Pathual Dependency Trace

The problem

It is difficult to find the exact sequence of steps that causes a transaction to fail or end up in an incorrect state. Identifying these errors often requires manually tracing through complex, interconnected flows.

What it does

It maps out how different pieces of data depend on each other across a transaction flow. It identifies the specific path of inputs that leads to an invalid result.

Why it matters

It allows you to pinpoint the exact source of a logic error rather than just identifying that a mistake occurred.

Validation

It was run in the sandbox and it failed. run output shows an error/traceback — the artifact does NOT run clean.

$ python3 pathual_dependency_tracer.py
File "/work/path_trace.py", line 3
    def trace_dependency_path(graph, start_node):
IndentationError: unexpected indent

No screenshot — there is nothing working to show. This is recorded as an unfinished sketch so the attempt stays visible instead of being quietly dropped.

The code

All of it — 68 lines, one file, standard library only.

# Pathual Dependency Trace Algorithm (v2 with Critical Path Identification)

def trace_dependency_path(graph, start_node):
    """ Traverse a dependency graph starting from `start_node` and return the path with critical node analysis.
    """
    visited = set()
    path = []
    
    def dfs(node):
        if node in visited:
            return
        visited.add(node)
        for dependency in graph.get(node, []):
            dfs(dependency)
        path.append(node)
    
    dfs(start_node)
    return path[::-1]  # Return reversed path for correct order

# Example Usage
if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Define a sample transaction flow graph
    transaction_graph = {
        'Start': ['A', 'B'],
        'A': ['C', 'D'],
        'B': ['E'],
        'C': [],
        'D': ['F'],
        'E': [],
        'F': []
    }

    # Trace dependencies starting from 'Start'
    dependency_path = trace_dependency_path(transaction_graph, 'Start')
    print("Dependency Path:", dependency_path)

    # Identify critical path nodes (nodes with multiple dependencies)
    critical_nodes = [node for node in dependency_path if len(transaction_graph.get(node, [])) > 1]
    print("\nCritical Path Nodes:")
    for node in critical_nodes:
        print(f" - {node} (has {len(transaction_graph[node])} dependencies)")

    # Validate path integrity (basic example)
    print("\nPath Validation Results:")
    for i, node in enumerate(dependency_path):
        if node not in transaction_graph:
            print(f"Node {node} at position {i} has no dependencies defined!")
        else:
            print(f"Node {node} dependencies: {transaction_graph[node]}")

    # Check for broken integrity flows
    for node in dependency_path:
        if node not in transaction_graph:
            print(f"[ERROR] Node {node} has no dependencies defined!")
            exit(1)

    # Generate and save trace map with critical node info
    trace_map = {
        node: {
            'dependencies': transaction_graph.get(node, []),
            'position': i,
            'critical': len(transaction_graph.get(node, [])) > 1
        }
        for i, node in enumerate(dependency_path)
    }
    import json
    with open('path_trace.json', 'w') as f:
        json.dump(trace_map, f, indent=2)