests      :
    - Test API calls
    - Validate request/response headers
  🔗 Chain: root → axios

💡 Fix Suggestions

  → axios: npm install axios@latest

✨ Analysis Complete

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AI Setup (optional)

The --ai flag uses Groq to provide detailed security analysis for each vulnerable package.

1. Get a free API key at console.groq.com
2. Create a .env file in your project root:

GROQ_API_KEY=your_groq_api_key_here

The AI will provide:

• Issue explanation
• Security impact assessment
• Recommended fix
• Alternative package suggestions

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CI/CD Integration

Use --json flag to integrate into your pipeline:

# Generate JSON report
dep-inspector --json > dep-report.json

# Fail build if any vulnerabilities found
dep-inspector --json | node -e "
  let data = '';
  process.stdin.on('data', d => data += d);
  process.stdin.on('end', () => {
    const r = JSON.parse(data);
    const count = Object.keys(r.vulnerabilities).length;
    if (count > 0) {
      console.error('Found ' + count + ' vulnerabilities. Failing build.');
      process.exit(1);
    }
    console.log('No vulnerabilities found.');
  });
"

GitHub Actions example:

- name: Check dependencies
  run: dep-inspector --json > dep-report.json

- name: Upload report
  uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
  with:
    name: dependency-report
    path: dep-report.json

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Requirements

• Node.js >= 16
• npm (must be available in PATH)
• GROQ_API_KEY in .env (only required for --ai flag)

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Tech Stack

• TypeScript — fully typed codebase
• Commander.js — CLI argument parsing
• Chalk — colored terminal output
• Ora — terminal spinner
• LangChain + Groq — AI analysis
• Semver — version comparison

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Contributing

Pull requests are welcome! For major changes, please open an issue first.

git clone https://github.com/Nevin100/Dep-inspector-nevin
cd Dep-inspector-nevin
npm install
npm run build

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License

MIT © Nevin Bali