nthlayer deps¶

Discover and display service dependencies from multiple sources.

This command queries various dependency providers (Kubernetes, Backstage, Prometheus) to build a comprehensive view of what services depend on what.

Usage¶

nthlayer deps <service.yaml> [options]

Options¶

Option	Description
`--prometheus-url, -p URL`	Prometheus server URL
`--env ENVIRONMENT`	Environment name (dev, staging, prod)
`--provider {prometheus,kubernetes,backstage,all}`	Dependency provider to use (default: all)
`--k8s-namespace NAMESPACE`	Kubernetes namespace to search (default: all)
`--backstage-url URL`	Backstage catalog URL
`--upstream, -u`	Show only upstream dependencies (what this service calls)
`--downstream, -d`	Show only downstream dependencies (what calls this service)
`--format {table,json}`	Output format (default: table)
`--demo`	Show demo output with sample data

Environment Variables¶

Variable	Description
`NTHLAYER_PROMETHEUS_URL`	Default Prometheus URL
`NTHLAYER_BACKSTAGE_URL`	Default Backstage catalog URL
`KUBECONFIG`	Kubernetes configuration file

Examples¶

Basic Dependency Discovery¶

nthlayer deps checkout-service.yaml

Output:

╭──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ Dependencies: checkout-service                                                │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Upstream Dependencies (what checkout-service calls):
┌─────────────────┬──────────────┬────────────┬───────────┐
│ Service         │ Type         │ Provider   │ Confidence│
├─────────────────┼──────────────┼────────────┼───────────┤
│ payment-api     │ service      │ kubernetes │ 0.95      │
│ user-service    │ service      │ backstage  │ 0.90      │
│ postgres-main   │ datastore    │ kubernetes │ 0.95      │
│ redis-cache     │ datastore    │ prometheus │ 0.85      │
│ stripe          │ external     │ backstage  │ 0.90      │
└─────────────────┴──────────────┴────────────┴───────────┘

Downstream Dependencies (what calls checkout-service):
┌─────────────────┬──────────────┬────────────┬───────────┐
│ Service         │ Type         │ Provider   │ Confidence│
├─────────────────┼──────────────┼────────────┼───────────┤
│ mobile-app      │ service      │ prometheus │ 0.80      │
│ web-frontend    │ service      │ kubernetes │ 0.95      │
└─────────────────┴──────────────┴────────────┴───────────┘

Summary: 5 upstream, 2 downstream dependencies

Filter by Provider¶

# Only discover from Kubernetes
nthlayer deps service.yaml --provider kubernetes

# Only discover from Backstage catalog
nthlayer deps service.yaml --provider backstage --backstage-url https://backstage.company.com

JSON Output for CI/CD¶

nthlayer deps service.yaml --format json > dependencies.json

Show Demo Data¶

nthlayer deps service.yaml --demo

Dependency Providers¶

Kubernetes Provider¶

Discovers dependencies from: - Service selectors and labels - ConfigMap references - Environment variables pointing to other services - Ingress/egress network policies

Confidence: 0.95 (high - explicit configuration)

Backstage Provider¶

Discovers dependencies from: - spec.dependsOn in catalog entities - API relationships - System membership

Confidence: 0.90 (high - curated catalog)

Prometheus Provider¶

Discovers dependencies from: - Metric labels showing service-to-service calls - Request rate patterns between services

Confidence: 0.80-0.85 (medium - inferred from metrics)

Dependency Types¶

Type	Description
`service`	Another microservice
`datastore`	Database, cache, or storage
`queue`	Message queue or event bus
`external`	External API or third-party service
`infrastructure`	Infrastructure component (e.g., Vault, Consul)

Confidence Scores¶

Dependencies are assigned confidence scores (0.0-1.0):

Range	Meaning
0.90-1.0	High confidence (explicit configuration)
0.75-0.89	Medium confidence (strong inference)
0.50-0.74	Low confidence (weak inference)
<0.50	Very low (may be false positive)