A concise grammar of interactive graphics, built on Vega.
This report summarizes scanner evidence for vega/vega-lite, a TypeScript project with 5,539 GitHub stars. SynthScan examined 294,883 lines of code across 1946 source files, recording 101 pattern matches distributed across 9 syntactic categories. The legacy adjusted pattern signal is 0.4 (Low pattern signal); it is not an authorship estimate.
Use the findings to ask whether maintainers can explain intent, verify dependencies, simplify unnecessary scaffolding, and focus review effort. Risk Payload v1 adds ownership, supply-chain, over-engineering, and review-effort vectors when available. These are prompts for human verification, not probabilities, security findings, or measured maintenance costs.
Use each vector to guide manual verification of the underlying findings.
Payload schema: 1.0.0 · Engine: 2.0.0 · Scoring: heuristic-density-v1 · Scan date: 2026-10-31.
Can maintainers explain intent, assumptions, and trade-offs? 97 finding(s).
Are imports declared and package/API names verified? 4 finding(s).
Are wrappers, guards, and repeated structures necessary? 90 finding(s).
Which changes need focused human review? 101 finding(s).
This chart tracks the legacy adjusted pattern score across scan runs. Changes can reflect source changes, scan coverage, or detector/scoring versions; they do not measure AI adoption or prove that a team refactored code. Compare runs only when their scoring versions are compatible. The dashed line tracks the raw pattern-hit count.
Groups findings by configured severity weight. Severity is not a confidence estimate, security rating, or proof that a package is missing. Verify imports against the project's manifests and inspect each finding in its local design context.
This horizontal bar chart shows where configured pattern scores accumulate across directories. Treat the bars as locations to inspect, not as evidence of authorship or code quality. Use the file-level findings to decide whether a directory needs a focused ownership, dependency, complexity, or review check.
The scanner identified 101 distinct pattern matches across 9 syntactic categories. Each entry below represents a discrete location in the source code where the engine recorded a detector match to inspect in context. Expand any category row to inspect the individual file paths, line numbers, code snippets, and the lexical context (CODE, COMMENT, or STRING) in which each match was detected.
Reading the findings table: The Severity column indicates the configured finding weight (CRITICAL / HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW). The Context column identifies whether the match occurred inside executable code, an inline comment, or a string literal — legacy comment-context matches receive a ×1.5 score weight. The ⚡ bolt icon marks clustered matches: three or more patterns within a 10-line window, each receiving an additional ×1.5 density multiplier under the legacy scoring model.
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW⚡ | test/util.ts | 51 | export function parseUnitModelWithScaleAndSelection(spec: TopLevelNormalizedUnitSpecForTest) { | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | test/util.ts | 58 | export function parseUnitModelWithScaleExceptRange(spec: TopLevelNormalizedUnitSpecForTest) { | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | test/util.ts | 64 | export function parseUnitModelWithScaleAndLayoutSize(spec: TopLevelNormalizedUnitSpecForTest) { | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | test/util.ts | 70 | export function parseModelWithScaleAndLayoutSize(spec: TopLevelSpec) { | CODE |
| LOW | test/compile/scale/domain.test.ts | 15 | function testParseDomainForChannel(model: UnitModel, channel: ScaleChannel) { | CODE |
| LOW | test/compile/data/bin.test.ts | 35 | function makeMovieExampleWithSelection(t: BinTransform) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/scale.ts | 857 | export function channelScalePropertyIncompatability(channel: Channel, propName: keyof Scale): string { | CODE |
| LOW | src/timeunit.ts | 208 | export function getLocalTimeUnitFromUTCTimeUnit(t: UtcTimeUnit): LocalTimeUnit { | CODE |
| LOW | src/timeunit.ts | 345 | export function timeUnitSpecifierExpression(timeUnit: TimeUnit) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/channeldef.ts | 1377 | export function isFieldOrDatumDefForTimeFormat(fieldOrDatumDef: FieldDef<string> | DatumDef): boolean { | CODE |
| LOW | src/channel.ts | 110 | export function getPositionChannelFromLatLong(channel: GeoPositionChannel): PositionChannel { | CODE |
