Pseudocode

Code has a waterline. Above it sits the shape: modules and their boundaries, types, signatures, the values that cross each boundary, and the order calls happen in. Below it sits syntax and the statements inside a body.

Render the shape and collapse everything below the waterline to intent. Only bodies are pseudo—every name, type, and path is read from the source and cited, or marked [NEW]. Run this read-only: the render is the deliverable, not the edit.

1. Frame the render

Name the entry points to trace from and the frame edge—the packages, services, and libraries that count as outside. Name each wiring to render: production, plus any composition root that substitutes a dependency, such as tests, local dev, or a feature flag.

Classify each entry point existing or [NEW]. For a [NEW] render, resolve the requirement it must satisfy and the existing code it attaches to.

Complete when: the entry points, the frame edge, every wiring, and the existing/[NEW] split are each explicit.

2. Read the parts

Follow every call from each entry point, opening each file on the path. For every function reached, record its file and line, its signature as written, the effects it causes, and the calls it makes.

Expand a path until it reaches a boundary crossing, a pure leaf, the frame edge, or a function already recorded. A path ends nowhere else.