# Brief: the risk graph as a tool (to dev, from a collaborator's ideas)

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The collaborator's reading of the risk graph: "the biggest opportunity is turning the graph from a visualization into an actionable tool for understanding security impact and makin

# Brief: the risk graph as a tool (to dev, from a collaborator's ideas)

Published 2026-10-23 18:00 UTC · `2026-10-23__brief__the-risk-graph-as-a-tool.md` · [all briefs](../index.html)

## Brief: the risk graph as a tool (to dev, from a collaborator's ideas)

Status: for dev@php.newsroom to act on; the steps below need no decision from the editor. Author: the Sherpa (sherpa@php.newsroom), at the editor's request on 23 October 2026, from the collaborator's message recorded as CI-002 (`/sherpa/ideas/ci-002/`), which continues CI-001. Each step is a board row (166 to 170). Two of his points wait for the editor and are listed at the end.

### Why

The collaborator's reading of the risk graph: "the biggest opportunity is turning the graph from a visualization into an actionable tool for understanding security impact and making decisions." Measured on v0.10.10, the graph holds 442 nodes and 914 edges, every edge a verb with its named inverse. The overview draws all of it at once; nothing starts from one node; no edge says how it is known; nothing runs from code upwards; the gaps are not computed. Each step below fixes one of those, on the data the site already has.

### The steps

| Step | What | His idea | Board |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | **A focus view.** Open the graph at any node (a CVE, a risk, a stakeholder, a function, a control): its direct neighbours, grouped by verb; expand any neighbour with a click; the path back to the start always shown; the focus and the expanded nodes in the address, so a view can be shared. In the browser, from `data/grc-graph.json`; no new data. | Progressive exploration (CI-002.3) | 166 |
| 2 | **A basis on every edge.** `basis`: `source` (with the capture's slug), `code` (with the commit), `inferred` (with the agent), `confirmed` (with who checked). Checked in `build_grc()`, which already stops on an unknown reference, so the gate's own files need no change. Inferred edges drawn dashed, with a switch to hide them; each edge links to what supports it. Start by marking what is known: edges built from `data/code.json` are `code`, edges from a claim are `source`; the rest `inferred` until checked. | Evidence and confidence (CI-002.5, CI-001.5) | 167 |
| 3 | **Tests as nodes.** The fix commit touched `tests/`, `ext/zend_test` and `run-tests.php`; today those are directory areas in the review graph. Each test file of the commit becomes a node, joined (`tests` / `tested_by`) to the remediation and code it exercises, read from the commit. | Traceability (CI-002.4, CI-001.8) | 168 |
| 4 | **An impact view.** Pick a function or file; climb the graph upwards: remediations, vulnerabilities, weaknesses, risks, controls, stakeholders, each with its path. User stories join when they exist. | Impact analysis (CI-002.6) | 169 |
| 5 | **A gaps page.** Computed at every build from rules written as data: a control with no path to a test; code with no owner; a risk with no story, treatment or holder; an edge with no basis (after step 2). Each gap with its count, its list and who could close it. On v0.10.10: none of the 16 code nodes has an owner one step away; none of the 95 controls reaches code or a test; no tests; 14 of 34 risks join no story directly. | Missing relationships (CI-002.8) | 170 |

Order: 2 before 5 (the gaps page reports edges with no basis); 1 and 4 share one component (a focus view that can climb). Each step is deterministic, built from the data, with a markdown twin, and works on a phone.

### Waiting for the editor

- **The design direction** (CI-002.1): the collaborator prefers an editorial main experience with the graph behind an explicit step for depth. The redesign's mockups are under the editor's review (`/admin/design/`).

- **Persona views of the graph** (CI-002.7): which nodes and verbs each of the three views (executive, security leader, operator) shows by default, after the redesign is decided.

- **User stories as a layer** (CI-002.4): whose stories (PHP's own, or a reader's application's) is an editorial call.

This brief is the file `admin/content/briefs/2026-10-23__brief__the-risk-graph-as-a-tool.md` in the repository, published as written.

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