Call Tracing

Build call trees showing how functions are reached from entry points.

Iron Laws - Never Violate These

1. Always use mix xref callers first - It's authoritative; grep is fallback only
2. Stop at entry points - Controllers, LiveView callbacks, Oban workers, GenServer callbacks
3. Track visited MFAs - Prevent infinite loops from circular calls
4. Extract argument patterns - Just knowing "who calls" isn't enough; HOW they call matters
5. Max depth 10 - Deeper trees indicate architectural issues, not useful traces

When to Build Call Tree (Use Proactively)

Condition	Why Call Tree Helps
Unexpected nil/value at runtime	Trace where the value originates
Bug can't reproduce locally	See all entry points that reach the code
Changing function signature	Find all callers and their argument patterns
Incomplete stack trace	Get full path context
"Where does X come from?"	Visual answer to data flow question

Quick Trace

Run the caller query first, then inspect another function in the chain as needed:

mix xref callers MyApp.Accounts.update_user/2
mix xref callers MyApp.Accounts.get_user/1

Read the reported locations to see argument patterns.

Entry Points (Stop Here)

Pattern	Type
def mount/3, def handle_event/3	LiveView
def index/2, def show/2, def create/2	Controller
def perform(%Oban.Job{})	Oban Worker
def handle_call/3, def handle_cast/2	GenServer

Full Recursive Trace

Trace controller, LiveView, worker, and internal entry-point categories in this session, starting each category with mix xref callers. Native generic workers may handle independent categories in parallel when the runtime provides them, but the same-session sequential path is fully supported and must produce the same call tree. Do not require a named custom agent or Claude-specific spawn configuration.

Output Location

.claude/plans/{slug}/research/call-tree-{function}.md

References

For detailed patterns:

• references/mix-xref-usage.md - Full mix xref commands and options
• references/entry-points.md - All Phoenix/OTP entry point patterns
• references/argument-extraction.md - AST parsing for argument patterns