migrate-from-graphify.md

Moving from Graphify

Graphicle's code-graph engine is a Rust port of Graphify. If you use Graphify, most of what you know carries over. This page lists what stays the same, what differs, and how graphicle setup switches a repository.

What stays the same

• The graph. The engine is a Rust port of Graphify, so it reads the same languages and builds the same kind of graph: files, functions, classes, calls, imports and communities of related code. benchmarks.md describes how its results were compared with Graphify's.
• The commands and flags, under the graphicle graph command. For example, graphify query "..." becomes graphicle graph query "...".
• The MCP tool names. The MCP server that setup connects, graphicle mcp, has Graphify's graph tools under their names: query_graph, get_node, get_neighbors, get_community, god_nodes, graph_stats and shortest_path, in the same text format, and the same resources (graphicle-graph://report and the others). Rules and prompts that name these tools keep working. They read the project's code graph that graphicle sync builds, which can differ in detail from a graph.json of the same code (mcp.md says how).
• Ignore files use the .gitignore syntax, as before.
• No model for code. A code-only graph needs no model and no API key.

What differs

	Graphify	Graphicle
Install	A Python package	One native program, no Python needed
Graph commands	graphify <command>	graphicle graph <command>, or graphicle-graph <command>
Output folder	graphify-out/	.graphicle/; GRAPHICLE_OUT sets another
Ignore file	.graphifyignore	.graphicleignore
Agent skill	~/.claude/skills/graphify	Graphicle's own, from graphicle graph install
Agent setup	One command per agent	graphicle setup connects every agent it finds

Graphicle also does more than the graph:

• Memory. It keeps a searchable copy of your code and documents, your past agent sessions, and decisions that a person reviewed. graphicle ask and graphicle context answer from all of them, with citations, and so does recall_project, in the same MCP server as the graph tools. A reviewed decision quoted from a function is anchored to that function.
• Always current. Git hooks and a check before each answer keep the project up to date.
• An app. graphicle open shows the graph, the sources and the memory in your browser.

Switch a repository

Run setup in the repository:

cd your-repo
graphicle setup

Setup looks for five signs of Graphify:

• a graphify-out/ folder in the repository;
• an MCP entry named graphify (or graphify-…) in an agent's settings;
• a Graphify section in CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md: the ## graphify heading and its text, up to the next heading of level one or two;
• Graphify's skill for Claude Code, in ~/.claude/skills/graphify;
• Graphify's hook in the repository's Claude Code settings (.claude/settings.json), which graphify claude install adds.

It tells you what it found, with the lines of each section it would replace, and asks whether to switch. If you say yes, setup:

• connects Graphicle in each agent that has a Graphify entry, then removes Graphify's entry there (only once Graphicle's is in place);
• puts Graphicle's section in the place of the Graphify section; your own text after it stays;
• backs up each file first, as <file>.graphicle-bak.

Setup does not edit two places, and says so:

• a Graphify entry in Claude Code's own settings (~/.claude.json, which Claude Code rewrites while it runs): setup prints the claude mcp remove command that removes it;
• Graphify's hook in .claude/settings.json, a file your team may share: remove it yourself (see below).

Setup never deletes graphify-out/ or Graphify's skill. Graphicle does not read graphify-out/, and its sync skips that folder, so you can keep it or delete it yourself.

If you say no, setup connects Graphicle beside Graphify, and your agents can use both. When setup does not run in a terminal, it switches only when you pass --switch-from-graphify.

After the switch

• Restart your agents, so that they load Graphicle's tools.

• Graphify's skill stays installed, and Claude Code can still offer it. When you no longer need it, delete the folder ~/.claude/skills/graphify.

• If you installed Graphify's Git hooks, remove them with graphify hook uninstall. Graphicle's own hooks keep the project current.

• Graphify's Claude Code hook stays in .claude/settings.json and still asks Claude to read graphify-out/GRAPH_REPORT.md before every search. When you no longer use Graphify, delete that PreToolUse entry (the one whose command mentions graphify-out) from the file's hooks. graphicle setup --guards gives Claude Code Graphicle's own guard hooks instead, in .claude/settings.local.json, which point its searches to the graph tools of graphicle mcp (agents.md).

• Setup's code graph lives in Graphicle's data folder: it serves graphicle ask and your agents, and you need nothing else for them. Only the graphicle graph commands read a graph file. To keep using the ones you know, build that file once:

  graphicle graph extract . --code-only

  Then graphicle graph query, explain, path and affected work as they did with Graphify, on .graphicle/graph.json. Add .graphicle/ to your .gitignore, as you had graphify-out/.

Commands side by side

Graphify	Graphicle
graphify update .	graphicle graph update .
graphify query "question"	graphicle graph query "question"
graphify explain "symbol"	graphicle graph explain "symbol"
graphify path "A" "B"	graphicle graph path "A" "B"
graphify serve graphify-out/graph.json	The graph tools of graphicle mcp, which setup connects; for a graph file alone, graphicle graph serve .graphicle/graph.json
graphify install	graphicle graph install
graphify hook install	graphicle graph hook install

Going back

Run graphicle disconnect in the repository. It removes what Graphicle added and puts back the Graphify entries and section that the switch replaced. Each <file>.graphicle-bak also holds the file as it was before Graphicle first changed it.