Node
Graphify glossary
A single entity in the graph — a function, class, file, table, or doc page — carrying attributes like name, path, and kind.
A node is a single entity in a knowledge graph. In a code graph, that means a function, a class, a module, a file, a database table, a Terraform resource, or a doc page. Each node carries attributes — its name, its path on disk, its kind — and serves as an endpoint for edges. Nodes are the nouns of the graph; edges are the verbs that connect them.
What qualifies as a node matters more than it sounds. If only files are nodes, the graph can't answer questions about functions; if docs and schemas aren't nodes, the graph can't connect a design decision to the code that implements it. Graphify's graphs include both code symbols (extracted locally from the AST) and non-code entities (read in by your model), so a traversal can cross from an endpoint handler to the SQL table it writes to and on to the doc page that explains why.
Once nodes exist, their position in the graph becomes information in its own right. A node's degree — how many edges touch it — tells you how load-bearing it is; nodes with disproportionately many edges are god nodes, where changes carry the most risk. Densely interconnected groups of nodes form communities that usually correspond to real subsystems. And any single node can be interrogated directly: graphify explain walks through what a node connects to, and how each of those connections was established.
Related terms
- Edge — A typed, directed relationship between two nodes — calls, imports, defines, references — each carrying a provenance tag.
- God node — A node with a disproportionate number of edges — the module everything imports — where changes carry the most risk.
- Community (cluster) — A group of nodes densely connected to each other and only loosely connected to the rest of the graph — usually a real subsystem like auth or billing.