The symbol graph

The symbol graph is your codebase as Altretta sees it: every symbol it extracted and the cross-file relationships that connect them.

When you ingest a repository, Altretta doesn't just index text — it builds a graph of the things your code defines and how they relate. That graph is what powers structural navigation, Impact Radius, and grounded Code Q&A.

Browse the top symbols

The symbol browser is a panel of the most significant symbols in your codebase — the functions, types, and classes that anchor the project. Use it to get your bearings in an unfamiliar repo or to jump straight to the piece you care about, instead of scrolling through files.

Opening a codebase you don't know? Start in the symbol browser rather than the file tree. The top symbols show you the shape of the project before you read a single line.

Navigate by relationship, not by folder

A file tree tells you where code lives. The symbol graph tells you how code connects. Altretta resolves references across files, so from a symbol you can move along its real relationships — who calls it, who uses it, what it depends on — rather than guessing from filenames.

This cross-file weave is the difference between search and understanding:

Flat search (Obsidian / Logseq)	The symbol graph (Altretta)
Finds the text `parseConfig` wherever it appears	Knows the symbol `parseConfig` and its definition
Can't tell a call from a comment from a string	Distinguishes definitions from references
Stops at the file boundary	Follows references across every file in the project

Code and notes in one graph

Because symbols live in the same semantic graph as your notes, a symbol isn't isolated from the context that explains it. A decision note and the code it governs are part of one connected structure — which is exactly what makes doc & decision drift detectable and Code Q&A answerable from real source.

Code Cartography

The overview of Altretta reading your repository as a structural graph.

Impact Radius

From any symbol, see everything a change would affect across the graph.

Doc & decision drift

Find where your docs and decisions no longer match the code.

Code Q&A

Ask your AI about a symbol, grounded in the real cross-file references.

The semantic graph

The same graph, seen over your notes — symbols and notes are one structure.

Glossary

Symbol, cross-file reference, and the vocabulary of the graph, defined.