get_overview · repowise docs

Architecture summary, module map, entry points and git health for an entire repository: the first call your agent should make on any unfamiliar codebase. Onboarding, ownership and graph blocks are opt-in.

The opening move on any new codebase. One call returns a structured architecture summary, the top modules, the natural entry points, and repo-wide git health, drawn from the dependency graph and git history. The rest of the tool surface is on MCP tools.

It is compact on purpose. The outline, the onboarding walks, the ownership map and the code communities are not in a default response, and they are not computed unless you ask: each is gated behind an include value. The response's more field names them, so an agent that wants one can see what to ask for.

When to call

First, before the agent reads any source.
Workspace orientation: pass repo="all" to get cross-repo topology and contract links.
Onboarding a person: include=["tour", "outline"] for the page-by-page walk and the wiki tree behind it.

Skip it on later calls in the same session. The map does not change mid-session.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`repo`	string	default repo	Repository alias, path, or ID. Omit for the default repo. Pass "all" for a workspace-level overview.
`include`	string[]	—	Opt-in blocks, any combination of "content", "outline", "tour", "decisions", "graph", "ownership". Anything not named here is not computed.

Returns by default

Field	Description
`title`	Repo name
`content_md`	The overview essay trimmed to its summary section. `content_hint` accompanies it when trimmed, pointing at `include=["content"]` for the full walkthrough
`code_health`	The repo's rolled-up health scores
`key_modules`	Up to 8 module pages, each with `name`, `path`, and `section`. The prose lives on `get_context(path)`; `section` indexes into the outline
`entry_points`	Up to 15 file paths for the natural entry points (test fixtures excluded)
`git_health`	`files_git_attributed`, `hotspot_count`, `avg_bus_factor`, `files_with_bus_factor_1`, `churn_trend`, `top_churn_modules`
`architecture`	Layer names with file counts, plus `tour_available` and `tour_step_count`. Present when the knowledge graph has layers
`next_actions`	The few things worth doing this week and this quarter, the same list as the dashboard's "Do next" and `repowise next`: per horizon a total, counts by tier, and the actions with reason and effort. `next_actions_reason` explains an absent block
`more`	One sentence naming every `include` block and what it adds
`tool_surface`	Which tools this server advertises, with composition recipes
`workspace`	(workspace mode only) root, default repo hint, cross-repo topology, contract links

Opt-in blocks

Named in include or absent. Absent means not built, not withheld.

`include` value	Adds
`"content"`	The full overview essay in `content_md` instead of its summary section
`"outline"`	`outline`, the stored wiki page tree two rungs deep, plus `outline_hint` on how to read `section` and `descendants`
`"tour"`	`guided_tour` and `reading_order`, the onboarding walks, each with its own hint field
`"decisions"`	`key_decisions`, the governing decision records. `get_why` is the richer route
`"graph"`	`community_summary`, the top 10 code-community clusters by size
`"ownership"`	`knowledge_map`, carrying `top_owners`

guided_tour is the topology-driven walk derived from the import graph: entry points first, then inward, infrastructure last. It is persisted on the overview page at generation time, so asking for it costs a read rather than a traversal.

Example

get_overview()                              # default repo, compact
get_overview(include=["content", "outline"])
get_overview(include=["tour"])              # onboarding walk
get_overview(repo="frontend")               # one repo in a workspace
get_overview(repo="all")                    # workspace-level view

Things worth knowing

The response budget moves when you ask for extras. A default call is fitted to 24,000 characters; a call with a non-empty include gets 32,000. Reductions carry their counts in _meta, and an include-gated block that you did not ask for is a projection rather than an omission.
Churn trend is computed from a 30-day vs 60-day commit-rate ratio: above 1.5x is "increasing", below 0.5x is "decreasing", otherwise "stable".
top_owners is capped at the top 3 contributors by files owned, and emits a display name only, never a contributor email. It answers "who do I ask", not "who owns this file"; for that use get_risk or get_context(include=["ownership"]).
Caps are recoverable. Module pages beyond 8 and entry points beyond 15 go to the omission store with a [repowise#<ref>] marker, not into the void.
In workspace mode, repo="all" returns total repos, files, and symbols plus a per-repo dependency graph and contract links between services. It carries no single-repo detail.

If the agent calls get_overview and immediately follows up with Grep or Read, your MCP server probably isn't connected. Check .mcp.json and run repowise doctor.