bck-nd-hlpr 1.1.2

The Backend Helper - Your CLI Context help for AI and Humans

🛠️ Backend Helper (bck-nd-hlpr)

Backend Helper — Lightweight CLI that detects backend architectures and exports Mermaid diagrams, ASCII previews and CI-ready HTML docs.

• Auto-detect frameworks (Flask, FastAPI, Django, Express, Spring, .NET, Go, Rust).
• Export Mermaid, ASCII and static HTML docs for CI.
• CI friendly: bck-nd init-ci generates GitHub Action to publish docs to GitHub Pages.

pip install bck-nd-hlpr
cd my-backend-project
bck-nd scan . --format mermaid -o architecture.mmd

Beta: Esta versión es beta. Soporta los frameworks listados arriba; si tu proyecto tiene estructura no estándar, usa bck-nd flow o abre un issue.

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⚡ Key Features

• 🔍 Auto-Detection: Identifies Flask, FastAPI, Django, Next.js, Express.js, NestJS, Gin, Actix-web, and more
• 🏭 Architecture Recognition: Detects MVC, Microservices, Layered Architecture patterns
• Smart Diagrams: Different visualizations for Controllers, Models, Services, Routes
• 🤖 BYO-Key AI Analysis: Directly integrate with OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or local Ollama using API keys. No middleware needed!
• 🌐 Cloud AI Fallback: Support for 9 AI personalities via n8n webhooks if no keys are provided.
• 🛡️ Dependency-Free Core: No PyTorch, No Transformers. Installs in <3 seconds
• 🪟 OS-Safe Scanning: Robust directory traversal ignoring venv, node_modules, and system restricted files
• 🎨 Visual & Mermaid: Output Unicode diagrams or copy-paste Mermaid code
• 🚀 Auto-Documentation (CI/CD): One-command setup for GitHub Actions to host living docs on GitHub Pages (init-ci)
• 🧠 AI Context Dump (bck-nd prompt): Export a single, LLM-optimized .txt file with project tree + UML + ER + core files — just copy-paste into ChatGPT/Claude for instant codebase understanding [NEW ✨]
• ⚙️ Flexible Config: Customize detection via pyproject.toml
• 🌍 Polyglot Ready: C# (.NET Core), Python (Django/FastAPI), JavaScript/TypeScript (Next.js/Express.js/Drizzle ORM), Java (Spring Boot), PHP (Laravel), Go, Rust, Docker, Terraform, Prisma schemas (schema.prisma), and SQL migrations (.sql)
• 📄 Automatic .gitignore Support: Respects .gitignore: automatically excludes files and folders listed in .gitignore from scans and context dumps.
• 📱 Expo/React Native Detection: Auto-detects Expo and React Native projects for appropriate diagramming.
• ⚙️ --max-core-files N Flag: Limits the number of core files exported by bck-nd prompt.

🗄️ ORM Support

ORM	Parser	Status
SQLAlchemy	tree-sitter	Completo
Django ORM	tree-sitter	Completo
Entity Framework Core	tree-sitter	Completo
Prisma	regex	Maqueta
TypeORM	regex	Maqueta
Sequelize	regex	Maqueta

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📦 Installation

# From source
cd bck-nd-hlpr
pip install .

# Development mode
pip install -e .

# Verify
bck-nd --help

# Optional: Set your preferred AI Provider key
# set OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-... (Windows)
# export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-... (Mac/Linux)

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🌐 docs - Static HTML Portal Generation 🆕

Automatically generates a complete, static HTML documentation portal for your project. Perfect for CI/CD and GitHub Pages.

Usage

# Generate docs in the current directory (output folder: 'docs')
bck-nd docs . --output docs

What you get in docs/index.html:

• Infrastructure Map: Visual representation of docker-compose.yml.
• API Routes: Sequence diagrams of HTTP endpoints.
• UML Class Diagram: Auto-generated class hierarchy with associations and dependencies.
• Entity-Relationship: E-R diagrams for ORM models (Entity Framework, SQLAlchemy, Django).
• Technical Debt: Actionable table of TODOs and FIXMEs.
• Fully self-contained, using MermaidJS CDN for rendering. No heavy build tools required.

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🧠 prompt - AI Context Dump 🆕

Generates a single, LLM-optimized .txt file with XML-like tags that you can copy-paste directly into ChatGPT, Claude, or any AI to give it instant, complete understanding of your project.

No more manually explaining your codebase structure — one command, one file, instant AI context.

