clj-depend is a namespace dependency analyser for Clojure projects. It helps developers enforce architectural boundaries by checking whether namespaces depend on other namespaces in ways that violate predefined rules.
As applications grow, managing dependencies between components becomes increasingly important. Uncontrolled dependencies can make code difficult to maintain, complicate testing and introduce unwanted coupling between otherwise separate parts of an application.
clj-depend addresses these problems by allowing developers to define architectural layers and specify which dependencies are permitted between them. For example, an application might allow controller namespaces to access business logic and data models while preventing lower-level components from depending on controllers.
The software uses declarative configuration files to describe these relationships. It can also be accessed programmatically, making dependency validation suitable for automated development workflows and larger projects where architectural consistency is important.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Namespace dependency analysis – examines relationships between Clojure namespaces and identifies violations of configured restrictions.
- Architectural layers – organise namespaces into logical layers and define permitted dependencies between them.
- Flexible layer definitions – identify namespaces using regular expressions or explicit namespace sets.
- Dependency rules – prohibit dependencies on selected namespaces using configurable restrictions.
- Circular dependency detection – identifies cyclic relationships between namespaces that can complicate application structure.
- Same-layer controls – determine whether namespaces belonging to the same architectural layer can depend on one another.
- Configurable source paths – restrict analysis to selected project directories.
- Custom violation messages – provide project-specific explanations when dependency rules are broken.
- Violation snapshots – maintain a baseline of existing violations so subsequent checks can focus on new problems.
- Programmatic API – access dependency analysis functionality directly from Clojure applications.
- Build integration – supports execution through Clojure CLI and a dedicated Leiningen plugin.
Website: github.com/fabiodomingues/clj-depend
Support:
Developer: Fabio Domingues
License: Eclipse Public License v2.0
clj-depend is written in Clojure. Learn Clojure with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
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