Slicito - Visual Studio Extension for Analysis of C# Code

Slice your code into edible pieces

Understanding a complex codebase is time-consuming and difficult. Slicito aims to be a toolbox of program analysis and visualization techniques which you can use to make this task much faster and simpler. It's currently in the research prototype stage, so only a subset of C# features is supported.

Publications

Although there's currently no web-based documentation, the most important ideas behind the tool are explained in the following publications:

• Towards Efficient Software Comprehension with Code Analysis (ICSOFT 2022 doctoral consortium): The motivation behind the project.
• Slicito: Using Computational Notebooks for Program Comprehension (ICPC 2023): The initial version of the tool which was originally based on computational notebooks and implemented as a VS Code extension (tag v0.1.0).
• Combining Static Analysis Techniques for Program Comprehension Using Slicito (ICPC 2025 preprint): The current version of the tool which is a Visual Studio extension (tag v0.2.1).
• Using Combination of Static Program Analysis Techniques for Program Comprehension of Large Systems (doctoral thesis): The current version of the tool in more detail and its evaluation on a real-life project (tag v0.3.0).

Sample usage

Requirements:

• Visual Studio 2022 (tested with the version 17.12.3)

Steps:

1. Download and install the latest VSIX file from the releases page to your Visual Studio.

2. Clone or download this repository and open the sample solution tests/inputs/AnalysisSamples/AnalysisSamples.sln in Visual Studio.

3. In the main menu, select Tools > Slicito to open the Slicito tool window. It should appear at the same panel as the Solution Explorer.

4. In the Slicito tool window, click the button Open located right from the label Script. A new C# script file slicito.csx should be created in the solution directory with the content similar to:

#r "c:\users\husak\appdata\local\microsoft\visualstudio\17.0_ae45ee82exp\extensions\robert husak\slicito\0.2\Slicito.Abstractions.dll"
#r "c:\users\husak\appdata\local\microsoft\visualstudio\17.0_ae45ee82exp\extensions\robert husak\slicito\0.2\Slicito.ProgramAnalysis.dll"
#r "c:\users\husak\appdata\local\microsoft\visualstudio\17.0_ae45ee82exp\extensions\robert husak\slicito\0.2\Slicito.Common.dll"
#r "c:\users\husak\appdata\local\microsoft\visualstudio\17.0_ae45ee82exp\extensions\robert husak\slicito\0.2\Slicito.DotNet.dll"

using Slicito.Common;
using Slicito.DotNet;
using Slicito.ProgramAnalysis;

using static Slicito.Common.Extensibility.ScriptContext;

5. This is a central "plumbing" code which loads the Slicito libraries and provides the context for the script. You can use the SlicitoContext property of the ScriptContext class to access the Slicito features via the fluent interface. Insert the following code for creating a call graph starting with the method Caller and displaying it:

var slice = SlicitoContext.WholeSlice;

var method = await SlicitoContext.FindSingleMethodAsync(slice, "Caller");

var callGraph = await SlicitoContext.CreateCallGraphBuilder(slice)
    .AddCallerRoot(method)
    .BuildAsync();

return SlicitoContext.CreateCallGraphExplorer(callGraph);

6. Click the Run button in the Slicito tool window to execute the script. The call graph should be displayed in a newly opened tool window.

Current plans

• Add examples of using data-flow analysis and symbolic execution.
• Extend the set of supported C# features to handle real-life codebases.
• Evaluate on real program comprehension tasks in industry.

Contact me

If you have any questions, ideas or concerns, e-mail me, create an issue or start a discussion.