Files
CodeNavigator/docs/CITY.md
T
Andy Dixon d7318acede Write full documentation with screenshots
README covers what CodeNavigator is, screenshots of each view, quick
start, configuration, keyboard shortcuts and links to docs/: a city
guide (what every visual means, getting around), architecture (indexer,
sessions, GitHub, rendering passes, routing), the HTTP API, GitHub App
setup including the alert permissions, deployment (Docker, systemd,
nginx, limits, security notes) and development (tests, layout,
conventions, design notes).
2026-08-09 10:15:59 +01:00

3.4 KiB

City guide

Switch to City in the toolbar. The city is laid out from the repository's folder tree at human scale, so a large repository is a large city.

Reading the city

You see It means
A district (big block, name floating above its tallest tower) A top-level folder
A block inside it, separated by streets A nested folder; deeper folders have narrower streets
A building A file
Building footprint Lines of code
Building height Complexity (branching)
Lit windows Definitions: more functions and classes, more lights on
Building colour Semantic layer (application, tests, vendor, …), switchable palette
Name on the roof and wall The file name
Green street sign sticking out at a corner The folder that block belongs to; each corner of an intersection names its own folder
Smoke The file has open medium/low security alerts
Fire and smoke The file has an open critical/high security alert
Yellow tape rising across the walls Dependabot alert (on the manifest file)
Red tape falling across the walls Code scanning alert
Light beam into the sky A search result
Cyan chevrons on the road Route to a file the selected file imports (amber if the import was inferred)
Pulsing magenta dashes on the road Route from a file that imports the selected file
Arcs in the sky The same import relationships, as the crow flies
Green figures Residents. They don't mean anything; they just live there
Wall with posters The city limits, with a few facts about the codebase pasted on

Getting around

Helicopter (1): drag to orbit, Shift+drag (or right-drag) to pan, scroll to zoom. Double-click a building to fly to it, or double-click a street to drop down and walk.

Walk (2): click the map to capture the mouse and look around, WASD to move, Shift to run, Esc to release the mouse. The crosshair names the building ahead. Press E (or click) to open it in the sidebar. Walk right up to a building and its source code appears on the wall. You can't walk through buildings or out past the city wall.

Fly (3): like walking, but Space and C climb and descend, and moving follows where you look.

Touch: left thumb is a joystick, right thumb looks around, pinch zooms (or climbs when flying).

Minimap: click it to jump there. It shows your heading, the city wall, security alerts and the selected file's routes.

Following dependencies

Select a file (click it, search for it, or pick it from the sidebar). Routes appear on the streets to everything it imports and from everything that imports it. With a file selected, switching to Walk puts you at its door facing along the first route: follow the arrows.

  • Tour (T): flies over the six largest districts with captions, and stops as soon as you touch anything.
  • Copy link: copies a URL with the repository, view, camera position and selected file. Opening it loads the repository and puts you in the same spot. Links work for GitHub repositories only.

Settings

The gear opens settings: landscape palette, source text on tiles, city residents (they keep the city animating, so switch them off on slow machines) and a frame-rate monitor. The sidebar folds away with the tab on its left edge, or [.