Add public parse-only API

Expose a public trailmark.parse module for parse-only workflows and root-package imports. The new API provides parse_file(), parse_directory(), detect_languages(), and supported_languages(), while QueryEngine.from_directory() now delegates to the parse layer instead of owning parser selection logic directly.

Keep auto-detection aligned with parser behavior by reusing the shared directory-skip rules from parsers._common, narrowing JavaScript detection to the extensions the parser actually handles, and adding focused tests for parse-only usage, polyglot detection, and README coverage.

Update contributor documentation to describe the parse layer in the architecture overview and to point new parser registration at src/trailmark/parse.py.

Author: hughpyle

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -50,8 +50,12 @@ Linux (CI runs on Ubuntu without issue).
 
 ## Architecture
 
-Trailmark has a three-layer architecture:
+Trailmark has a parse layer followed by a three-layer analysis stack:
 
+0. **Parse API** (`src/trailmark/parse.py`) -- public entry point for
+   parsing files or directories into a raw `CodeGraph`. Lazily imports
+   the appropriate language parser. Used directly for parse-only
+   workflows and internally by `QueryEngine`.
 1. **CodeGraph** (`src/trailmark/models/graph.py`) -- mutable data
    container holding nodes, edges, annotations, and entrypoints.
 2. **GraphStore** (`src/trailmark/storage/graph_store.py`) -- wraps
@@ -75,6 +79,7 @@ Trailmark has a three-layer architecture:
 
 1. Create `src/trailmark/parsers/<lang>/parser.py` implementing the
    `BaseParser` protocol from `src/trailmark/parsers/base.py`.
-2. Register the language in `src/trailmark/parsers/__init__.py`.
+2. Register the parser in `_PARSER_MAP` and its file extensions in
+   `_LANGUAGE_EXTENSIONS`, both in `src/trailmark/parse.py`.
 3. Add tests in `tests/test_<lang>_parser.py`.
 4. Update the language table in `README.md`.

