alive:my-context-graph

Design

Render an interactive map of your world. Generates the world index from all walnut and bundle frontmatter, then produces a force-directed graph showing connections between walnuts, people, bundles, and tags. Opens in the browser.

QUICK START

How to use this skill

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/alivecontext/alive/blob/HEAD/plugins/alive/skills/my-context-graph/SKILL.md

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Map

Visual overview of the entire ALIVE world — connections, clusters, health.

Not a list (that's the tree in alive:world). Not a search (that's alive:search-world). Map is spatial — it shows how everything connects and where the energy is.

What It Does

1. Generate the World Index

Run generate-index.py from the plugin to walk all walnuts and collect frontmatter. Always use the plugin cache copy — never copy scripts to the world (world-local copies drift from the plugin and produce stale data).

python3 "$ALIVE_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/generate-index.py" "$WORLD_ROOT"

The script walks all directories for key.md files, handling both _kernel/key.md (current structure) and root-level key.md (flat/legacy structure). It deduplicates entries and skips template walnuts.

Collected data per walnut:

Name, type, goal, phase, rhythm, tags
People (from key.md people: field — multi-line list)
Links (from key.md links: field — wikilink extraction)
Parent (from key.md parent: field)
Bundles (detected by */context.manifest.yaml in walnut root — name, status, goal)
Task counts (from _kernel/now.json if present)
Last updated (from _kernel/now.json updated field)

Projection tiers: The graph supports three projection levels for controlling visual density:

Tier 1 — Walnuts only — just the walnut nodes and their connections. Fast, clean overview.
Tier 2 — Walnuts + People — adds people nodes that bridge multiple walnuts. Shows relationship topology.
Tier 3 — Full graph — walnuts, people, bundles, tags. Maximum detail. Can get dense in large worlds.

Default to Tier 2. Offer toggle controls for Tier 1 (simplified) and Tier 3 (full detail).

Outputs:

.alive/_index.yaml — human-readable world index
.alive/_index.json — machine-readable for graph consumption

2. Render the Graph

Run generate-graph.py from the plugin to read the JSON index and generate an interactive D3.js graph.

python3 "$ALIVE_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/generate-graph.py" "$WORLD_ROOT"

The graph is written to .alive/context-graph.html — an HTML file with embedded data. Requires internet connection (D3.js loads from CDN, fonts from Fontshare/Google Fonts).

Open in browser:

# macOS
open "$WORLD_ROOT/.alive/context-graph.html"
# Linux
xdg-open "$WORLD_ROOT/.alive/context-graph.html"
# Windows
start "" "$WORLD_ROOT/.alive/context-graph.html"

Theme: Alive branded. Light mode default (cream #FAF8F5, orange primary #F97316). Dark mode toggle (forest green #0A1F0D, copper #B87333 accents). Custom fonts: Array (display), Khand (headings), Inter (body).

Nodes:

Walnuts (primary nodes — sized by bundle count and recency)
People (toggle — shown for people who connect 2+ walnuts)
Bundles (expandable — click a walnut to show its bundles as orbiting nodes)
Central node connecting top-level walnuts
Inputs buffer node showing unrouted count

Edges:

links: field connections between walnuts
parent: -> child relationships (dashed)
Person -> walnut connections (dotted, when people shown)
Bundle -> parent walnut (when expanded)

Color by ALIVE domain:

Life = blue
Ventures = orange
Experiments = green
Archive = warm gray
People = purple
Inputs = red

Colors adapt per theme (lighter in dark mode for visibility).

Size by activity:

15+ bundles = largest (20px)
5+ bundles = large (15px)
Updated in last 2 days = medium-large (12px)
Updated in last week = medium (9px)
Stale = small (5px)

Health signals visible:

Active (recent) = full opacity, glow on today's updates
Quiet (1-2 weeks) = reduced opacity
Waiting (2+ weeks) = dim, small
Bundle-heavy walnuts get outer glow rings

3. Open in Browser

╭─ squirrel map generated
│
│  58 walnuts, 78 people, 41 bundles
│  60 nodes, 36 links, 11 people connectors
│
│  > Opening in browser...
╰─

Graph Features

Interactive Controls

Hover node -> tooltip with goal, phase, bundle count, urgent task count
Hover node -> highlight all connected nodes and edges, dim everything else
Click walnut -> expand bundles as orbiting nodes + open details panel
Click node -> pin details panel (right sidebar) with full context
Drag -> reposition nodes (physics simulation)
Zoom + pan -> navigate large worlds
Hover edge -> show connection type label (linked / parent -> child / person name)
Esc -> close details panel

Details Panel

Click any node to open a pinned side panel showing:

Name, domain badge, phase badge
Goal description
Metadata (rhythm, last updated, days since, session count)
Urgent + active task count badges (from the index's task_counts payload)
Bundle list with status badges (draft/prototype/published/done)
Active bundle highlighted in primary color
People list
Tags

Search

/ hotkey -> focus search box
Searches walnut names, goals, tags, and people
Matching nodes highlighted, everything else dims
Esc -> clear search

Theme Toggle

Light mode default (Alive cream branding)
Dark mode toggle (forest green + copper)
Theme persists via localStorage
Sun/moon toggle in header

Controls

reset view -> zoom to fit
show people -> toggle people connector nodes
labels on/off -> toggle node labels
show archive -> toggle archived walnuts
cluster -> group nodes by ALIVE domain with background labels
projection tier -> switch between Tier 1/2/3

Bundle Expansion

Click any walnut with bundles to expand them as orbiting nodes:

Bundle nodes sized by active status (active bundle = larger)
Bundle color by status: draft (gray), prototype (amber), done (green)
Active bundle has a highlighted stroke
Click the walnut again to collapse
Bundle details shown in the details panel

Files

File	Purpose
`.alive/_index.yaml`	Generated world index — human-readable, all frontmatter
`.alive/_index.json`	Generated world index — JSON for graph consumption
`.alive/context-graph.html`	Interactive D3.js graph — self-contained, Alive branded
`$ALIVE_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/generate-index.py`	Index generator (walks tree, reads frontmatter, outputs YAML + JSON)
`$ALIVE_PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/generate-graph.py`	Graph generator (reads JSON index, outputs branded HTML with D3.js)

Important: Always use the plugin cache copies. Do NOT copy scripts to .alive/scripts/ — world-local copies drift from the plugin on updates and produce stale data (root cause of t003).

Regeneration

The index and graph should be regenerated:

On every alive:my-context-graph invocation (always fresh)
Suggested after alive:save when structural changes occurred (new walnut, new bundle, new person)
After alive:system-cleanup resolves issues that affect the graph (broken links, orphan walnuts)

╭─ squirrel world changed — regenerate map?
│  New walnut created: flux-engine
│  2 new bundles, 1 new person
│
│  > Regenerate / Skip
╰─

What Map Is NOT

Not alive:world — world is the operational dashboard (what to work on). Map is the spatial view (how things connect).
Not alive:search-world — find retrieves specific content. Map shows the topology.
Not alive:system-cleanup — tidy fixes structural issues. Map visualizes the structure.

World answers "what should I do?" Map answers "what does my world look like?"