Add Stacktower to Utilities

[matzehuels]

About Stacktower

I built Stacktower to visualize dependency graphs as physical tower structures, inspired by the famous XKCD #2347 comic—the one about how all modern digital infrastructure depends on "a project some random person in Nebraska has been maintaining for years."

For the full story and example visualizations, see: stacktower.io

What it does

• Renders dependency trees as stacked tower diagrams where your application sits at the top, supported by its dependencies below
• Supports 6 ecosystems: PyPI, npm, crates.io, Packagist, RubyGems, Maven, and Go modules
• Parses both registry packages (e.g., stacktower parse python requests) and local manifest files (poetry.lock, package.json, Cargo.toml, etc.)
• Outputs beautiful SVG visualizations with multiple rendering styles
• Enriches nodes with GitHub metadata (stars, last commit) to highlight unmaintained dependencies

Why I built it

I wanted a better way to understand dependency graphs for security audits, maintenance planning, and identifying "bus factor" risks. Traditional tree views become unreadable at scale. The physical tower metaphor makes complex dependency structures intuitive—you can immediately see which packages are load-bearing and which are leaves.

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We want to ensure high quality of the packages. Make sure that you've checked the boxes below before sending a pull request.

• I have read the Contribution Guidelines
• I have read the Maintainers Note
• I have read the Quality Standards

Not every repository (project) will require every option, but most projects should. Check the Contribution Guidelines for details.

• The repo documentation has a pkg.go.dev link.
• The repo documentation has a coverage service link.
• The repo documentation has a goreportcard link.
• The repo has a version-numbered release and a go.mod file.
• The repo has a continuous integration process that automatically runs tests that must pass before new pull requests are merged.
• Continuous integration is used to attempt to catch issues prior to releasing this package to end-users.

Please provide some links to your package to ease the review

• forge link (github.com, gitlab.com, etc): https://github.com/matzehuels/stacktower
• pkg.go.dev: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/matzehuels/stacktower
• goreportcard.com: https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/matzehuels/stacktower
• coverage service link (codecov, coveralls, etc.): https://codecov.io/gh/matzehuels/stacktower

Pull Request content

• The package has been added to the list in alphabetical order.
• The package has an appropriate description with correct grammar.
• As far as I know, the package has not been listed here before.

Category quality

Note that new categories can be added only when there are 3 packages or more.

• The packages around my addition still meet the Quality Standards.

Thanks for your PR, you're awesome! 😎

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Documentation
  • Added stacktower to the utilities and tools list—a tool for visualizing dependency graphs as physical tower structures.

_{✏️ Tip: You can customize this high-level summary in your review settings.}

[coderabbitai]

Walkthrough

A new utility tool entry for stacktower has been added to the README.md file's General utilities and tools section. The entry describes stacktower as a tool for visualizing dependency graphs as physical tower structures.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
README documentation update README.md	Added stacktower tool entry to General utilities and tools list

Estimated code review effort

🎯 1 (Trivial) | ⏱️ ~2 minutes

Poem

🐰 A tower so tall, reaching to the sky,
Dependencies stacked, oh my, oh my!
Stacktower builds 'em high and wide,
Visual graphs with nothing to hide! 📚✨

Pre-merge checks and finishing touches

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title 'Add Stacktower to Utilities' clearly and directly summarizes the main change: adding a new tool (Stacktower) to the Utilities category in the README, which aligns perfectly with the changeset content.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.

✨ Finishing touches

• 📝 Generate docstrings

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Post copyable unit tests in a comment

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[github-actions]

Automated Quality Checks (from CONTRIBUTING minimum standards)

• Repo: OK
• pkg.go.dev: OK
• goreportcard: OK (grade unknown)
• coverage: missing

These checks are a best-effort automation and do not replace human review.