🛠️ Backend Helper (bck-nd-hlpr)

The Backend Helper: CLI Context & MCP Tooling for AI and Humans

bck-nd-hlpr is a lightweight Python CLI utility designed to bridge the gap between back-end codebases, human developers, and AI agents. It acts as a context provider — extracting structural architecture, tracking product requirements, generating visual diagrams (such as Mermaid.js charts), and facilitating Model Context Protocol (MCP) interactions.

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🎉 What's New in v2.4.1 — Four Pillars & Requirements Layer

v2.4.1 rebuilds the core engine around Four Pillars and adds a brand-new Context & Requirements Intelligence Layer — turning bck-nd-hlpr from a pure architecture scanner into a context hub that understands both how your code is built and why it exists.

Pillar	What it does
⚡ Incremental Delta Cache	Caches scan results in .bck-nd-cache, delivering sub-0.1s repeat scans on unchanged projects. Force a clean rescan anytime with --no-cache.
🧩 Autonomous Provider Pattern	Each supported framework — Laravel, FastAPI, Django, Spring Boot, EF Core, and Node.js — ships as a self-contained semantic provider, owning its own detection, UML, and ER logic.
🌐 Abstract Semantic Graph (ASG)	A unified, in-memory architecture graph (IR) that normalizes every provider's output into one queryable structure, exposed directly to AI agents via the get_asg_graph MCP tool.
🧹 Scoped Technical Debt Hunter	Technical debt is now categorized — TODO(audit), FIXME(security), HACK(perf), and more — so debt can be triaged by team and severity instead of dumped into one list.

On top of the Four Pillars, v2.4.1 introduces the Requirements Intelligence Layer (bck-nd req list, bck-nd req discover, injected <requirements_context>, and the get_requirements_summary MCP tool — see below), TypeScript interface/type support in UML diagrams, Markdown (.md) user story parsing, a bck-nd --version / -v flag, and a test suite that now sits at 203+ unit tests, 100% pass rate.

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⚡ Quick Start

pip install bck-nd-hlpr

# Scan architecture and generate diagrams
bck-nd scan .

# Export LLM-ready context (tree + UML + ER + requirements + core files)
bck-nd prompt .

# List and track project requirements
bck-nd req list

# Connect to Claude Desktop / Cursor (see ADVANCED.md)
bck-nd-mcp

🧭 When to Use What

Entry point	Best for
bck-nd scan	Interactive terminal analysis, diagrams, audits, and reports
bck-nd prompt	One-shot AI context file to paste into ChatGPT / Claude
bck-nd req	Tracking user stories, acceptance criteria, and stakeholder discovery
bck-nd-mcp	Persistent MCP tools inside Claude Desktop or Cursor
bck-nd explore	Full-screen TUI to browse and visualize the codebase
bck-nd docs / init-ci	Static HTML portal and GitHub Pages automation
VS Code Extension	In-editor diagrams, audits, and clipboard context — see README-EXTENSION.md

⚡ Key Features

Detection & Architecture

• 🔍 Auto-Detection: Flask, FastAPI, Django, Next.js, Express.js, NestJS, Gin, Actix-web, and more
• 🧩 Autonomous Providers: Laravel, FastAPI, Django, Spring Boot, EF Core, and Node.js each ship as self-contained semantic providers (v2.4.1)
• 🏭 Architecture Recognition: MVC, Microservices, Layered Architecture patterns
• 🌍 Polyglot Ready: C#, Python, JS/TS, Java, PHP, Go, Rust, Docker, Terraform, Prisma, SQL migrations
• ⚙️ Flexible Config: Customize detection via pyproject.toml
• 📄 Automatic .gitignore Support: Excludes ignored files from scans and context dumps
• 📱 Expo/React Native Detection: Appropriate diagramming for mobile projects

Speed & Structure (v2.4.1)

• ⚡ Incremental Delta Cache: .bck-nd-cache powers sub-0.1s repeat scans; use --no-cache for a clean run
• 🌐 Abstract Semantic Graph (ASG): Normalized in-memory architecture graph, queryable by AI agents via MCP

Diagrams & Visualization

• Smart Diagrams: Controllers, Models, Services, Routes — Unicode or Mermaid output
• 🎨 Visual & Mermaid: Terminal diagrams or copy-paste Mermaid code
• 🚀 Auto-Documentation (CI/CD): One-command GitHub Actions setup for living docs (init-ci)
• 📊 Jupyter Notebook Lineage (--datascience): Data pipeline flowcharts from .ipynb files

