Keeping Track of Where You Are in the Code

I sometimes feel completely lost in a codebase. I find myself staring at a function, uncertain of how to actually engage with it.

Even when I’m the one who wrote the code, the mental picture doesn’t always return immediately. I stare at the screen for a moment, waiting for the “click” of recognition.

That pause is familiar to all of us. It’s the sound of context being rebuilt. It’s one of the realities that motivated Unfault: orientation comes before understanding.

Getting my bearings

Usually, I find my way by following a function”s call, looking up a test, or at worst, running a global search. Most of the time, that works. I gather just enough context to keep moving.

But occasionally, a question arises that doesn’t resolve itself: Where does this path actually end?

Answering that requires unfolding the layers. You have to look at the space between files, between decisions made months ago, and between dependencies that only make sense once you see them connected.

This isn’t wasted time, it’s the process of rebuilding understanding. But it is a tax on our momentum.

Seeing the shape nearby

This is the space Unfault pays attention to.

Unfault doesn’t try to explain your code to you. It doesn’t tell you what matters or nag you to fix a “finding.” Instead, it maps how the pieces connect in real-time. Providing a context you can glance at and move past.

Sometimes that means noticing a execution path extends further than you thought. Other times, it’s the relief of realizing a change is more contained than it feels. Both outcomes are useful, and neither demands immediate action.

Staying in motion

What Unfault shows you is deliberately minimal. It might be a short summary of a relationship, a path you hadn’t noticed, or a connection that helps you decide how “careful” you need to be with a refactor.

If you want to dig further, the path is there. If you don’t, nothing insists that you do.

We built Unfault on the assumption that understanding grows while you work. The tool stays close enough to help, and quiet enough not to interrupt.

Orientation is not analysis

There is no checklist to complete. No backlog of findings to manage. There is no sense that you are “behind” if you ignore a suggestion.

Unfault provides facts, not opinions. It doesn’t demand a fix. It simply observes the state of your code so you don’t have to hold it all in your internal cache. We believe your code tells a story and Unfault is the structure to hold it.

Concretely, Unfault is designed to avoid becoming an additional burden. We believe that if a tool adds to your noise, it’s failing. When Unfault gets in the way, our approach is to refine the behavior, not to ask you to absorb more friction.

Sometimes I look at Unfault and move on immediately. Sometimes I follow a path a bit further, just to satisfy my curiosity. Both feel natural, because neither breaks the flow.