Usage

# Generate ai_context.txt in the current directory
bck-nd prompt .

# Custom output file
bck-nd prompt /my/project -o context.txt

# Deeper scan (default depth is 4)
bck-nd prompt . --depth 6

What the file contains

XML Tag	Contents
<project_tree>	Clean ASCII directory tree (no venv/node_modules)
<architecture_uml>	UML Class Diagram in Mermaid format
<architecture_er>	Entity-Relationship Diagram in Mermaid format
<core_files>	Content of the 3-5 most important backend files

How to use it

1. Run bck-nd prompt . in your project root
2. Open ai_context.txt
3. Select All → Copy
4. Paste into ChatGPT / Claude as the first message
5. Start asking questions about your codebase immediately!

Example output structure

<!-- bck-nd-hlpr Context Dump -->
<!-- Paste this file into ChatGPT / Claude for instant AI context -->

<project_tree>
my-project/
+-- src/
|   +-- main.py
|   +-- models.py
\-- tests/
</project_tree>

<architecture_uml>
```mermaid
classDiagram
    class User { ... }
```

</architecture_uml>

<architecture_er>

```mermaid
erDiagram
    User { int id PK }
```

</architecture_er>

<core_files>
<file path="src/main.py">

```python
# ... file content ...
```

</file>
</core_files>

---

🚀 init-ci - GitHub Actions Automation 🆕

Set up "Living Documentation" in seconds. This command injects a ready-to-use GitHub Action into your repository.

Usage

bck-nd init-ci

What it does:

• Creates .github/workflows/documentation.yml.
• Configures an automatic trigger on push to any branch (**).
• Installs bck-nd-hlpr in the CI runner.
• Generates the full HTML portal (UML, ER, Infra, Routes).
• Deploys the result automatically to GitHub Pages, separating branches into subdirectories (e.g. /main/, /developer/) to allow easy comparison!

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🕵️ scan - Automatic Architecture Detection

Automatically scans your project, detects the framework and architecture, and generates intelligent diagrams.

Basic Usage

# Scan current directory (default depth: 3)
bck-nd scan .

# Scan specific directory
bck-nd scan src

# Custom depth
bck-nd scan . --depth 5

Modes

1. Full Architecture Overview (Default)

bck-nd scan .

Output:

• Framework detection (Flask, FastAPI, Django, etc.)
• Architecture type (MVC, Microservices, etc.)
• Features (Docker, Auth, Database, etc.)
• Infra Map: Docker Compose services
• API Routes: Endpoints sequence diagram
• UML & ER: Class and Entity-Relationship Mermaid diagrams
• TODOs: Technical Debt Report

2. Mermaid Export (New!)

bck-nd scan . --format mermaid

Output:

• Generates graph TD code ready to copy-paste into Notion, GitHub, or Obsidian.
• Also shows the specific visual diagram in the terminal for instant preview.
• Perfect for documentation and presentations.

3. UML Class Diagram

bck-nd scan . --uml

• Generates classDiagram code for Mermaid.js.
• Uses a unified multi-language parser combining AST (Python) and Tree-Sitter (C#, Java, JS/TS, PHP) to extract classes, methods, properties, and constructors automatically.
• Automatically infers relationships (--> Associations, ..> Dependencies) and inheritance (<|--) across all files.

3. Diagram + Local Report

bck-nd scan . --explain

Output:

• Everything from mode 1, PLUS
• Text-based component breakdown
• List of Controllers, Models, Services
• No AI required (100% offline)

5. Entity-Relationship Diagram (ER) 🆕

bck-nd scan . --er

Output:

• Generates erDiagram for Mermaid.js.
• Scans modern schema configurations, migrations, and ORMs across languages:
  • Modern Configs: Prisma Schemas (schema.prisma), Drizzle ORM schemas (.ts/.js), and raw SQL migrations (.sql)
  • Traditional ORMs: Entity Framework (C#), Spring Boot / JPA (Java), Laravel / Eloquent (PHP), SQLAlchemy / Django models (Python), and Sequelize / Mongoose (JS/TS)
• Bulletproof Mermaid Syntax: Safely handles Generics (e.g. List<T>), table brackets, and special characters.
• Detects database columns, primary keys (PK), data annotations, and auto-generates bidirectional relationships (||--o{, }o--||) with intelligent schema deduplication and merging.

ORM	Nivel
SQLAlchemy	tree-sitter (completo)
Django	tree-sitter (completo)
EF Core	tree-sitter (completo)
Prisma	regex (maqueta)
TypeORM	regex (maqueta)
Sequelize	regex (maqueta)

6. API Route Map 🆕

bck-nd scan . --routes

Output:

• Generates sequenceDiagram for Mermaid.js.
• Scans Flask and FastAPI endpoints.
• Visualizes Client -> API interactions with methods and paths.

