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magus-explain

Show one knowledge-graph node's context: data, edges, and reach

Synopsis

magus explain <node-id-or-name> [flags]

Description

explain shows one node's context: its data, its incoming and outgoing edges with provenance, and how many nodes reach it. Where query finds candidates, explain is what you run on the one you picked.

The argument is a node ID (target:pkg/foo:build) or a name that resolves to one (build). Names are convenient and IDs are unambiguous; when a name matches more than one node, resolve it with query first and pass the ID.

Two parts of the output are worth knowing about. Every edge carries its PROVENANCE - what declared it, so a surprising relationship can be traced to the file that created it rather than taken on faith. And the reach count answers the blast-radius question directly: how many nodes can arrive at this one.

The graph is cache-backed under <cache>/knowledge and only shards whose sources changed are rebuilt; --refresh forces a full rebuild.

Options

--global
Resolve across the workspaces registered in config (knowledge.workspaces)
--refresh
Force a full graph rebuild before explaining

Examples

A target in full

magus explain target:pkg/api:build

Resolve by bare name

magus explain build

A spell's context

magus explain spell:go

As a record

magus explain build -o json

See Also

magus(1), magus-ls(1), magus-describe(1), magus-run(1), magus-x(1), magus-where(1), magus-affected(1), magus-graph(1), magus-query(1), magus-path(1), magus-refs(1), magus-watch(1), magus-events(1), magus-status(1), magus-clean(1), magus-shell(1), magus-vcs(1), magus-queue(1), magus-doctor(1), magus-config(1), magus-session(1), magus-memory(1), magus-job(1), magus-notes(1), magus-diff(1), magus-server(1), magus-broker(1), magus-mcp(1), magus-buzz(1), magus-completion(1), magus-man(1), magus-init(1), magus-spell(1), magus-agent(1), magus-self(1), magus-version(1)

ManpagePages in this section. magus describeDefine a magus concept (spell, charm, target, project, workspace, module, mcp-tool, tool, file, graph) and list every entity of that kind, or detail one when a name is given. ChangelogEvery change to magus, newest first, in Keep a Changelog format, starting with the unreleased entries. Generated from changes/unreleased/ and releases/*.yaml. magus graphEmit the project dependency DAG, export the knowledge graph for external graph tools, and report the graph's shape (god nodes, orphans, doc coverage).
generatedinternal/cli/registry.goclimagus explainexplainknowledge graphnodeedgesprovenanceimpact
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Glossary

Workspace

The magus root directory that owns a set of projects and shared config; the unit magus operates over. See workspace.

Target

A named operation (build, test, ...) you invoke with magus run <target>; it may compose a spell's tool-native operations and depend on other targets. See targets.

Op

A single tool-native command a target composes (long form: operation); the middle of the work hierarchy (Spell to Op to Target). See operations.

Spell

A language/runtime adapter (e.g. go, md) that maps generic targets onto a toolchain's real commands. See spells.

Buzz

The language magusfiles are written in (the .buzz engine). See engines.

Cache

The content-addressed store magus consults before running a target, so unchanged work is skipped. See cache.

Affected

The set of projects touched by a change; magus affected <target> runs a target only over them. See affected.

Broker

The per-user background process that holds this host's capacity: the machine budget every run claims slots from, and the shared services runs keep warm. A run starts it on demand; broker: off in magus.yaml runs without one. See server.

Server

The background process a person starts with magus server start. It serves MCP, the console, background jobs and the warm knowledge graph, and adopts nested magus calls into one pool. See server.

Trace

OpenTelemetry's name for one whole magus invocation; every target it runs is a span beneath it. See telemetry.

Knowledge graph

The queryable graph of a workspace's spells, targets, docs, and code relationships; query it with magus query/explain/path. See knowledge.

MAGUS.md

The committed routing index at a workspace root, regenerated from the knowledge graph: it lists every node and points at the exact query for a given question, so it is the entry point an agent reads first. See knowledge.

Session

An agent host's conversation, by the id the host delivers to its hooks. magus never mints one: a record with no session is unattributed, and the OS user it carries says whose account ran it.

Job

The unit of delegated work, and one row of the job store: what an orchestrating agent handed out, with its goal, the checkpoint it was cut against, the paths it may write or must not touch, and the one check it runs. A job's holder is either a session, for work an orchestrator handed out, or the server, for its own maintenance. The store records; the agent guard is what reads those facts back when grading a write. See doctrine.

A job is not a run. magus run build web is a run, and no job exists for it. A job causes runs: its check executes as one, and a server job records the invocation of its last one. Jobs are listed with magus ls jobs and in the console's Jobs view; runs are listed in the Runs view.

Run

One target executing under one magus invocation, such as magus run test web or magus affected ci. A run keeps its captured output behind an output reference. Every magus run is a run whether or not any job asked for it; see Job for how the two relate.

Conventions

This page uses none of the site's convention markers. The full set is on the conventions page.