find-dependencies

name	find-dependencies
description	Find all dependencies of a Gerrit change or set of changes — both explicit Depends-on annotations (parsed by the depends-on plugin) and implicit git-chain parents. Use when asked: what does this change depend on, what is blocking this change, show me the dependency chain, are all dependencies merged, which changes depend on this one.

find-dependencies

Find and interpret the full dependency picture for one or more Gerrit changes.

The tools get_depends_on and get_dependents are provided by the gerrit_mcp_server_depends_on extension. They are available whenever gerrit-mcp-server is running with the depends-on extension installed and a configured Gerrit host that has the depends-on plugin enabled.

Dependency types

Type	Source	Tool
Depends-on	Explicit Depends-on: annotation in the change message, parsed by the depends-on plugin	get_depends_on
Git-chain parent	Implicit: this change's commit has a parent commit that is also an open Gerrit change	get_git_parent_changes

A dependency can be resolved (mapped to a numeric change ID) or unresolved (only has an I... change key ("Change-Id") that couldn't be matched to a change in the configured deliverables).

Quick reference

Goal	What to do
What does change X depend on?	get_depends_on(X) + get_git_parent_changes(X) in parallel
Which changes depend on X?	get_dependents(X)
Are all dependencies merged?	Get deps, then get_change_details on each; check status
Full dependency chain	Recurse: get deps, then get deps-of-deps (track visited IDs)
Set of changes	Call both tools for each change ID in parallel, deduplicate

Workflow: single change

1. Call get_depends_on(change_id) and get_git_parent_changes(change_id) in parallel.
2. Merge the results:
   • From get_depends_on: each entry with resolved: true has a change_number; unresolved entries have a Change-Id in unresolved.
   • From get_git_parent_changes: each entry is an open parent change (or null if the parent commit is not a tracked Gerrit change, e.g. a merged branch tip).
3. For each resolved dependency, optionally call get_change_details to show its status (open / merged / abandoned) and subject.
4. Present as a structured list grouping Depends-on and git-chain deps separately.

Workflow: set of changes

Call both tools for every change ID. Use parallel tool calls to avoid sequential latency. Deduplicate by change number (the same upstream change may appear as a git-chain parent of multiple changes in the set).

Recursive traversal

To build a full dependency chain:

1. Start with the target change(s).
2. Maintain a visited set of change numbers.
3. For each unvisited dependency, call get_depends_on and get_git_parent_changes.
4. Add newly discovered deps to the queue; add the current change to visited.
5. Stop when: the queue is empty, all deps are merged/abandoned, or a configurable depth limit is reached (default: 5 levels).
6. Detect cycles: if a change appears as its own (transitive) dependency, flag it rather than looping.

Interpreting unresolved deps

An unresolved entry means the plugin found a Depends-on: I... annotation but could not match that Change-Id to any change in the configured deliverables (project/branch pairs). This happens when:

• The depended-on change is on a different project or branch not in the plugin's deliverables config.
• The change was abandoned or deleted.
• The Change-Id (I) is a typo.

Surface unresolved deps as-is with the raw key and note that the status cannot be determined without manual lookup.

Finding what depends on a change (reverse lookup)

Use get_dependents(change_id) to find changes that have declared Depends-on: <change_id>. This uses the independson:<change_id> query operator.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
get_depends_on returns empty depends_ons	The change has no Depends-on: annotation, or the last Depends-on: line is blank (which clears all deps).
get_git_parent_changes returns empty list	The change's parent commit is not an open Gerrit change (e.g. it's the branch tip or already merged). This is normal for standalone changes.
Unresolved deps for known changes	The depended-on change may be on a project/branch not in the plugin's deliverables. Try looking up the Change-Id directly with query_changes(change:<Change-Id>).