sift view

Open interactive graph visualization in browser

Overview

Generate and open an interactive HTML visualization of the knowledge graph. Supports filtering, community highlighting, and entity descriptions.

Usage

sift view [OPTIONS]

Options

Basic Options

--output · string

Output directory containing graph data. Use -o as shorthand.

--to · string

Output HTML file path. Defaults to {output_dir}/graph.html.

--no-open · boolean · default: "false"

Generate HTML without opening in browser.

--verbose · boolean · default: "false"

Enable verbose logging. Use -v as shorthand.

Filter Options

--top · integer

Show only top N entities by degree (number of connections).

--min-confidence · float

Hide nodes and edges below this confidence threshold (0.0-1.0).

--source-doc · string

Show only entities extracted from this source document.

--neighborhood · string

Center visualization on specific entity and show N-hop neighborhood.

--depth · integer · default: "1"

Number of hops for neighborhood visualization. Used with --neighborhood.

--community · string

Focus on a specific community (e.g., Community 1). Requires sift narrate to have been run.

Behavior

Visualization Features

• Interactive Layout - Drag nodes, zoom, pan
• Entity Descriptions - Hover tooltips (if sift narrate was run)
• Community Colors - Color-coded communities
• Confidence Indicators - Edge thickness/opacity shows confidence
• Search - Find entities by name

Entity Descriptions

If entity_descriptions.json exists (from sift narrate):

• Descriptions appear in hover tooltips
• Displayed in info panels
• Logged in console during generation

Examples

Basic visualization

sift view

Opens full graph in browser at output/graph.html.

Top entities only

sift view --top 50

Shows only the 50 most connected entities.

Filter by confidence

sift view --min-confidence 0.7

Hides entities and relations with confidence below 0.7.

Source document filter

sift view --source-doc "report_2024.pdf"

Shows only entities extracted from the specified document.

Neighborhood view

sift view --neighborhood "John Doe" --depth 2

Centers on “John Doe” entity and shows 2-hop neighborhood.

Community focus

sift view --community "Community 1"

Highlights and focuses on entities in Community 1.

Combined filters

sift view --top 100 --min-confidence 0.8 --no-open --to ./viz.html

Generates filtered visualization without auto-opening browser.

Output

Generates standalone HTML file with embedded:

• Graph data
• Entity attributes
• Descriptions (if available)
• Interactive JavaScript visualization

Default location: {output_dir}/graph.html

Output Summary

Displays:

• Applied filters
• Entity count (after filters)
• Relation count (after filters)
• Output file location
• Browser URL (if --no-open used)

Visualization Controls

In the browser:

• Click & Drag - Move nodes
• Scroll - Zoom in/out
• Right Click - Pan view
• Hover - Show entity details
• Click Node - Highlight connections

Performance Tips

Large Graphs

For graphs with 1000+ entities:

sift view --top 200 --min-confidence 0.8

Filtering improves browser performance.

Focused Exploration

Use neighborhood view to explore specific areas:

sift view --neighborhood "Key Entity" --depth 2

Error Handling

Exits with error if:

• No graph_data.json found (run sift build first)
• Invalid filter parameters

See Also

• narrate - Generate entity descriptions
• export - Export graph data
• search - Search entities