Dependency Graph

The Dependency Graph gives you a visual, interactive picture of how an item connects to the work that blocks it and the work it blocks. Instead of reading through a list of relationships, you can see the whole dependency tree laid out on a canvas, follow the chains in either direction, and quickly spot bottlenecks or circular dependencies.

The graph is built from the item's blocking relationships, so it is a natural companion to the Relationships dialog where those relationships are created.

Opening the Dependency Graph

The graph is a feature of the item itself, so you can reach it from anywhere you can open an item's Relationships dialog:

• the Relationships button in the item workspace header,
• the Relationships cell in the Items Table,
• the circular relationship indicator on board and folder cards, or
• an item's relationships opened from the Gantt view.

Then:

1. Open the item's Relationships dialog.
2. In the Summary section at the top, click the purple View Graph button in the top-right corner.

The graph opens in a modal titled Dependency Graph for followed by the item's icon, number, and title.

Any user who can see the item and its relationships can open the graph. There is no separate role, permission, or plan requirement.

What the graph shows

The graph is centered on the item you opened it from, shown with a blue border and labeled Current Item.

From there, DevStride walks the item's blocking relationships in both directions:

• Dependencies are the items the current item is blocked by. They are drawn in the region enclosed by an orange dashed border with an orange Dependencies label. These are the things that need to happen before the current item can move.
• Dependents are the items the current item blocks. They are drawn in the region enclosed by a purple dashed border with a purple Dependents label. These are the things waiting on the current item.

The graph follows these chains recursively, so you see not just the items directly connected to the current one, but the full upstream and downstream tree.

Reading the connector lines

The lines connecting the cards are color-coded by status, not by dependency direction:

• Green — Done
• Orange — In Progress
• Red — Not Started

This lets you see at a glance how far along the work in a chain actually is.

Special card indicators

The graph flags a few situations directly on the cards:

• Appears N times in this tree — When the same item shows up in more than one place in the dependency tree, each occurrence gets an orange dashed outline with this note, so you know it is the same piece of work.
• Cyclic Dependency — If a chain of dependencies loops back on itself, DevStride detects the cycle and marks it with a red dashed border and a pulsing Cyclic Dependency alert instead of looping endlessly. This is a useful warning that your dependencies may need untangling.

Navigating the canvas

The graph sits on a large checkered "infinite" canvas, so even big dependency trees have room to spread out.

When you start dragging, the cursor changes to a grabbing hand so you know you are panning. When the graph first opens, it is centered on the current item at 100% zoom.

Zooming

Zoom ranges from 5% to 200%. You have several ways to control it:

• Click the Zoom in (+) and Zoom out (-) buttons to step through preset zoom levels.
• Type an exact percentage (5–200) into the zoom-percentage box and press Enter.
• Double-click the zoom box to reset to 100%.
• Hold Ctrl / Cmd and scroll to zoom directly on the canvas.

The zoom controls live in the button group on the right side of the footer.

The footer: stats, Center on, and view controls

The footer of the graph is divided into three areas.

Dependency and dependent stats (left)

The left side summarizes the tree:

• Dependencies: the number direct and total, broken down by done / in progress / not started.
• Dependents: the number direct and total.

In DevStride terms, a dependency is something the current item is blocked by, and a dependent is something the current item blocks.

Center on (center)

The Center on dropdown lets you jump straight to any item in the graph. It is grouped and color-coded to match the canvas:

• Current Item (star icon) at the top
• Dependencies (orange)
• Dependents (purple)

Selecting an item pans to that card and briefly highlights it with a yellow flash. You can also click any card directly to center on it. If you pan the canvas manually, the dropdown shows Manual scroll to indicate the view is no longer centered on a specific item.

View controls (right)

Alongside the zoom controls, the right side of the footer has two toggle buttons:

• Fit all to screen / Center on current item — toggles between fitting the entire graph in view and re-centering on the current item.
• Expand cards / Compact cards — toggles the density of the item cards between a fuller layout and a condensed one.

Keyboard shortcuts

When the graph has focus, you can use these shortcuts: