About DependencyGraph · Documentation · Visual Studio Marketplace
2026.1.0.0 — 30 August 2026
The extension has been rebuilt around a new graph engine and a dockable tool window. If you have been using the 2023 release, this is a different tool in most of the ways that matter.
The window
The graph now opens in a dockable tool window instead of a modal dialog, so it no longer blocks the IDE while it is up, and it is drawn with MSAGL rather than NodeNetwork. Labels stay crisp when zoomed, node text scales with a configurable font size, and the command bar scrolls when the window is too narrow for it.
Five views
- Deepest references only — one edge per project, to its furthest dependency
- All references — every reference, direct and indirect
- Direct references only
- Impact — what depends on a project, rather than what it depends on
- Entire solution — every project and every reference at once, with projects nothing else references marked as entry points
Reading a large solution
- Solution folder boxes, named, that collapse to a single node
- Focus — narrow the graph to projects you pick
- Depth limiting, measured along the shortest path to a project rather than the longest
- Exclusions by name pattern, for example
*.Tests;*.Benchmarks - Cycle detection
- A legend, and external references drawn distinctly
Moving things around
Nodes and group boxes can be dragged where you want them. Positions persist per solution, on disk, so they survive a rebuild of the graph and closing the solution. Reset layout puts everything back.
Other
- Each project’s target framework in the tooltip and status bar, and optionally under the node name in the graph
- Richer tooltips: target framework, solution folder, reference counts, full path
- Tools → Options page for defaults — view, direction, depth, font size, exclusions
- Exports to PNG, DGML and Graphviz DOT; Graphviz itself is only needed for its own SVG/PNG export
- The extension’s own icon on the Tools and Solution Explorer menu items
- Projects keyed by unique name, so two projects sharing a name in different solution folders no longer merge into one node
- Builds clean with no compiler or threading-analyzer warnings
Fixed
- The graph window came up empty, with no project selected when it opened. The fault was entirely on the rendering side, which has been replaced. Verified against the solution from that report: 16 projects, 33 connections, drawn correctly.
Known gaps
- The DGML and Graphviz DOT exports still use project names as node ids, so two projects with the same name in different solution folders merge into one node in those files. The graph itself does not have this problem.
2023.3.0.0 — 15 October 2023
- Save solution and project dependency graphs to DGML and Graphviz DOT.
- Show the reference count and referenced-by count for each project.
- Display the project name, nodes and connections in the status bar.
Saving to Graphviz output needs Graphviz’s dot.exe on the PATH.
2023.2.0.2 — 26 August 2023
Initial release.