How to Visualize Dagger Dependency Graphs in Android with Scabbard

Scabbard Demo ScreenShot

Scabbard is an open-source Gradle plugin and annotation processor that generates visual diagrams of your Dagger dependency graphs. By converting your Dagger setup into easy-to-understand images, Scabbard helps you:

Quickly identify dependency issues
Understand complex relationships
Improve code maintainability

How to Integrate Scabbard in Your Android Project

Follow these steps to set up Scabbard and start visualizing your Dagger dependency graphs:

Step 1: Add Scabbard and Dagger Versions

In your libs.versions.toml file, add the following versions:

scabbard = "0.5.0"
dagger = "2.56.2"

[libraries]
scabbard-processor = { group = "dev.arunkumar", name = "scabbard-processor", version.ref = "scabbard" }
dagger = { group = "com.google.dagger", name = "dagger", version.ref = "dagger" }
dagger-compiler = { group = "com.google.dagger", name = "dagger-compiler", version.ref = "dagger" }

[plugins]
scabbard = { id = "scabbard.gradle", version.ref = "scabbard" }

Step 2: Apply the Scabbard Plugin

In your module-level build.gradle.kts file, apply the Scabbard plugin:

plugins {
    alias(libs.plugins.scabbard)
}

Step 3: Add Dependencies

Add Dagger and Scabbard dependencies to your module’s build.gradle.kts:

implementation(libs.dagger)
kapt(libs.dagger.compiler)
kapt(libs.scabbard.processor)

Step 4: Enable Scabbard

Configure Scabbard in your build.gradle.kts to enable graph generation:

scabbard {
    enabled = true
    failOnError = false
    outputFormat = "png"
}

Step 5: Add JitPack Repository

Scabbard uses dependencies from JitPack. Add JitPack to your repositories in settings.gradle.kts:

dependencyResolutionManagement {
    repositoriesMode.set(RepositoriesMode.FAIL_ON_PROJECT_REPOS)
    repositories {
        google()
        mavenCentral()
        maven { url = uri("https://jitpack.io") } // Add this line
    }
}

Step 6: Sync and Rebuild

Sync your project with Gradle and rebuild it. Scabbard will process your Dagger setup and generate the dependency graphs.

Where to Find the Dependency Graph

After a successful build, you’ll find the generated Dagger dependency graphs in the scabbard folder within your project directory. These images provide a detailed overview of how your dependencies are structured and interconnected.