Calltally

Tally your method calls.

A simple yet powerful tool to analyze method usage in Ruby/Rails codebases. Quickly identify your most-used methods, understand code patterns, and make informed refactoring decisions.

Add to your Gemfile:

gem 'calltally', group: :development

Or install globally:

gem install calltally

# Analyze current directory
calltally

# Analyze specific directory
calltally app/models

# Show top 20 results
calltally --top 20

# Focus on specific classes
calltally --receivers User,Post --top 10

Calltally automatically detects Rails projects and scans the right directories:

# Auto-detects Rails and scans app/, lib/, config/
calltally

# Analyze specific file patterns
calltally app/models

# Focus on ActiveRecord methods
calltally --methods where,find,joins --mode pairs

# Default table format
calltally

# JSON format for further processing
calltally --format json > analysis.json

# CSV for spreadsheet analysis
calltally --format csv -o results.csv

# Show only method names (no receivers)
calltally --mode methods

# Show only receivers (classes being called)
calltally --mode receivers

# Show receiver-method pairs (default)
calltally --mode pairs

# Include methods called without explicit receivers
calltally --include-nil-receiver

Create .calltally.yml in your project root for persistent settings:

# .calltally.yml
profile: rails          # auto|rails|default
dirs:                   # Directories to scan
  - app
  - lib
exclude:                # Patterns to exclude
  - spec
  - test
  - vendor
top: 50                 # Number of results to show
mode: pairs            # pairs|methods|receivers
skip_operators: true    # Skip operators like +, -, ==

You can also use a custom config file:

calltally --config config/calltally-production.yml

# Only local variables
calltally --only-locals

# Only instance variables
calltally --only-ivars

# Only class/module constants
calltally --only-constants

# Class variables
calltally --only-cvars

# Global variables
calltally --only-gvars

# Combine filters
calltally --only-locals --only-constants

# Show variable names instead of grouping
calltally --split-variables
# Shows: (var:user).name instead of (var).name

calltally [PATH] [options]

Options:
  --profile PROFILE        auto|rails|default (default: auto)
  -d, --dirs x,y           Directories to include
  -x, --exclude x,y        Path parts to exclude
  -n, --top N              Show top N results (default: 100)
  -v, --verbose            Verbose output

  --mode MODE              Output mode:
                           - pairs: receiver-method pairs (default)
                           - methods: method names only
                           - receivers: receiver names only

  --receivers x,y          Filter by receiver constants (e.g. User,Post)
  --methods x,y            Filter by method names (e.g. where,find)

  --include-nil-receiver   Count calls without explicit receiver
  --split-variables        Show variable names (e.g. '(var:user)' vs '(var)')

  --only-locals            Show only local variable receivers
  --only-ivars             Show only instance variable receivers
  --only-cvars             Show only class variable receivers
  --only-gvars             Show only global variable receivers
  --only-constants         Show only constant receivers

  --[no-]skip-operators    Skip operator methods like +, -, ==, [] (default: true)

  --format FORMAT          Output format: table|json|csv (default: table)
  -o, --output PATH        Write result to file instead of STDOUT
  --config PATH            Use a specific config file
  -h, --help               Show help

Calltally shows method calls in your codebase with their receivers:

10  User.where          # User class, where method, called 10 times
 5  (var).each          # Local variable, each method, called 5 times
 3  (ivar).save         # Instance variable, save method
 2  Post#.validate      # validate called within Post class (implicit receiver)

• User - Class or module constant
• (var) - Local variable (use --split-variables to see names)
• (ivar) - Instance variable
• (cvar) - Class variable
• (gvar) - Global variable
• (self) - Explicit self receiver
• (result) - Method calls on results (e.g., user.posts.first → (var).posts + (result).first)
• # - Implicit receiver (when using --include-nil-receiver)

1. Find most-used methods - Identify candidates for optimization
2. Understand code patterns - See how your team uses APIs
3. Refactoring decisions - Know what methods are heavily depended upon
4. API design - Understand which methods are actually used
5. Code reviews - Quickly analyze unfamiliar codebases
6. Gem development - See how your gem's methods are used

CallTally counts method calls, not all text occurrences:

• grep "Current.user" finds both Current.user (getter) and Current.user = value (setter)
• CallTally only counts Current.user (the getter method call)
• Setters like name= are separate methods and not counted as name

• Ruby files: .rb, .ru, .rake
• Not included: JavaScript, CSS, YAML, and other file types

When methods are chained, CallTally shows intermediate results as (result):

• user.posts.first → (var).posts + (result).first
• This happens because CallTally doesn't infer types without type annotations

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/nsgc/calltally.

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.