WasmOcular
A tool for analyzing and visualizing Git repositories entirely in the browser. Built for my master's thesis at TU Wien.
Why in the browser?
Repository mining tools usually require a server, a database, and a local installation. I wanted to see how far a browser tab could go. WasmOcular lets researchers clone a Git repository, analyze its history, and explore the results on a static website.
How it works
The browser clones the repository with wasm-git, processes history with Gitoxide compiled to WASM, stores everything in DuckDB-WASM, and renders interactive dashboards on top. Apache Arrow moves the data between these components without copies. There is no backend; the whole pipeline runs client-side.
Technical choices
- wasm-git handles Git operations in the browser, so nothing is cloned server-side
- DuckDB-WASM runs the analytical SQL queries over repository history
- Apache Arrow transfers data between components zero-copy
- React renders the dashboards and visualizations
Where it landed
The prototype analyzes real repositories entirely in the browser. My thesis examines this approach to repository mining using WebAssembly.