What is Ix?
Ix parses your repository into a persistent system graph of symbols, calls, imports and the relationships between them. You and your coding agents query that graph instead of grepping and reading files.
Ask what a symbol is and what it touches, how a request flows through the code, or what breaks if you change a function. Ix answers from real edges in the graph, and each answer covers one symbol or flow instead of whole files.
Why a graph
Section titled “Why a graph”| Without Ix | With Ix | |
|---|---|---|
| Finding things | Search, read, search again | Query a structured graph |
| Architecture | Re-derived every session | Mapped once, kept |
| Agent context | Whole files pasted into the prompt | Bounded structural slices |
| Between sessions | Context is lost | The graph persists |
| Relationships | Inferred from fragments | Read from real edges |
The model: map, structure, retrieve, remember
Section titled “The model: map, structure, retrieve, remember”| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| Map | ix map . parses the repo with tree-sitter and extracts symbols, calls and imports. |
| Structure | Those become nodes and edges in a graph of what calls, contains and imports what. |
| Retrieve | Commands return bounded answers about one symbol or flow, not whole files. |
| Remember | The graph is stored locally and survives between sessions and agent runs. |
Results
Section titled “Results”Across our own development work, querying the graph instead of feeding files into the prompt cut token use by 30–99.7%. The saving varies widely with the task and the size of the repo. These are internal measurements, not a published benchmark.
The saving comes from answer size. ix explain AuthService returns that symbol and its immediate relationships.
Answering the same question by reading the file and every file it imports costs far more, and costs it again next
session. ix savings reports what the graph has saved you so far.
What Ix is not
Section titled “What Ix is not”Ix answers structural questions about code. It does not answer prose questions (“why did we choose this
design?”). It isn’t a replacement for reading code when you need the details of an implementation. Use
ix read for that once the graph has shown you where to look.