AI & Context

• 🧠 AI Context Dump (bck-nd prompt): Single LLM-optimized .txt with project tree + UML + ER + requirements + core files
• 📋 Requirements Context: <requirements_context> block with user stories and business rules injected into ai_context.txt (v2.4.1)
• 🎯 Focused Export (--uml, --er, --tree): Lightweight context files with only the sections you need
• 🤖 BYO-Key AI Analysis: OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, OpenRouter, or local Ollama — no middleware
• ⚙️ --max-core-files N: Limit core files exported by bck-nd prompt

Requirements Intelligence (v2.4.1)

• 📖 bck-nd req list: Interactive table of User Stories, Status badges, Acceptance Criteria, and Business Rules
• 🕵️ bck-nd req discover: Auto-generates a Stakeholder Interview Guide per story
• 🔌 get_requirements_summary: MCP tool exposing live requirements state to Claude Desktop / Cursor

Quality, Security & Onboarding

• 🛡️ Dependency-Free Core: No PyTorch, No Transformers. Installs in <3 seconds
• 🪟 OS-Safe Scanning: Ignores venv, node_modules, and restricted system paths
• 🎓 Guided Onboarding (--teach): Tier-ordered learning curriculum via dependency heatmaps
• 🛡️ QA Impact Radius (--impact-radius <file>): Transitive reverse-dependency blast radius
• 🔌 API Contract Map (--contract): Match API endpoints to ORM tables and columns
• ❤️ Project Health Score (--health): 0–100 score with letter grade (A–F)
• 🧹 Scoped Debt Categories: TODO(audit), FIXME(security), HACK(perf), and more (v2.4.1)
• ✅ 203+ unit tests, 100% pass rate — check your installed version with bck-nd --version / -v (v2.4.1)

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🏛️ The Four Pillars Architecture (v2.4.1)

v2.4.1's internal engine was rebuilt around four pillars that work together: the cache accelerates providers, providers feed the graph, and the graph feeds both diagrams and AI.

1. ⚡ Incremental Delta Cache

Every scan writes a fingerprint of your project to .bck-nd-cache. On the next run, only changed files are re-parsed — everything else is served from cache, so repeat scans on an unchanged project complete in under 0.1 seconds.

# Normal scan — uses the cache automatically
bck-nd scan .

# Force a full rescan, ignoring the cache
bck-nd scan . --no-cache

.bck-nd-cache is project-local and safe to add to .gitignore.

2. 🧩 Autonomous Provider Pattern

Instead of one monolithic detector, each supported framework — Laravel, FastAPI, Django, Spring Boot, EF Core, and Node.js — is implemented as a self-contained semantic provider. Each provider owns its own detection heuristics, UML extraction, and ER extraction, so framework support can be added, tested, and fixed in isolation without touching the rest of the engine.

3. 🌐 Abstract Semantic Graph (ASG)

All providers normalize their output into one Abstract Semantic Graph — an in-memory architecture IR that represents controllers, models, services, routes, and their relationships in a framework-agnostic shape. The ASG is what powers diagrams and reports, and it's also queryable directly by AI agents inside Claude Desktop or Cursor via the MCP tool:

get_asg_graph

4. 🧹 Scoped Technical Debt Hunter

The technical debt scanner now understands scope tags, letting teams triage debt by category instead of treating every comment the same:

Tag	Meaning
TODO(audit)	Needs a follow-up review or decision
FIXME(security)	Known security-relevant issue
HACK(perf)	Deliberate performance shortcut

bck-nd scan . --todo

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📋 Context & Requirements Intelligence Layer (v2.4.1)

Architecture tells you how a system is built. The Requirements Intelligence Layer tells you why — turning user stories and business rules into first-class, AI-queryable context alongside your code.

bck-nd req list

Renders an interactive terminal table of your project's requirements:

bck-nd req list

Columns:

Column	Description
Story ID	Unique identifier for the user story
Title	Short description of the story
Status	Color-coded badge: TODO, IN_PROGRESS, TESTING, DONE
Acceptance Criteria	Conditions that define "done"
Business Rules	Constraints and domain rules tied to the story

bck-nd req discover [story_id]

Generates a Stakeholder Interview Guide — a structured set of discovery questions you can take straight into a requirements-gathering session:

bck-nd req discover US-042

Guide sections:

• Mandatory Data — the inputs/fields the feature absolutely needs
• Business Rules — constraints, validations, and edge-case logic
• Exceptions — error states and how they should be handled
• Acceptance Criteria — how you'll know the story is complete

AI Context Injection

Running bck-nd prompt . now injects a <requirements_context> XML block directly into ai_context.txt, so any LLM you paste it into immediately understands not just your code, but the requirements behind it:

<requirements_context>
  <story id="US-042" status="IN_PROGRESS">
    <title>Allow refunds on partial shipments</title>
    <acceptance_criteria>...</acceptance_criteria>
    <business_rules>...</business_rules>
  </story>
</requirements_context>

MCP Tool: get_requirements_summary

The same requirements data is available live inside Claude Desktop or Cursor via the get_requirements_summary MCP tool — no need to re-export or re-paste context after every change.

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🚀 Version 2.4.1

v2.4.1 — Four Pillars, Requirements Layer & TypeScript UML

• 🏛️ Four Pillars core: Incremental Delta Cache, Autonomous Provider Pattern, Abstract Semantic Graph, and Scoped Technical Debt Hunter — see What's New in v2.4.1 above.
• 📋 Requirements Intelligence Layer: bck-nd req list, bck-nd req discover, injected <requirements_context>, and the get_requirements_summary MCP tool.
• 🎨 TypeScript Interfaces in UML: Renders TypeScript interface and type declarations as UML class nodes, extending UML support to Next.js / React / functional codebases.
• 📖 Markdown Requirements Support: RequirementsParser and bck-nd req list now parse .md user story files alongside .json.
• 🔖 Version Flag: bck-nd --version / -v CLI flag.
• ✅ 203+ unit tests, 100% pass rate.

Full details in CHANGELOG.md.

v2.0.0 — Engine Rebuild

Major architecture release: decoupled core/ engine, concurrent ScannerOrchestrator, thread-safe file cache, lazy parser loading, fault-tolerant scans, and direct .mmd export. Full details in CHANGELOG.md. Advanced usage (library API, MCP config, architecture diagram) in ADVANCED.md.

🗄️ ORM Parser Support Status

ORM	Parser Type	Coverage / Status
SQLAlchemy (Python)	Tree-Sitter	Full AST Extractor
Django ORM (Python)	Tree-Sitter	Full AST Extractor
Entity Framework Core (C#)	Tree-Sitter	Full AST Extractor
Prisma (Schema)	Regex / Lexer	Schema Matcher
TypeORM (JS/TS)	Regex / Lexer	Structural Matcher
Sequelize (JS/TS)	Regex / Lexer	Structural Matcher

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📦 Installation

# From PyPI
pip install bck-nd-hlpr

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

# Development mode
pip install -e .

# Verify installation and version
bck-nd --version
# or
bck-nd -v

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, including v2.4.1 scope tags.
• 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 — architecture and requirements.

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

Full Mode (Default)

# 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

Focused Mode (--uml, --er, --tree)

Export only the sections you need into a lightweight file. The default output filename adapts dynamically:

Flags used	Default output file
--uml	ai_context_uml.txt
--er	ai_context_er.txt
--tree	ai_context_tree.txt
--uml --er	ai_context_diagrams.txt
--uml --er --tree	ai_context_diagrams.txt
(no flags)	ai_context.txt

# UML diagram only
bck-nd prompt . --uml

# ER diagram only
bck-nd prompt . --er

# Project tree only
bck-nd prompt . --tree

# Combine: UML + ER diagrams
bck-nd prompt . --uml --er

# Custom output with focused flag
bck-nd prompt . --uml -o my_diagrams.txt

What the full 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
<requirements_context>	User stories, status, acceptance criteria, business rules (v2.4.1)
<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 — and its requirements — 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>

<requirements_context>
<story id="US-042" status="IN_PROGRESS">
  <title>Allow refunds on partial shipments</title>
  <acceptance_criteria>...</acceptance_criteria>
  <business_rules>...</business_rules>
</story>
</requirements_context>

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

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

</file>
</core_files>

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📋 req - Requirements Intelligence Layer (v2.4.1)

Track user stories and generate stakeholder discovery guides straight from the terminal — and feed the same data to your AI tools automatically.

req list

bck-nd req list

Renders an interactive table with Story ID, Title, a color-coded Status badge (TODO, IN_PROGRESS, TESTING, DONE), Acceptance Criteria, and Business Rules for every requirement defined in your project.

req discover [story_id]

bck-nd req discover US-042

Generates a Stakeholder Interview Guide for the given story, with discovery questions grouped into Mandatory Data, Business Rules, Exceptions, and Acceptance Criteria — ready to use in your next requirements session.

