Where Are the Maps for Code?

When we return to a codebase after a few months, a lot of the work is not writing code at all, but rebuilding context. We reopen files, trace relationships again, reread docs, search logs, and try to reconstruct the same mental map we had before. That feels normal only because we are used to it. We already map code, just informally Every time we explore a project, some form of mapping starts happening. We follow calls, move between modules, try to understand what talks to what, and gradually assemble a picture of the system. Sometimes that picture stays in our heads. Sometimes it ends up on paper or in a diagram. So the mapping itself is not optional. We already do it. The problem is that the map is usually temporary. Code helps, docs help, but neither fully solves this Code is the source of truth, but it is not always the easiest way to regain context quickly. There is often too much of it, and not every codebase is clean enough to explain itself on its own. Documentation helps too, b