km knowledge

Analyzes code ownership patterns via git blame (knowledge maps). Based on Adam Thornhill’s method (“Your Code as a Crime Scene” chapters 8-9).

km knowledge [path]

Identifies bus factor risk and knowledge concentration per file. Generated files (lock files, minified JS, etc.) are automatically excluded.

Risk levels

Risk	Condition	Meaning
CRITICAL	1 person owns >80%	High bus factor risk
HIGH	1 person owns 60-80%	Significant concentration
MEDIUM	2-3 people own >80% combined	Moderate concentration
LOW	Well-distributed	Healthy ownership

Knowledge loss detection

Use --since to define “recent activity”. If the primary owner of a file has no commits in that period, the file is flagged with knowledge loss risk. Use --risk-only to show only those files.

Options:

Flag	Description
--format {table,json,short,terse}	Output format (default: table)
--include-tests	Include test files in analysis (excluded by default)
--top N	Show only the top N files (default: 20)
--sort-by METRIC	Sort by concentration, diffusion, or risk (default: concentration)
--since DURATION	Define recent activity window for knowledge loss (e.g. 6m, 1y, 30d)
--risk-only	Show only files with knowledge loss risk
--summary	Aggregate by author: files owned, lines, languages, worst risk
--bus-factor	Show project bus factor (minimum contributors covering 80% of code)
--author NAME	Show only files owned by this author (case-insensitive substring match)

Example output:

Knowledge Map — Code Ownership
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 File                       Language  Lines  Owner         Own%  Contrib  Risk
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 src/loc/counter.rs             Rust    731  E. Diaz        94%        2  CRITICAL
 src/main.rs                    Rust    241  E. Diaz        78%        3  HIGH
 src/walk.rs                    Rust    145  E. Diaz        55%        5  MEDIUM
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Files with knowledge loss risk (primary owner inactive): 1
  src/legacy.rs (Former Dev)

Use --bus-factor to compute how many contributors you can afford to lose:

$ km knowledge --bus-factor
Project Bus Factor: 2

 Losing 2 key contributors would put 80% of the project's knowledge at risk.
 Risk: HIGH — two people hold critical knowledge

──────────────────────────────────────────────
 Rank  Author        Lines    Share  Cumulative
──────────────────────────────────────────────
    1  E. Diaz        8420   68.12%     68.12%
    2  A. Torres      1490   12.06%     80.18%  ← 80% threshold
    3  R. Soto         940    7.61%     87.79%
──────────────────────────────────────────────