CodeNavigator/README.md

CodeNavigator

See your code as a city. CodeNavigator indexes a GitHub repository (or, if you allow it, a local folder) and turns it into a place you can explore: a zoomable map, a 3D landscape, and a walkable night-time city where every file is a building and every folder is a street.

It's a single Go binary with no dependencies beyond the standard library. It serves both the indexing API and the browser frontend (plain ES modules and WebGL2, no build step).

What you can do

	2D map: a squarified treemap of every file, sized by lines or references, with source code rendered right on the tiles as you zoom in.
	3D landscape: the same map extruded, orbit, pan and dolly around it.
	City: folders become districts and blocks, files become buildings (footprint from lines, height from complexity, lit windows from definitions). Select a file to see its imports as cyan routes and its dependents as pulsing magenta routes along the streets.
	Walk and fly at street level past lit doorways, passing traffic, streetlights, bins, benches and trees, with signs on every wall, folder street signs on the corners, source code on the facade in front of you, wandering residents and a city wall covered in posters.

Also:

• Search every file and symbol, with results raised as light beacons in the city.
• Private GitHub repos via a GitHub App sign-in, scoped to the visitor's own access.
• Security alerts: with the right GitHub permissions, files with open code scanning or Dependabot alerts smoke, burn (critical/high) and get wrapped in hazard tape.
• Multi-user: every browser gets its own private sessions, snapshots and sign-in.
• Guided tour of the biggest districts, and shareable links to an exact spot.
• Touch controls: joystick, look and pinch.

Quick start

go run .                                  # http://127.0.0.1:4177

Open the page, click Open a codebase, and paste a public GitHub URL such as https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus. git must be on your PATH for cloning.

With Docker:

./build.sh                                # builds codenavigator:latest, running the tests inside
docker run --rm -p 4177:4177 codenavigator:latest

Configuration

Variable	Default	Purpose
PORT	4177	Listening port (--port overrides)
CORS_ORIGIN	*	Access-Control-Allow-Origin for the API
SHOW_LOCAL	unset	true enables uploading local folders; otherwise only GitHub repositories
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID	unset	GitHub App client ID; enables sign-in for private repos and security alerts
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET	unset	GitHub App client secret
GITHUB_APP_SLUG	unset	The app's URL name, for the "grant repository access" link

Keyboard

Key	Where	Action
Ctrl+O	anywhere	Open a codebase
/	anywhere	Search
F	map views	Fit everything in view
[	anywhere	Hide or show the sidebar
1 2 3	city	Helicopter, walk, fly
W A S D, Shift	walk/fly	Move, run
Space / C	fly	Up / down
E	walk/fly	Inspect the building in the crosshair
T	city	Guided tour

Documentation

• City guide: what everything in the city means and how to get around
• Architecture: indexer, server, sessions, rendering pipeline
• HTTP API: every endpoint, with request and response shapes
• GitHub App setup: private repos and security alerts
• Deployment: Docker, systemd, nginx, operating limits
• Development: running, testing, benchmarking, project layout

License

Copyright (C) 2026 Andy Dixon

CodeNavigator is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. It is distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; see LICENSE for the full text.

The bundled fonts in web/fonts/ (Archivo Black, Atkinson Hyperlegible, Space Mono) are licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1; see web/fonts/OFL.txt.