codeglance - The quick way to understand any codebase in just 10 seconds.

codeglance

The quick way to understand any codebase in just 10 seconds.

Pitch

Codeglance offers a fast and efficient way to familiarize oneself with any codebase. With a single command, gain insights into structure and framework, making onboarding and project evaluation simpler. No installation or configuration is needed—just run and understand.

Description

What is codeglance?

You clone a repo. You have no idea what it is or how to run it. You spend 15 minutes opening files, reading the README, grepping for entry points.

codeglance fixes that.

npx codeglance

One command. No install. No config. No API keys.

What you get

Question	Answer
What framework is this?	Not just "TypeScript project" — "Next.js 14 with Prisma and tRPC"
How do I run it?	Run/build/test commands pulled directly from the manifest file
Where do I start reading?	Ranked list of files to read first based on naming patterns and depth
What tools does it use?	CI, Docker, linting, env files — all detected automatically

Real output

Here's codeglance running on charmbracelet/glow (15k stars):

── WHAT IS THIS
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  CLI tool (Go) using Cobra
  Runtime     Go 1.25.9

── HOW TO RUN IT
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  go run .         run main package
  go build ./...   compile all packages
  go test ./...    run test suite

── WHERE TO START
────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  main.go           main package
  config_cmd.go     cmd configuration
  github.go         GitHub integration
  ui/markdown.go    Markdown renderer

── TOOLS DETECTED
────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  CI/CD        GitHub Actions (6 workflows)
  Container    Docker
  Linting      golangci-lint

Three modes

npx codeglance                              # terminal output
npx codeglance --for-ai                     # compact brief for Claude/Cursor/GPT
npx codeglance --markdown --output FILENAME # save as onboarding doc

Works on

Node.js · Python · Go · Rust · C/C++

Detects 130+ frameworks across all five ecosystems.

Honest limitations

Reads manifests and file structure only — not source code
Heuristic, not semantic — "files to read first" uses patterns, not import graph analysis
Java, Ruby, PHP not supported yet