Find callers (reverse dependencies)

Read-only reverse dependency lookup. Use this to find all code that references, calls, extends, or implements a specific entity. Answers 'who uses this code?' by querying the graph database. Differs from search tools by providing exact dependency tracking.

Usage: Use for impact analysis before refactoring or to detect dead code. Do NOT use this for semantic feature discovery—use 'search_hybrid_context' instead.

Matching is precedence-based: exact FQN (containing '.' or '::') → FQN suffix (Type.member) → exact name → signature prefix (accept(List) → name prefix (queries under 4 characters) → fuzzy substring (queries of 4+ characters). A trailing parameter list of types addresses one overload: 'Foo.bar(int, int)' resolves 'Foo.bar' through the tiers above and keeps only the overloads whose declared parameter types match (simple type names; generic arguments compared only when written; 'name: Type' accepted); when none matches, the response lists the declared overloads. Overloads sharing an FQN are labelled by their parameter list in the target list and '### Target:' headers. The first tier that matches wins, so an exact name never returns fuzzy noise. Queries shorter than 4 characters resolve by anchored name prefix instead of substring, avoiding substring noise on short strings. Pass a qualified name (Namespace.Type.Member) to disambiguate homonyms. Responses state which tier matched and flag fuzzy results explicitly.

Behaviour & Return: Read-only graph traversal with no side effects. Returns Markdown grouped by relationship type (Calls, Extends, Implements, References, Overridden by, Overrides, Dispatched calls) with exact file paths and line numbers. When every reference and target belongs to one repository, the 'Found N reference(s)' line names it once as (repo: name); otherwise each caller entry and each resolved target states its repository, so rows are attributable when multiple repositories are in scope. For JVM code (Java/Kotlin/Groovy) and C#, 'Overridden by' lists method implementations/overrides in subtypes and 'Overrides' lists the supertype methods a method implements/overrides. 'Dispatched calls' lists callers bound to an override or to a supertype method of the target (dynamic dispatch), each under the method it is statically bound to, so an interface method called only through its implementation is never reported as unused. When the query resolves to more than one entity with that name (homonyms, e.g., 'find_nearest_entity_by_line' in orphans.rs vs rust.rs), results are grouped by target entity showing which specific target each caller references — even when only one of the homonyms has callers. Each caller entry is one line: name, kind, file_path:line_number and, when it is not empty, its signature. When multiple targets exist, each group shows the target's location and signature. References made from test code (test files, Rust #[cfg(test)]) are included in every count but listed only with include_tests=true; each group then ends with '+N in tests'. A file's <module> row (its import) is folded into the other rows of that file.

Entity-kind scope: target resolution is code-only by default — documentation, configuration, build-system and Kubernetes/Helm metadata (markdown_section, config_property, build_dependency, cargo_package, project_identity, k8s_*, helm_*, …) can never be presented as resolved targets. When the filter removed matches, the response says so ('Non-code matches hidden — N entities …'), never silently. Pass kinds='all' (or '*') to disable the filter, or a comma-separated allow-list of exact kinds/aliases ('callable', 'config', 'docs', 'rust_function', 'build_dependency', …) to scope resolution explicitly. The response's resolution.kind_filter field states which scope applied ('code_default', 'any', 'explicit').

Relationship coverage: the buckets cover every edge type the pipeline produces — Calls, Extends, Implements, References, Macro calls (MACRO_CALLS), DOM references (JS → HTML id), CSS class usage (JS → CSS class), script/stylesheet imports, the VCL edges (uses backend/probe/acl, includes, imports vmod, declared-unused) and HTTP routes (ROUTES_TO: the endpoint serving a handler) — plus Overridden by / Overrides / Dispatched calls, and 'HTTP callers (heuristic: client call → endpoint)': the HTTP client calls (OpenFeign, MicroProfile REST Client, Spring @HttpExchange, RestTemplate, WebClient, RestClient; test code excluded) of any indexed repository linked to the target endpoint or handler by HTTP_CALLS — matched by verb, path, service name and context path, never linked when several endpoints match equally well.

Truncation & completeness: the queried name is first resolved to concrete targets (capped at 25 by default). When more targets match than fit the cap, the response states 'Truncated — N targets matched; showing the first M by FQN' and 'Counts below are partial — they cover only the M of N targets shown', so bucket counts are never mistaken for the complete impact set. Raise 'max_targets' (up to 500) to retrieve more targets when the notice reports truncation.

Parameter guidance: 'entity_name' supports exact names or signature fragments (e.g., 'handleRequest' or 'handle(Request'). Include 'repo_name' to filter results to the specific codebase being analyzed.

Supports Java, Kotlin, C#, Rust, and TypeScript codebases.