| LOW | src/channel.ts | 364 | export function getMainChannelFromOffsetChannel(channel: OffsetScaleChannel): PositionScaleChannel { | CODE |
| LOW | src/channel.ts | 463 | export function isNonPositionScaleChannel(channel: Channel): channel is NonPositionScaleChannel { | CODE |
| LOW | src/util.ts | 322 | export function accessWithDatumToUnescapedPath(unescapedPath: string) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/util.ts | 327 | export function unescapeSingleQuoteAndPathDot(escapedPath: string) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/encoding.ts | 411 | export function extractTransformsFromEncoding(oldEncoding: Encoding<any>, config: Config) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/config.ts | 781 | function redirectConfigToStyleConfig( | CODE |
| LOW | src/aggregate.ts | 81 | export function isParameterizedAggregateDef(a: Aggregate | string): a is ParameterizedAggregateDef { | CODE |
| LOW | src/spec/toplevel.ts | 121 | export function extractTopLevelProperties(t: TopLevelProperties, includeParams: boolean) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compositemark/errorbar.ts | 199 | function errorBarOrientAndInputType( | CODE |
| LOW | src/compositemark/errorbar.ts | 306 | function errorBarIsInputTypeAggregatedUpperLower(encoding: ErrorEncoding<string>): boolean { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compositemark/errorbar.ts | 310 | function errorBarIsInputTypeAggregatedError(encoding: ErrorEncoding<string>): boolean { | CODE |
| LOW | src/normalize/pathoverlay.ts | 23 | function dropLineAndPointFromConfig(config: Config<SignalRef>) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/normalize/repeater.ts | 77 | function replaceRepeaterInFieldDef(fieldDef: FieldDef<Field>, repeater: RepeaterValue) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/normalize/repeater.ts | 98 | function replaceRepeaterInFieldOrDatumDef(def: FieldDef<Field> | DatumDef<Field>, repeater: RepeaterValue) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/normalize/repeater.ts | 110 | function replaceRepeaterInChannelDef(channelDef: ChannelDef<Field>, repeater: RepeaterValue) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/common.ts | 76 | export function exprFromValueRefOrSignalRef(ref: VgValueRef | SignalRef): string { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/legend/assemble.ts | 60 | function legendsAreMergeCompatible(model: Model, channelA: ScaleChannel, channelB: ScaleChannel): boolean { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/legend/assemble.ts | 75 | function extractDiscreteValuesFromDomain(domain: VgDomain): (string | number | boolean)[] | null { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/legend/assemble.ts | 98 | function getDiscreteValuesForChannel(model: Model, channel: ScaleChannel): (string | number | boolean)[] | null { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/legend/assemble.ts | 107 | function unionDiscreteValuesForChannels( | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/layoutsize/component.ts | 19 | export function getSizeTypeFromLayoutSizeType(layoutSizeType: LayoutSizeType): 'width' | 'height' { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/layoutsize/parse.ts | 42 | function parseNonUnitLayoutSizeForChannel(model: Model, layoutSizeType: LayoutSizeType) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/scale/range.ts | 469 | export function defaultContinuousToDiscreteCount( | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/scale/properties.ts | 197 | export function parseNonUnitScaleProperty(model: Model, property: keyof (Scale | ScaleComponentProps)) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/scale/domain.ts | 150 | function normalizeUnaggregatedDomain( | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/scale/domain.ts | 227 | function convertDomainIfItIsDateTime( | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/mark/mark.ts | 96 | function getGroupsForStackedBarWithCornerRadius(model: UnitModel, cornerRadiusEnd: CornerRadiusEnd | undefined) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/mark/encode/corner-radius.ts | 51 | export function cornerRadiusEndForStackedBar( | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/mark/encode/valueref.ts | 40 | export function midPointRefWithPositionInvalidTest( | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/mark/encode/valueref.ts | 69 | export function valueRefForFieldOrDatumDef( | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/mark/encode/valueref.ts | 284 | export function