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Three Claude Code plugins turned my repo into maps: what each missed
A developer ran three open-source Claude Code plugins that turn code into a map, a diagram and a knowledge graph on the same multi-repo project, then asked each the same questions. The comparison covers time to first result, token cost and the failures: flows invented from memory, diagrams that pin a single repository, and the security hole none of the maps caught.
Key points
- Floorplan missed all 66 endpoints at first because routes lived in a lookup table rather than a framework router; a merged pull request fixed it 70 minutes later.
- Flows Floorplan wrote from memory during map building were wrong; deleting them and requesting 17 traced flows instead gave 14 that passed against staging.
- Archify pins one repository, so a five-repo project needs the other repos drawn as labelled boxes with cards, and its SSH remote had to be switched to an HTTPS URL.
- Understand Anything produced 732 nodes, 1,625 links and a 15-step tour in 14 minutes for $13.01 at API list prices.
- Ask three questions whose answers you already know before trusting any generated diagram; it separates traced content from remembered content.
- None of the tools surfaced an OAuth permission check that was advertised but never enforced in the code.
I need to check the channel's categories first.
Real-world use
- Taking over an unfamiliar or inherited codebase and needing a guided tour plus per-function summaries before making changes.
- Documenting user flows for a small app so the flows are traced to real routes and functions rather than written from an agent's memory.
- Producing one shareable architecture diagram for a README, a pitch or a new teammate joining a multi-repo project.
- Auditing what a generated map can and cannot answer before using it to plan a refactor or a security review.
Why it matters
Code-to-diagram tools save hours of reading but silently fill gaps from model memory, so their output is only trustworthy after you probe it with questions you can already answer.