Detect circular dependencies in project

Question

Last time i found in my project problem with circular dependencies. I resolve my problem but, i would like avoid this in future. I think about plugin which found circular dependencies in my all project and give me feedback.

Example:

File a.js:

var functionFromA= require("./b.js");
console.log("file a", functionFromA);
module.exports = {functionFromA: functionFromA};

File b.js:

var functionFromB = require("./c.js");
console.log("file b", functionFromB );
module.exports = {functionFromB : functionFromB };

File c.js:

var functionFromC = require("./a.js");
console.log("file c", functionFromC );
module.exports = {functionFromC : functionFromC }

When i run file a.js i see in console:
file c {}
file b { functionFromC: {} }
file a { functionFromB: { functionFromC: {} } }

I found "Circular Dependency Plugin" in npm but i don't know how use it? May be someone has similar problem and found a solution?

score 61 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 15 '17 at 10:02

61

You can find this other tool useful: https://www.npmjs.com/package/madge

is very easy to use: madge --circular [directory] give you a list of circular dependencies in your code located inside [directory]. It can also generate a graph image.

answered Nov 15 '17 at 10:02

davidmpaz

1,194
15
18

1

i really love this tool! just solve my problem in few mins – Mudaser Ali Oct 07 '20 at 15:25

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 27 '22 at 16:05

4

If you have eslint setup, you can add eslint-plugin-import and enable the import/no-cycle rule.

answered Jul 27 '22 at 16:05

Etienne Martin

10,018
3
35
47

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 11 '18 at 13:26

2

As davidmpaz suggested, madge is a good tool for such a thing but it only detects circular dependencies and doesn't indicate whether these circular dependencies causes a problem in your application or not.

I made a tool to detect the circular dependencies and it warns you about the problem that caused by cd. https://www.npmjs.com/package/detect-circular-deps

answered Jul 11 '18 at 13:26

Ahmed Sabry

434
1
8
17

I wonder if it's possible to detect CD during runtime, when we import/require dynamic modules. – Milad Nov 23 '20 at 12:17
Circular dependencies ALMOST always indicate some poorly thought out application/library structure. I'd lean toward the `madge` tool since code will usually be clearer if circular dependencies are removed even if they "work". – Marvin Oct 04 '21 at 13:30
Is it possible to make it work on typescript files? – Memke Nov 22 '21 at 17:56

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 23 '23 at 12:51

0

The tool that saved my life was dpdm.

One particulary great thing about it, is that it handles mix of typescript and javascript files better than madge

answered Feb 23 '23 at 12:51

TLamp

61
3

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 09 '23 at 17:01

We can also use skott:

skott is a minimalist developer tool that can be used to efficiently generate directed graphs from your JavaScript/TypeScript/Node.js project. It can run from CLI, for example:

skott --trackBuiltinDependencies src/index.js

Detect circular dependencies in project

5 Answers5

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