7. Infrastructure Diagram 🆕

bck-nd scan . --infra

Output:

• Generates graph LR for Mermaid.js.
• Scans docker-compose.yml files.
• Shows services, images, and dependencies.
• Database services (postgres, redis, mysql, mongo) displayed as cylinders.

8. Technical Debt Scanner 🆕

bck-nd scan . --todo

Output:

• Scans for TODO, FIXME, HACK, XXX, BUG comments
• Beautiful color-coded table using Rich
• Shows file, line number, type, and message
• Statistics by debt type
• Debt level assessment
• Perfect for code reviews and sprint planning

9. Security Audit 🆕

bck-nd scan . --audit

Output:

• Scans for hardcoded secrets, keys, and dangerous config
• Reports "Critical" risks like AWS Keys or Private PEMs
• Reports "High/Warning" risks like DB passwords or hardcoded IPs
• Essential for pre-commit checks

10. Dependency Heatmap 🆕

bck-nd scan . --impact

Output:

• Shows a "Heatmap" of your files based on how many other files import them.
• Helps identify "Core" modules that are risky to refactor.
• Sorts by Impact Score and assigns Risk Categories (🔥 CORE, 🟡 SHARED, 🟢 PERIPHERAL).

10.5 Route-to-DB Traceability 🆕

bck-nd scan . --trace

Output:

• Generates graph LR for Mermaid.js.
• Traces API calls starting from your routes down to your services and models.
• Parses AST (currently supports Python: FastAPI/Flask).

11. Diagram + AI Analysis

bck-nd scan . --ai

Output:

• Everything from mode 1, PLUS
• AI-powered architectural analysis
• Design pattern recommendations
• Code quality insights
• Detects API keys in your environment (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Ollama) or falls back to Webhook (n8n).

11. Force Specific AI Provider 🆕

bck-nd scan . --ai --provider openai

Output:

• Supported providers: openai, anthropic, gemini, ollama, webhook.
• Safely reports an error if the corresponding API key is missing.

12. AI Only (No Diagram)

bck-nd scan . --no-graph --ai

Output:

• Only AI analysis (no Mermaid diagram)
• Faster for text-only reports

13. Project File/Directory Tree [NEW]

bck-nd scan . --tree

Output:

• Generates a clean ASCII directory tree of the project using Unicode box-drawing characters.
• Automatically and silently filters out ignored directories (such as node_modules, venv, .git, etc.) based on GLOBAL_IGNORE_DIRS.

AI Personalities

# Professional analysis
bck-nd scan . --ai --style pro

# Security-focused review
bck-nd scan . --ai --style hacker

# Critical code review (like Gordon Ramsay)
bck-nd scan . --ai --style ramsay

# Simple explanations
bck-nd scan . --ai --style eli5

# Available styles (Mostly optimized for the Webhook / n8n Mode):
# pro, hacker, soviet, eli5, ramsay, jarvis, corporate, medieval, doom

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📐 flow - Manual Diagram Generation

Create custom architecture diagrams from string descriptions.

Usage

bck-nd flow "Client -> API -> Database"

bck-nd flow "Client -> LoadBalancer -> [API_v1, API_v2] ; API_v1 -> Redis"

bck-nd flow "User -> Auth [Service] -> JWT [Token] -> API"

Syntax

• A -> B - Creates connection from A to B
• [X, Y, Z] - Multiple nodes in same position
• ; - New row
• [DB], [SQL], [DATA] - Rendered as database cylinders
• [Service], [DIR] - Rendered as soft boxes
• [?], [IF] - Rendered as diamonds

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📚 Command Manual

🖥️ explore - Interactive TUI Mode (Explorer) 🆕

Launch a full-screen Terminal User Interface (TUI) to interactively explore your project's architecture, powered by textual.

Usage

bck-nd explore

What you get:

• Sidebar: Directory tree to navigate your codebase.
• Main View: Click on a .py file to instantly generate its ASCII diagram and Mermaid Sequence routes.
• Dynamic Analysis: Click on a folder to see the high-level architecture of that specific directory.
• Shortcuts: Press D to toggle dark/light mode, Q to quit.

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🎯 Usage Examples

Example 1: Quick Project Analysis

cd my-backend-project
bck-nd scan .

What you get:

🔍 Analizando arquitectura de '.'...
💻 Framework detectado: FastAPI
🏭 Arquitectura: REST API (Route-based)
✨ Características: Docker, SQLAlchemy ORM, Authentication

📝 FastAPI application using REST API (Route-based) with Docker, SQLAlchemy ORM, Authentication.

