tldr

Token-efficient code analysis for LLMs. 40+ commands across AST, call graph, data flow, security, and quality — output optimized for machine consumption.

Why

LLMs waste context on raw source dumps. tldr extracts the signal: function signatures, call graphs, taint flows, complexity metrics, dead code — as structured JSON that fits in a fraction of the tokens.

18 languages: Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, Go, Rust, Java, C, C++, Ruby, Kotlin, Swift, C#, Scala, PHP, Lua, Luau, Elixir, OCaml.

Install

Binary (recommended)

Download the latest binary for your platform from GitHub Releases.

Note: Pre-built binaries do not include semantic search (tldr semantic, tldr similar). For those commands, install via cargo with --features semantic (see below).

Cargo

cargo install tldr-cli

With semantic search (natural language code search via embeddings):

cargo install tldr-cli --features semantic

Quick start

# What's in this codebase?
tldr structure src/

# Who calls this function?
tldr impact parse_config src/

# Find dead code
tldr dead src/

# Security scan
tldr secure src/

# Full health dashboard
tldr health src/

Commands

AST Analysis (L1)

Command	Description
tree	File tree structure
structure	Code structure — functions, classes, imports
extract	Complete module info
imports	Parse import statements
importers	Find files importing a module

Call Graph (L2)

Command	Description
calls	Cross-file call graph
impact	Reverse call graph — who calls this?
dead	Dead code detection
hubs	Hub functions (centrality analysis)
whatbreaks	What breaks if target changes?

Data Flow (L3-L4)

Command	Description
reaching-defs	Reaching definitions
available	Available expressions (CSE detection)
dead-stores	Dead store detection (SSA-based)

Program Dependence (L5)

Command	Description
slice	Backward program slice
chop	Chop slice (forward + backward intersection)
taint	Taint flow analysis

Security

Command	Description
secure	Security dashboard
taint	Taint flows (injection, XSS)
vuln	Vulnerability scanning
api-check	API misuse patterns
resources	Resource leak detection

Quality & Metrics

Command	Description
smells	Code smells
complexity	Cyclomatic complexity
cognitive	Cognitive complexity
halstead	Halstead metrics
loc	Lines of code
churn	Git churn analysis
debt	Technical debt (SQALE)
health	Health dashboard
hotspots	Churn x complexity
clones	Code clone detection
cohesion	LCOM4 cohesion
coupling	Afferent/efferent coupling

Patterns & Architecture

Command	Description
patterns	Design pattern detection
inheritance	Class hierarchies
surface	API surface extraction

Contracts & Verification

Command	Description
contracts	Pre/postcondition inference
specs	Extract test specs
invariants	Infer invariants from tests
verify	Verification dashboard
interface	Interface contracts

Search & Context

Command	Description
search	BM25 search with structural context
semantic	Natural language code search *
similar	Find similar code fragments *
context	LLM-ready context from entry point
definition	Go-to-definition
explain	Comprehensive function analysis

* Requires the semantic feature: cargo install tldr-cli --features semantic

Aggregated

Command	Description
todo	Improvement suggestions
diff	AST-aware structural diff
fix	Diagnose and auto-fix errors
bugbot	Automated bug detection on changes

Output formats

--format json      # Default — structured, machine-readable
--format text      # Human-readable
--format compact   # Minified JSON for piping
--format sarif     # GitHub/VS Code integration
--format dot       # Graphviz visualization

Daemon mode

For repeated queries, the daemon caches results in memory:

tldr daemon start
tldr warm src/          # Pre-warm cache
tldr calls src/         # Fast — cache hit
tldr daemon stop

Documentation

For detailed documentation, see the docs/ folder:

• Installation Guide
• Setup Guide
• Troubleshooting
• MCP Integration
• Architecture
• Command Reference

License

AGPL-3.0