How it connects to the rest of the toolchain

• Every bck-nd prompt . run injects a <requirements_context> block built from the same data (see the Requirements Intelligence Layer section above).
• The get_requirements_summary MCP tool exposes this data live to Claude Desktop and Cursor.

See ADVANCED.md for the requirements file format and project setup.

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🚀 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/bck-nd-docs.yml.
• Configures an automatic trigger on push to the main 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.

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🕵️ scan - Automatic Architecture Detection

Automatically scans your project, detects the framework and architecture, and generates intelligent diagrams. As of v2.4.1, repeat scans are accelerated by the Incremental Delta Cache.

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

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.

4. 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.

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. Scoped Technical Debt Hunter

bck-nd scan . --todo

Output:

• Scans for TODO, FIXME, HACK, XXX, BUG comments — now recognizing scope tags like TODO(audit), FIXME(security), and HACK(perf) (v2.4.1)
• Beautiful color-coded table using Rich
• Shows file, line number, type, scope tag, and message
• Statistics by debt type and scope category
• 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).

11. 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).

12. Guided Onboarding

bck-nd scan . --teach

Output:

• Evaluates file relationships to calculate reading hierarchy.
• Outputs a color-coded sequential table dividing the codebase into Entrypoints, Core Logic, and Infra/Database files.

13. Data Science Lineage Map

bck-nd scan . --datascience

Output:

• Parses .ipynb JSON nodes and analyzes cells.
• Generates a Mermaid graph LR lineage flowchart mapping input files, notebooks, and outputs/models.

14. QA Impact Radius

bck-nd scan . --impact-radius src/bck_nd_hlpr/route_parser.py

Output:

• Traverses reverse-dependencies transitively using BFS.
• Outputs a clean report showing the complete affected file chain and a list of impacted API endpoints.

15. API Contract Map

bck-nd scan . --contract

Output:

• Matches backend API routes with ORM models using path-matching, handler-naming, and import-based heuristics.
• Renders a structured terminal table displaying endpoints, matched database tables, and their column schemas.

16. Project Health Score

bck-nd scan . --health

Output:

• Calculates a consolidated 0-100 quality score.
• Renders a beautifully styled Rich report card featuring letter grades (A-F) and details of security/debt point deductions.

17. 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, OpenRouter) or uses a local Ollama server.

18. Force Specific AI Provider

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

Output:

• Supported providers: openai, anthropic, gemini, groq, deepseek, openrouter, ollama.
• Safely reports a styled error if the corresponding API key is missing.

19. AI Only (No Diagram)

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

Output:

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

20. Project File/Directory Tree

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.

21. Cache Control (v2.4.1)

# Skip the Incremental Delta Cache and force a full rescan
bck-nd scan . --no-cache

Output:

• Ignores .bck-nd-cache and re-parses every file from scratch.
• Useful right after upgrading bck-nd-hlpr, or when debugging stale diagram output.
• All other modes above accept --no-cache too.

Use --ai --style <name> to change AI tone. See AI Personalities (Fun Styles) at the end of this document.

---

📐 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

---

📚 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.

---

🎯 Usage Examples

Example 1: Quick Project Analysis

cd my-backend-project
bck-nd scan .

What you get:

🔍 Analyzing architecture of '.'...
💻 Framework detected: FastAPI
🏭 Architecture: REST API (Route-based)
✨ Features: Docker, SQLAlchemy ORM, Authentication

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

📊 ARCHITECTURE DIAGRAM:
[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

Example 5: Requirements Discovery Before a Sprint (v2.4.1)

# See what's outstanding
bck-nd req list

# Generate an interview guide for the next story
bck-nd req discover US-042

What you get:

• A color-coded table of every story's status
• A ready-to-use Stakeholder Interview Guide for the story you're about to pick up

---

🔧 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

v2.4.1: Laravel, FastAPI, Django, Spring Boot, EF Core, and Node.js now run through the Autonomous Provider Pattern — each with its own self-contained detection, UML, and ER logic.

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

See ADVANCED.md for pyproject.toml overrides and library usage.

---

💾 Output Persistence

Save any report or diagram with -o / --output. ANSI color codes are stripped automatically. See ADVANCED.md for .mmd export details.