📊 DIAGRAMA DE ARQUITECTURA:
[ASCII diagram showing Routes -> Services -> Models -> Database]

Example 2: Deep Analysis with AI

bck-nd scan . --ai --style pro --depth 5

What you get:

• Complete architecture detection
• Full project diagram
• AI analysis including:
  • Design pattern recommendations
  • Security considerations
  • Performance optimization suggestions
  • Code quality assessment

Example 3: Text-Only Report

bck-nd scan src --explain --no-graph

What you get:

• Framework/architecture detection
• Component list without diagram
• Perfect for CI/CD logs

Example 4: Compare Two Approaches

# Old monolith
bck-nd scan ./legacy --ai --style ramsay

# New microservices
bck-nd scan ./new-arch --ai --style pro

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🔧 Architecture Detection

Backend Helper automatically detects:

Frameworks

Language	Frameworks
Python	Flask, FastAPI, Django (Specialized ER/UML), Quart
JavaScript/TypeScript	Next.js (Filesystem Routes & React UML), Express.js (Specialized ER/UML), Fastify, Koa, NestJS (Route Detection)
Java	Spring Boot (Specialized ER/UML), Maven, Gradle
PHP	Laravel (Specialized ER/UML)
C# / .NET	.NET Core, Entity Framework (Specialized ER/UML)
Go	Gin, Fiber
Rust	Actix-web, Rocket

Architecture Patterns

• Microservices Architecture - Multiple services in docker-compose
• MVC + Services (Layered) - Controllers, Models, Services folders
• MVC Pattern - Controllers + Models
• REST API (Route-based) - Routes + Models
• Containerized Application - Docker detected
• Monolithic Application - Fallback

Features Detection

• Docker / Docker Compose
• Databases (SQL, SQLite)
• ORM (SQLAlchemy, Django ORM)
• Authentication (JWT, OAuth)
• API Documentation (Swagger/OpenAPI)
• CI/CD (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI)
• Unit Tests
• Security: Auto-redaction of secrets in output (Sanitizer) 🆕

Configuration

You can override architecture detection by adding this to pyproject.toml:

[tool.bck-nd]
controllers = ["handlers", "views"]
models = ["entities", "schemas"]
services = ["logic", "usecases"]

---

💾 Output Persistence (New!)

You can now save any report or diagram to a file using -o / --output. The tool automatically strips ANSI color codes for clean text files.

# Save ASCII diagram
bck-nd scan . -o architecture.txt

# Save Technical Debt Report (Clean text)
bck-nd scan . --todo -o report.txt

# Save Mermaid diagram
bck-nd scan . --er --format mermaid -o db.mmd

---

🧪 AI Providers Setup (BYO-Key)

Backend Helper automatically loads .env files if they exist in your project root.

⚠️ Security Warning: Never commit .env to public repositories; init-ci does not inject keys into the repo.

Preferred order (checked automatically):

# Preferred order (checked automatically)
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
GOOGLE_API_KEY=AIzaSy...
OLLAMA_HOST=http://localhost:11434
BCK_ND_WEBHOOK_URL=https://your-server.com/webhook/explain

Then run:

bck-nd scan . --ai

Option 3: Ollama (Local AI)

No API key required. Make sure Ollama is running on http://localhost:11434.

# Optionally customize the host
export OLLAMA_HOST="http://localhost:11434"
bck-nd scan . --ai --provider ollama

Option 5: n8n Webhook Fallback

If no keys are found, it falls back to the legacy webhook approach.

1. Install n8n

npm install -g n8n

2. Start n8n

n8n start

Access: http://localhost:5678

3. Create Workflow

1. Add Webhook trigger
   • Method: POST
   • Path: explain
2. Add AI node (OpenAI/Gemini)
   • System: {{ $json.prompt }}
   • Input: {{ $json.text }}
3. Add Respond to Webhook
   • JSON: { "text": "{{ $json.output }}" }
4. Activate workflow

4. Custom Webhook (Optional)

# Windows
set BCK_ND_WEBHOOK_URL=https://your-server.com/webhook/explain

# Linux/Mac
export BCK_ND_WEBHOOK_URL=https://your-server.com/webhook/explain

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🤖 MCP Integration (Claude Desktop / Cursor)

Backend Helper includes a server compatible with the Model Context Protocol (MCP), providing 11 powerful architecture tools directly to your AI assistants.

For full configuration instructions for Claude Desktop and Cursor, see ADVANCED.md.

