# Atlas: Runtime Overview

**URL:** <https://talk.observablehq.com/t/atlas-runtime-overview/10578>\
**Category:** Show and tell\
**Created:** [January 14, 2026, 6:32pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/atlas-runtime-overview/10578 "2026-01-14T18:32:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tomlarkworthy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/tomlarkworthy/32/5940_2.png) [@tomlarkworthy](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/tomlarkworthy)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2026, 6:32pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/atlas-runtime-overview/10578/1 "2026-01-14T18:32:41Z")

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When trying to make sense of a big Observable project, the highest level is what notebooks are here? And how do they interact?

The story of how modules interact is mediated by what variables are imported between notebook/modules. Most notebooks do not import many variables, knowledge of the import structure is a succinct summary of the whole.

I made Atlas to

1. provide a visual overview of the whole runtime
2. offer navigation links to the implementation

Thus it is a live table of contents for the runtime

> **[Atlas: Runtime Overview](https://observablehq.com/@tomlarkworthy/atlas)**
>
> About Get an overview of the currently running Runtime. Shows all the notebooks/modules and their interconnections, and offers hyperlinks to them on Observable.com on Lopecode

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**Author:** ![mbostock](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/mbostock/32/9_2.png) [@mbostock](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/mbostock)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2026, 7:52pm UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/atlas-runtime-overview/10578/2 "2026-01-14T19:52:40Z")

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Thanks for sharing! Static analysis rather than dynamic inspection, but feels in the same vein as our [Notebook visualizer](https://observablehq.com/@observablehq/notebook-visualizer?id=@tomlarkworthy/atlas) and [Notebook import visualizer](https://observablehq.com/@observablehq/notebook-import-visualizer?id=@tomlarkworthy/atlas).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tomlarkworthy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/talk.observablehq.com/tomlarkworthy/32/5940_2.png) [@tomlarkworthy](https://talk.observablehq.com/u/tomlarkworthy)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 10:36am UTC](https://talk.observablehq.com/t/atlas-runtime-overview/10578/3 "2026-01-16T10:36:56Z")

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[Notebook visualizer](https://observablehq.com/@observablehq/notebook-visualizer?id=@tomlarkworthy/atlas) was a big inspiration, also the notebook minimap, its sort of a cross-over of those two things.