ek9_query_complexity

Answers first: in view 'totals' the workspace-wide methodCount, averages, maxima and methodsAboveCyclomaticThreshold / methodsAboveCognitiveThreshold; in 'hotspots' hotspotNames[] then hotspots[]; in 'inputVariety' per-callable floor/ceiling (display-only).

Category: Enquiry · Compare: Code Inspection / SonarQube Complexity

When to use it

Which methods are too complex, or how complex is the workspace overall - one call with view:'hotspots' or view:'totals'; no anchor needed. Tune the hotspots view with complexityThreshold and metric.

When not to use it

Analysing ONE specific method's internal control-flow structure — use ek9_query_flow (complexity FINDS complex methods; flow ANALYSES one of them).
Test coverage (line/branch/method) — use ek9_run_tests / ek9_run_quality_checks.
Per-test pass/fail outcomes — use ek9_run_tests.
Compile errors/warnings, including complexity-threshold violations as diagnostics — use ek9_query_diagnostics (this tool returns the metric VALUES, not the violations).

Details

Three views: totals (fixed industry thresholds 10 cyclomatic / 15 cognitive, echoed as cyclomaticThreshold / cognitiveThreshold), hotspots (methods with the chosen metric >= complexityThreshold, default cyclomatic >= 10, sorted descending) and inputVariety (per-callable floor/ceiling input-variation figures + confidence, plus per-type rollups - DISPLAY ONLY, never a gate or a target). fileFilter (a path substring) is honoured in every view; complexityThreshold < 1 is clamped to 1. Metrics are squirrelled at PRE_IR_CHECKS, so compilation must reach that phase (queriesReliable:true on ek9_query_build_status) — no test run needed; an empty or earlier-stalled workspace returns methodCount 0 / empty arrays.

Arguments

Argument	Type	What it is
`complexityThreshold`	integer	Hotspots view: methods with metric >= complexityThreshold. Default 10.
`fileFilter`	string	Optional: keep only methods whose source path contains this text.
`metric`	string: cyclomatic \| cognitive	Which metric to threshold on in the hotspots view.
`view`	string: totals \| hotspots \| inputVariety	Which view: totals (aggregate stats), hotspots (above-threshold methods), or inputVariety (per-construct input-variation figures, display-only).

Recorded calls

Real calls, recorded against small projects and checked on every build - a changed answer fails it.

Summary shape

Request

{
  "view" : "totals"
}

Response

{
  "meta" : {
    "serverMs" : "<timing>"
  },
  "totals" : {
    "averageCognitive" : 0.0,
    "averageCyclomatic" : 1.0,
    "cognitiveThreshold" : 15,
    "cyclomaticThreshold" : 10,
    "maxCognitive" : 0,
    "maxCyclomatic" : 1,
    "methodCount" : 1,
    "methodsAboveCognitiveThreshold" : 0,
    "methodsAboveCyclomaticThreshold" : 0
  },
  "view" : "totals"
}

Hotspots shape

Request

{
  "complexityThreshold" : 1,
  "metric" : "cyclomatic",
  "view" : "hotspots"
}

Response

{
  "complexityThreshold" : 1,
  "hotspotCount" : 1,
  "hotspotNames" : [ "com.example.hello::Main" ],
  "hotspots" : [ {
    "cognitive" : 0,
    "cyclomatic" : 1,
    "file" : "Hello.ek9",
    "fullyQualifiedName" : "com.example.hello::Main",
    "line" : 5,
    "method" : "Main"
  } ],
  "meta" : {
    "serverMs" : "<timing>"
  },
  "metric" : "cyclomatic",
  "view" : "hotspots"
}

Inputvariety shape

Request

{
  "view" : "inputVariety"
}

Response

{
  "constructs" : [ {
    "ceiling" : 486,
    "confidence" : "EXACT,EXACT,EXACT,EXACT",
    "file" : "Variety.ek9",
    "floor" : 36,
    "fullyQualifiedName" : "com.example.variety::Point.<=>",
    "line" : 22,
    "method" : "public Integer <- <=>(other as Point)"
  }, {
    "ceiling" : 81,
    "confidence" : "EXACT,EXACT",
    "file" : "Variety.ek9",
    "floor" : 18,
    "fullyQualifiedName" : "com.example.variety::combine",
    "line" : 5,
    "method" : "Void <- combine(first as Integer, second as Integer)"
  }, {
    "ceiling" : 81,
    "confidence" : "EXACT,EXACT",
    "file" : "Variety.ek9",
    "floor" : 18,
    "fullyQualifiedName" : "com.example.variety::Point.Point",
    "line" : 16,
...

Cut short here: 26 more lines. The whole recorded call.