madge vs Rev-dep

madge visualizes module dependencies and finds circular dependencies. rev-dep turns the same analysis into enforceable CI checks and runs faster - but madge's signature feature, the graph image, has no rev-dep equivalent.

At a glance

	madge	Rev-dep
Primary focus	graph visualization + circular deps	dependency hygiene + architecture
Runtime	Node	Go - single parallel pass (up to 207x faster)
Circular dependencies	yes	yes
Graph image (SVG / DOT)	yes	no
"Orphans" / "leaves" / "depends" queries	yes	yes (via exploratory commands)
Unused exports / dependencies	no	yes
Architecture rules	no	yes
CI enforcement	manual	non-zero exit codes built in

Where rev-dep is stronger

• Enforceable, not just informational. rev-dep config run and circular exit non-zero, so they gate CI directly.
• Much broader - unused exports, unused/missing dependencies, module boundaries, and more.
• Speed on large graphs.

Where madge may still fit

madge's main draw is the visual dependency graph (--image, --dot). rev-dep answers the same "what imports what" questions as text through the exploratory toolkit but renders no images. Keep madge if the picture matters.

Which should you choose?

• Want a rendered dependency graph? madge.
• Want fast, CI-enforceable circular detection plus the rest of a hygiene suite? rev-dep.

Migrating

See Migrating from madge for the command-to-check mapping.