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Getting Started

This guide walks you through running your first analysis and understanding the results.

Step 1: Install

pip install strictacode

See Installation for details.

Step 2: Run Your First Analysis

Navigate to your project directory and run:

strictacode analyze . --short

You'll see output like this:

Project:
  * status:
    - name: warning
    - score: 58          ← Project health (0-100, lower is better)
  * refactoring_pressure:
    - score: 72          ← How much the code "pressures" the developer
  * overengineering_pressure:
    - score: 18          ← How over-engineered the architecture is
  * complexity:
    - density: 42.5      ← Concentration of complexity

Step 3: Understand the Metrics

Metric What it Measures Good Bad
Project Score Overall health 0-20 60+
Refactoring Pressure Pressure to refactor 0-40 60+
Overengineering Pressure Excessive complexity 0-40 60+
Complexity Density Complexity concentration < 20 > 50

Step 4: Diagnose Your Project

Compare Refactoring Pressure (RP) and Overengineering Pressure (OP):

  • RP high, OP low → Spaghetti code — clean up functions
  • OP high, RP low → Overengineering — simplify architecture
  • Both high → Crisis — isolate and rewrite
  • Both low → Healthy — monitor

For a detailed diagnosis walkthrough, see Interpretation.

Step 5: Drill Down

Use the --details flag to see which specific modules, classes, and functions are problematic:

strictacode analyze . --details

This adds class, method, and function-level breakdowns so you can pinpoint exactly where to focus.

What's Next