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Comparison: Different Commands

Command	Architecture Detection	Diagram	Text Report	AI Analysis	AI Context File
bck-nd scan .	✅	✅ (Full Arch)	❌	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --explain	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --ai	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌
bck-nd scan . --explain --ai	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌
bck-nd scan . --no-graph --ai	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌
bck-nd scan . --uml	✅	✅ (UML Class)	❌	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --er	✅	✅ (ER DB)	❌	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --routes	✅	✅ (API Seq)	❌	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --infra	✅	✅ (Docker LR)	❌	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --todo	✅	❌	✅ (Debt)	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --audit	✅	❌	✅ (Sec. Risks)	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --impact	✅	❌	✅ (Impact Heatmap)	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --trace	✅	✅ (Trace LR)	❌	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --tree	✅	✅ (File Tree)	❌	❌	❌
bck-nd prompt .	✅	✅ (Mermaid)	❌	❌	✅ (XML)
bck-nd flow "A -> B"	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
bck-nd explore	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
bck-nd docs .	✅	✅ (All HTML)	✅ (HTML Portal)	❌	❌
bck-nd chat .	✅	✅ (Loaded)	❌	✅ (Interactive)	❌
bck-nd init-ci	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌

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🎭 AI Personalities Guide

Note: Only used in webhook mode; provider-specific styles may vary.

Style	Description	Use Case
pro	Senior Software Architect - Technical, formal	Production documentation
hacker	Security Expert - Focuses on vulnerabilities	Security audits
soviet	Soviet Engineer - Efficiency-focused	Performance reviews
eli5	Kindergarten Teacher - Simple explanations	Onboarding juniors
ramsay	Gordon Ramsay - Brutally critical	Code reviews
jarvis	Tony Stark's AI - Elegant, helpful	Executive presentations
corporate	Manager - Buzzword-heavy	Stakeholder reports
medieval	Ancient Wizard - Metaphorical	Creative documentation
doom	Doom Slayer - Bugs are demons	Bug hunting

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🐛 Troubleshooting

"No se encontraron archivos"

Solution:

# Increase depth
bck-nd scan . --depth 5

# Or scan specific directory
bck-nd scan src --depth 3

"Error conexión: ..."

Cause: n8n not running Solution:

# Terminal 1
n8n start

# Terminal 2
bck-nd scan . --ai

"Framework detectado: Unknown"

Cause: Framework not yet supported or non-standard structure Solution: Use bck-nd flow for manual diagrams

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📊 Supported File Types

Type	Detection Method	Output Shape
Controllers	*controller.py, *ctrl.py	Box → API
Models	*model.py, *entity.py, *schema.py	Box → Database (Cylinder)
Services	*service.py, *svc.py	Box → Business Logic
Routes	*route.py, *router.py	Box → Endpoints
Middleware	*middleware.py	Box → Request Pipeline
Database Files	.sql, .db, .sqlite	Cylinder → Data Storage
Docker	Dockerfile, docker-compose.yml	Soft Box
ORM	SQLAlchemy, Django, Prisma, etc.	Cylinder → DB Access
Infrastructure	.tf (Terraform)	Box → Infrastructure

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🧬 How it Started

bck-nd-hlpr evolved from an earlier experiment (ASCII Architect) that used GPT-2 to generate ASCII diagrams. It worked, but required ~2GB of dependencies just to draw a diamond. This project rebuilds the same idea from scratch: deterministic renderers, no model downloads, installs in under 3 seconds.

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📝 Real-World Usage

CI/CD Integration

Option A: Automatic Setup (Recommended)

# Run this once locally to inject the workflow
bck-nd init-ci
git add . && git commit -m "ci: add auto-documentation" && git push origin main

Option B: Manual YAML

# .github/workflows/arch-analysis.yml
- name: Analyze Architecture
  run: |
    pip install bck-nd-hlpr
    bck-nd scan . --explain --no-graph > architecture.txt

Code Review Automation

# Before PR approval
bck-nd scan . --ai --style pro > review.md

Documentation Generation

# Generate architecture docs

bck-nd scan . --explain > docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
bck-nd scan . --ai --style pro > docs/AI_ANALYSIS.md

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📚 Documentation

• IA-context.md - Development rules & architecture
• ROADMAP.txt - Feature roadmap
• MANIFEST.in - Package configuration

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💡 Philosophy

"Less guessing, more coding."

Backend Helper is designed for speed, intelligence, and actionable insights. No bloated dependencies, no waiting for model downloads. Just instant architectural understanding.

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🤝 Contributing

Issues and PRs welcome! See IA-context.md for development guidelines.

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📄 License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details

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