As a CS student, opening a new GitHub repository was often overwhelming. Large codebases, unfamiliar structures, missing or outdated documentation, and no clear starting point made it hard to understand how a project actually worked.
Over the last few months, I built something I genuinely wish I had back then.
GitNav is a Chrome extension that analyzes any GitHub repository in seconds and helps you understand it before you dive into the code. You open a repository, click “Analyze,” and GitNav gives you a clear, high-level view of what you are looking at.
It visualizes the entire repository structure as an interactive graph, allows instant file search, identifies the technologies used, evaluates the health of the codebase, scans for potential security issues, breaks down dependencies, and highlights the key files that are most important to read first.
The goal is simple: reduce the friction of understanding unfamiliar code and help you move from confusion to clarity as quickly as possible.
I built GitNav primarily for students learning from open source projects, but it is equally useful for developers reviewing new repositories or anyone exploring a codebase for the first time.
Privacy was a core design decision. GitNav does not collect data, does not track users, and does not rely on backend servers. All analysis runs locally in your browser. The extension is completely free and open source.
I did not want to build just another GitHub enhancement. I wanted a tool that answers a simple question: if you only have a few minutes to understand a repository, where should you start?
GitNav is my attempt to answer that.
You can install GitNav here:
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/gitnav-github-repository/kbokphmbbdmhmcjhlldcakcikcpdcike
If you try it, I would genuinely appreciate your feedback.
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