# 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 directly to a .mmd file (ANSI codes stripped automatically)
bck-nd scan . --er -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...
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-...        # 200+ models, free tier — https://openrouter.ai/keys
OLLAMA_HOST=http://localhost:11434  # Local Ollama, no key required

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

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🤖 MCP Integration (Claude Desktop / Cursor)

Backend Helper includes an MCP server exposing local architecture and requirements tools directly inside Claude Desktop and Cursor — now 22 tools as of v2.4.1, including two new additions:

bck-nd-mcp

Tool	Introduced	What it returns
get_asg_graph	v2.4.1	The Abstract Semantic Graph (Pillar 3) — the full normalized architecture IR, queryable by the AI
get_requirements_summary	v2.4.1	Live user stories, statuses, acceptance criteria, and business rules from the Requirements Intelligence Layer

For the full tool list, client configuration, and troubleshooting, 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 . --no-cache	✅	✅ (Full Arch)	❌	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --explain	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --teach	✅	❌	✅ (Onboarding)	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --datascience	✅	✅ (Data Line)	❌	❌	❌
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	✅	❌	✅ (Scoped Debt)	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --audit	✅	❌	✅ (Sec. Risks)	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --impact	✅	❌	✅ (Impact Heatmap)	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --impact-radius	✅	❌	✅ (Impact Chain)	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --contract	✅	✅ (Contract)	❌	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --health	✅	❌	✅ (Health Grade)	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --trace	✅	✅ (Trace LR)	❌	❌	❌
bck-nd scan . --tree	✅	✅ (File Tree)	❌	❌	❌
bck-nd prompt .	✅	✅ (Mermaid)	❌	❌	✅ (XML)
bck-nd req list	❌	❌	✅ (Requirements Table)	❌	❌
bck-nd req discover	❌	❌	✅ (Interview Guide)	❌	❌
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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🐛 Troubleshooting

"No files found"

Solution:

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

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

"Connection error: ..."

Cause: The selected AI provider is unreachable or the API key is invalid. Solution: Verify your API key is set correctly, or switch to a different provider:

# Try OpenRouter (free tier available)
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-...
bck-nd scan . --ai

# Or use local Ollama (no key required)
bck-nd scan . --ai --provider ollama

"Framework detected: Unknown"

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

Diagrams look stale after upgrading

Cause: The Incremental Delta Cache (.bck-nd-cache) is reusing results from a previous version. Solution: Force a clean rescan:

bck-nd scan . --no-cache

"No requirements found"

Cause: bck-nd req list / bck-nd req discover found no requirements file in the project. Solution: Set up your requirements file per ADVANCED.md, then re-run bck-nd req list.

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⚠️ Known Limitations

bck-nd-hlpr uses static heuristics and parsers — not a full language server or compiler. Keep these in mind:

Area	Coverage	Notes
UML (Tree-Sitter)	C#, Java, JS/TS, PHP, Python	Best-effort AST extraction; dynamic metaprogramming may be missed
UML (Regex/Lexer)	TypeORM, Sequelize	Structural matching only — no full type inference
ER (Tree-Sitter)	SQLAlchemy, Django, EF Core	Full AST where supported
ER (Regex/Lexer)	Prisma, TypeORM, Sequelize	Schema-level matching; complex generics may be simplified
Route parsing	Flask, FastAPI (primary)	Other frameworks: detection only, limited endpoint extraction
Traceability	Python (FastAPI/Flask)	Route-to-DB tracing not yet polyglot
API Contract Map	Heuristic	Matches routes to models by naming/import patterns — not runtime validation
Security audit	Pattern-based	Catches common secret patterns; not a substitute for dedicated SAST tools
Requirements Intelligence	Manual authoring	Requires user stories to be defined in your project's requirements file(s); no automatic inference from code

Parser errors on individual files are collected in execution_warnings and do not abort the scan. See CHANGELOG.md.

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🎭 AI Personalities (Fun Styles)

Note: AI personalities work with all supported direct providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, OpenRouter, Ollama). For production documentation, use pro or hacker.

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

bck-nd scan . --ai --style pro      # Professional
bck-nd scan . --ai --style hacker   # Security-focused
bck-nd scan . --ai --style ramsay   # Critical review

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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, a hooby proyect where I teach how to write ASCII basic forms to a GPT-2 model). 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

Sprint Planning (v2.4.1)

# Review outstanding stories before planning
bck-nd req list

# Prep an interview guide for the next story
bck-nd req discover US-042 -o interview-guide.md

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📚 Documentation

• CHANGELOG.md - Release history
• ADVANCED.md - MCP setup, library API, requirements file format, architecture diagram
• vscode-extension/README-EXTENSION.md - VS Code extension guide
• IA-context.md - Development rules & architecture
• ROADMAP.txt - Feature roadmap

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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 — and now requirements — 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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