Dependency graph and impact analysis

Before changing Billing Service at Lanefold, a fictional freight company, follow its connections to see which objects and documents need a closer look. The dependency graph shows recorded connections; impact analysis follows them forward to what the service depends on, or back to the objects that depend on it.

The graph and impact analysis require objects:read.

Open the graph around an object

1. Open Objects in the sidebar and select the object. Choose All spaces in the space filter if it isn't in the current list.
2. Select View in graph on the object page.
3. Adjust Depth to follow up to three connections away. Use Direction to choose which way to follow arrows.

Direction	What it follows
in	Arrows toward the object, to find objects that depend on it
out	Arrows away from the object, to find its dependencies
both	Incoming and outgoing arrows

Click an object in the graph to expand its immediate connections. Kinds filters the view by object kind. Select Re-layout to arrange the loaded objects again. If the view reports truncated results, narrow it before you treat the visible objects as the full set.

Where connections come from

Saving a diagram records arrows bound at both ends to object references. For example, an arrow starting at Dispatch Service and ending at Billing Service lets you follow an outgoing connection from Dispatch Service or an incoming connection from Billing Service.

An arrow between ordinary shapes doesn't create an object connection. The arrow's text doesn't change the recorded connection type. Connect the references in the diagram itself; the graph is a view of those connections, not an editor for drawing new ones.

These connections don't establish that one service calls another at runtime. A dependency nobody has recorded won't appear here.

Check the impact of a change

1. Open the object's Dependencies tab.
2. Select What depends on this to work backward through its dependents. Select What this depends on to follow its dependencies instead.
3. Set Depth to the number of connections you want to follow, up to six.
4. Expand an object row to see an example path. Direct objects are one connection away; Transitive objects are farther away.
5. Select Open in graph to see the affected objects marked in the graph. The graph opens at depth three or less, so impact results deeper than that may not appear.

You can also open Impact analysis from an object's three-dot menu in the graph.

In What depends on this, Affected docs includes documents that reference the selected object or its dependents. Affected people comes from the creators of those documents, excluding you. It doesn't use the objects' Owner fields. What this depends on shows only objects, with no Affected docs or Affected people lists.

When Notify owners is available, it sends reference alerts to the creators of documents that directly reference the selected object. You're excluded, and each recipient's notification preferences apply. It doesn't notify everyone in the transitive impact list.

Watch for the truncation warning in the impact results. An empty or incomplete result isn't proof that a change is safe.

Find broken references in a space

Reference health requires docs:read.

1. Open a space's main page and find Reference health.
2. Expand a document row to see references whose targets are deleted or missing.
3. Select Open doc to inspect the diagram.

This view reports broken links; it doesn't repair or replace them.