Xkcd #2347 lived in my head, so I built the dependency tower for real
I finally got tired of XKCD #2347 living rent-free in my head, so I built Stacktower: a tool that takes any real package’s dependency graph and turns it into an actual tower of bricks. Along the way I had to wrestle some surprisingly spicy problems. Full blog post here: https://stacktower.io The result is half visualization tool, half love letter to the chaos of modern dependency trees. Open-source, works with PyPI, Cargo, npm, and more. Code: https://github.com/matzehuels/stacktower
Xkcd #2347 lived in my head, so I built the dependency tower for real launched on December 4, 2025 with 36 votes, #481 of 11,628 launches that month and more than 90% of that year's launches.
In plain words
Stacktower visualizes software package dependency graphs as brick towers, inspired by the XKCD #2347 comic about dependency complexity. It works with multiple package managers including PyPI, Cargo, and npm, transforming abstract dependency trees into concrete visual representations. Designed for developers who want to understand and explore the intricate relationships between packages in their projects, the open-source tool combines visualization with accessibility across different programming ecosystems.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
Stacktower turns dependency graphs from npm, PyPI, crates.io, Go, Maven, and more into XKCD-style towers. The story of building it: NP-hard problems, PQ-trees, and graph algorithms.
Stacktower turns real dependency graphs into towers you can actually see. Try the app → Inspired by this comic, I built a tool that turns real dependency graphs into physical towers. What started as "how hard could it be?" turned into a wild journey through NP-hard problems, and graph theory. I was scrolling Twitter late one night (as one does), when XKCD #2347 floated past my timeline again. You know the one; modern digital infrastructure as a precarious tower of blocks, all somehow balanced on one random project maintained by some dude in Nebraska . I'd seen it dozens of times, but for whatever reason, I looked at it differently this time. It's not just a joke about fragile…from stacktower.io
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