#flake-explorer documentation

flake-explorer is an interactive visualizer for Nix flakes — optimized for dendritic (flake-parts + import-tree) configurations, but it works on any flake. It evaluates a flake with your own nix binary, extracts its outputs, module hierarchy, option values, and file provenance into JSON, and renders them in a three-pane Svelte 5 SPA that can be served locally or exported as a single standalone HTML file (see the top-level README for quick-start usage).

The three panes:

• Left — outputs & modules. Every flake output; expanding a configuration reveals its module hierarchy in the flake's own directory (mounting) structure, plus per-input subtrees, with badges counting customized options.
• Center — detail. A selected module's Configures (values it sets, with mkForce/mkDefault priority chips) and Declares (options it defines), plus full flake.lock provenance for input modules.
• Right — files. Every .nix file the flake references, grouped by origin (self first, then inputs), with per-file git info and import relationships.

#System at a glance

One CLI entry point (flake-explorer.ts) dispatches extract, export, and serve. All three run the same extraction driver, which shells out to the host nix binary to evaluate src/extract/extract.nix and writes a data directory: a cheap manifest.json plus one expensive per-configuration blob. serve builds the SPA in-memory and extracts configurations on demand; export embeds the SPA and data into one HTML file (src/export.ts).

flowchart LR
  cli["CLI: extract / export / serve"] --> ext["extractor: nix eval extract.nix"]
  ext --> data["data dir: manifest.json + per-config JSON"]
  data --> serve["serve: HTTP server"]
  data --> export["export: single HTML file"]
  serve --> spa["Svelte SPA in browser"]
  export --> spa

#Pages

#Links

• Live demo: https://kris.net/flake-explorer/ — the tool exploring its own flake.
• API reference: https://kris.net/flake-explorer/docs/api/ — generated in CI from src/schema.ts via typedoc; only on the site.
• Repository: https://github.com/kriswill/flake-explorer
• CHANGELOG