widthHeightValueOrSignalRef(channel: Channel, value: Value | SignalRef) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/invalid/datasources.ts | 17 | export function getDataSourcesForHandlingInvalidValues({ | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/invalid/datasources.ts | 53 | export function getScaleDataSourceForHandlingInvalidValues( | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/axis/config.ts | 11 | function getAxisConfigFromConfigTypes( | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/selection/assemble.ts | 44 | export function assembleUnitSelectionSignals(model: UnitModel, signals: Signal[]) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/selection/assemble.ts | 125 | export function assembleUnitSelectionData(model: UnitModel, data: readonly VgData[]): VgData[] { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/selection/assemble.ts | 183 | export function assembleUnitSelectionMarks(model: UnitModel, marks: any[]): any[] { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/selection/assemble.ts | 195 | export function assembleLayerSelectionMarks(model: LayerModel, marks: any[]): any[] { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/selection/assemble.ts | 205 | export function assembleSelectionScaleDomain( | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/selection/index.ts | 116 | export function disableDirectManipulation(selCmpt: SelectionComponent, selDef: SelectionParameter<'point'>) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/data/timeunit.ts | 38 | function isTimeUnitTransformComponent(timeUnitComponent: TimeUnitComponent): timeUnitComponent is TimeUnitTransform { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/data/facet.ts | 24 | export function isCrossedFacetWithCustomSort(facet: Pick<EncodingFacetMapping<string, SignalRef>, 'row' | 'column'>) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/data/formatparse.ts | 74 | export function getImplicitFromFilterTransform(transform: FilterTransform) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/data/optimize.ts | 48 | function optimizationDataflowHelper(dataComponent: DataComponent, model: Model, firstPass: boolean) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/header/assemble.ts | 79 | export function defaultHeaderGuideBaseline(angle: number, channel: FacetChannel) { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/projection/assemble.ts | 14 | export function assembleProjectionsForModelAndChildren(model: Model): VgProjection[] { | CODE |
| LOW | src/compile/projection/assemble.ts | 20 | export function assembleProjectionForModel(model: Model): VgProjection[] { | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | src/log/message.ts | 114 | export function columnsNotSupportByRowCol(type: 'facet' | 'repeat') { | CODE |
| LOW⚡ | src/log/message.ts | 123 | export function selectionAsScaleDomainWithoutField(field: string) { | CODE |
| 30 more matches not shown… | ||||
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CRITICAL | test/compile/data/formatparse.test.ts | 119 | expect(model.child.component.data.ancestorParse.combine()).toEqual({ | CODE |
| CRITICAL | src/compile/data/parse.ts | 326 | !newData && model.parent ? model.parent.component.data.ancestorParse.clone() : new AncestorParse(); | CODE |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HIGH | site/docs/mark/area.md | 66 | Instead of using a single color as the fill color of the area, we can set it to a [gradient]({{site.baseurl}}/docs/types | CODE |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MEDIUM | test/compile/mark/tick.test.ts | 6 | // (except the scaffold labels() method) | COMMENT |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | scripts/check-npm.sh | 5 | # Check if all required files are here | COMMENT |
| LOW | scripts/build-examples.sh | 9 | # Check if param is provided | COMMENT |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MEDIUM | package-lock.json | 8661 | "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/robust-predicates/-/robust-predicates-3.0.3.tgz", | CODE |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | examples/specs/param_search_input.vl.json | 22 | "placeholder": "Car model", | CODE |
| LOW | examples/compiled/param_search_input.vg.json | 25 | "bind": {"input": "search", "placeholder": "Car model", "name": "Search"} | CODE |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | test/compile/selection/timeunit.test.ts | 11 | function getData(model: Model) { | CODE |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | src/compile/compile.ts | 101 | COMMENT |