Code visualization startup AppMap said today it’s bringing its unique capabilities to GitHub developers, announcing the imminent availability of a new GitHub integration called Runtime Code Review to help developers improve their software.

AppMap, officially named Appland Inc., is a developer of tools for creating visual diagrams of software applications, providing a high-level and interactive map of each app’s architecture and behavior. This information can then aid in code review, debugging, code optimization and documentation.

AppMap’s diagrams are created automatically by software that follows each user’s interactions with the application and analyzes the resulting code execution. They show the relationships between the different parts of code, including functions, classes, data structures and the flow of data between them. In addition, AppMap provides features for analyzing and debugging applications, helping to track variable values and view the call stack during code execution.

The features provided by AppMap can be extremely useful for developers, because unexpected code behavior and runtime defects are responsible for as much as 40% of all application performance issues and 50% of all security concerns, according to various studies cited by the company. What’s more, over 70% of developers cite code complexity as the greatest daily challenge they face. So any tool that can help them to understand their code faster is going to be extremely welcome, AppMap believes.

With the launch of its Runtime Code Review solution in GitHub, AppMap says its tools are becoming much more accessible. Developers can find interactive visualizations and analysis in each pull request as a comment, documenting the root cause of any problems or flaws with their applications. Unlike traditional static code analyzers, AppMap says it can compare before and after modifications to identify critical issues around performance, security and stability to prevent any disruptions after updates.

Founder and Chief Executive Elizabeth Lawler said the Runtime Code Review is a natural extension of AppMap’s experience, geared specifically for software development organizations. “Runtime code review detects code quality issues that organizations care about most: breaking changes, slow performance, and hidden application security defects,” she said. “Runtime code review provides the insight every development team needs to evaluate the impact of code and release with confidence. Human coders or AI coders: runtime analysis works well for both.”

By integrating its tools with GitHub, AppMap can expect to gain significant traction among software developers. AppMap is already available as a free and open-source code editor extension in the VS Code and JetBrains marketplaces, and this has helped the company distribute its language-specific libraries to codebases in 160 countries worldwide, amassing over one million downloads.

AppMap said it will officially launch its Runtime Code Review at the Github Universe 2023 Conference that kicks off tomorrow, Nov. 8, in San Francisco.

Image: AppMap