README.md

@@ -349,8 +349,13 @@ See [docs/entrypoint-patterns.md](docs/entrypoint-patterns.md) for the full refe
 ### Programmatic API
 
 ```python
+from trailmark.parse import parse_directory, parse_file
 from trailmark.query.api import QueryEngine
 
+# Parse-only API: get the raw CodeGraph without building GraphStore/QueryEngine.
+graph = parse_file("path/to/file.py")
+graph = parse_directory("path/to/project", language="auto")
+
 # Single-language (default) or auto-detect + merge across all languages
 engine = QueryEngine.from_directory("path/to/project")
 engine = QueryEngine.from_directory("path/to/project", language="auto")

src/trailmark/__init__.py

@@ -1,3 +1,17 @@
 """Trailmark: Parse source code into queryable graphs for security analysis."""
 
 __version__ = "0.1.0"
+
+from trailmark.parse import (
+    detect_languages,
+    parse_directory,
+    parse_file,
+    supported_languages,
+)
+
+__all__ = [
+    "detect_languages",
+    "parse_directory",
+    "parse_file",
+    "supported_languages",
+]

src/trailmark/parse.py

@@ -0,0 +1,215 @@
+"""Public parse-only API for building raw Trailmark code graphs."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import importlib
+import os
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from trailmark.models.graph import CodeGraph
+from trailmark.parsers._common import should_skip_dir
+from trailmark.parsers.base import LanguageParser
+
+_PARSER_MAP: dict[str, tuple[str, str]] = {
+    "python": ("trailmark.parsers.python", "PythonParser"),
+    "javascript": ("trailmark.parsers.javascript", "JavaScriptParser"),
+    "typescript": ("trailmark.parsers.typescript", "TypeScriptParser"),
+    "php": ("trailmark.parsers.php", "PHPParser"),
+    "ruby": ("trailmark.parsers.ruby", "RubyParser"),
+    "c": ("trailmark.parsers.c", "CParser"),
+    "cpp": ("trailmark.parsers.cpp", "CppParser"),
+    "c_sharp": ("trailmark.parsers.csharp", "CSharpParser"),
+    "java": ("trailmark.parsers.java", "JavaParser"),
+    "go": ("trailmark.parsers.go", "GoParser"),
+    "rust": ("trailmark.parsers.rust", "RustParser"),
+    "solidity": ("trailmark.parsers.solidity", "SolidityParser"),
+    "cairo": ("trailmark.parsers.cairo", "CairoParser"),
+    "circom": ("trailmark.parsers.circom", "CircomParser"),
+    "haskell": ("trailmark.parsers.haskell", "HaskellParser"),
+    "erlang": ("trailmark.parsers.erlang", "ErlangParser"),
+    "masm": ("trailmark.parsers.masm", "MasmParser"),
+    "swift": ("trailmark.parsers.swift", "SwiftParser"),
+    "objc": ("trailmark.parsers.objc", "ObjCParser"),
+    "kotlin": ("trailmark.parsers.kotlin", "KotlinParser"),
+    "dart": ("trailmark.parsers.dart", "DartParser"),
+}
+
+# Extensions used for language auto-detection. Keep these aligned with each
+# parser's internal _EXTENSIONS tuple. Shared extensions (e.g., `.h` between C
+# and C++) are handled by prioritizing the more specific language — C++ is
+# tried before plain C when both report files.
+_LANGUAGE_EXTENSIONS: dict[str, tuple[str, ...]] = {
+    "python": (".py",),
+    "javascript": (".js", ".jsx"),
+    "typescript": (".ts", ".tsx"),
+    "php": (".php",),
+    "ruby": (".rb",),
+    "c": (".c",),
+    "cpp": (".cpp", ".cc", ".cxx", ".hpp", ".hh", ".hxx"),
+    "c_sharp": (".cs",),
+    "java": (".java",),
+    "go": (".go",),
+    "rust": (".rs",),
+    "solidity": (".sol",),
+    "cairo": (".cairo",),
+    "circom": (".circom",),
+    "haskell": (".hs",),
+    "erlang": (".erl",),
+    "masm": (".masm",),
+    "swift": (".swift",),
+    # `.h` files can be C, ObjC, or C++; auto-detect only fires on .m/.mm.
+    # The parser itself still walks .h when invoked with language="objc".
+    "objc": (".m", ".mm"),
+    "kotlin": (".kt", ".kts"),
+    "dart": (".dart",),
+}
+
+_SUPPORTED_LANGUAGES = tuple(_PARSER_MAP.keys())
+
+def supported_languages() -> tuple[str, ...]:
+    """Return the supported Trailmark parser language names."""
+    return _SUPPORTED_LANGUAGES
+
+
+def parse_file(path: str, language: str | None = None) -> CodeGraph:
+    """Parse a single file into a raw ``CodeGraph``.
+
+    Args:
+        path: Source file to parse.
+        language: Optional explicit parser language. If omitted, language is
+            inferred from the file extension.
+
+    Raises:
+        ValueError: If the language is unsupported or cannot be inferred.
+    """
+    file_path = Path(path)
+    resolved_language = _resolve_file_language(file_path, language)
+    return _get_parser(resolved_language).parse_file(str(file_path))
+
+
+def parse_directory(path: str, language: str = "python") -> CodeGraph:
+    """Parse a directory into a raw ``CodeGraph``.
+
+    ``language`` accepts a specific language name (e.g. ``"python"``),
+    ``"auto"`` to detect and merge all supported languages found under the
+    directory, or a comma-separated list like ``"python,rust"``.
+    """
+    languages = _resolve_directory_languages(path, language)
+    return _parse_and_merge(path, languages)
+
+
+def detect_languages(path: str) -> list[str]:
+    """Return the sorted languages with at least one file under ``path``.
+
+    Detection walks the directory once, classifies each file by extension,
+    and returns the languages that have at least one match. Order is the
+    order languages are registered in ``_LANGUAGE_EXTENSIONS``, which
+    roughly corresponds to popularity and keeps deterministic behavior.
+    """
+    root = Path(path)
+    if not root.exists():
+        return []
+
+    ext_to_language: dict[str, str] = {}
+    for lang, exts in _LANGUAGE_EXTENSIONS.items():
+        for ext in exts:
+            # When languages share an extension (none currently do, but
+            # guard against it), the FIRST registration wins.
+            ext_to_language.setdefault(ext, lang)
+
+    found: set[str] = set()
+    for _dirpath, dirs, files in os.walk(root):
+        # Keep detection aligned with the parser walk rules.
+        dirs[:] = [d for d in dirs if not should_skip_dir(d)]
+        for name in files:
+            ext = _file_extension(name)
+            if ext in ext_to_language:
+                found.add(ext_to_language[ext])
+        if len(found) == len(_LANGUAGE_EXTENSIONS):
+            break
+
+    return [lang for lang in _LANGUAGE_EXTENSIONS if lang in found]
+
+
+def _get_parser(language: str) -> LanguageParser:
+    """Lazily import and instantiate a parser for the given language."""
+    entry = _PARSER_MAP.get(language)
+    if entry is None:
+        msg = f"Unsupported language: {language}"
+        raise ValueError(msg)
+    module = importlib.import_module(entry[0])
+    cls = getattr(module, entry[1])
+    return cls()
+
+
+def _resolve_file_language(path: Path, language: str | None) -> str:
+    """Resolve a single-file parse request to one concrete language."""
+    if language is None or language == "auto":
+        detected = _detect_file_language(path)
+        if detected is None:
+            msg = f"Could not infer supported language from file extension: {path}"
+            raise ValueError(msg)
+        return detected
+    if "," in language:
+        msg = f"Single-file parse requires one language, got: {language}"
+        raise ValueError(msg)
+    if language not in _PARSER_MAP:
+        msg = f"Unsupported language: {language}"
+        raise ValueError(msg)
+    return language
+
+
+def _resolve_directory_languages(path: str, spec: str) -> list[str]:
+    """Expand a directory ``language`` argument into concrete languages."""
+    if spec == "auto":
+        detected = detect_languages(path)
+        if not detected:
+            msg = f"No supported languages detected under {path}"
+            raise ValueError(msg)
+        return detected
+    names = [name.strip() for name in spec.split(",") if name.strip()] if "," in spec else [spec]
+    for name in names:
+        if name not in _PARSER_MAP:
+            msg = f"Unsupported language: {name}"
+            raise ValueError(msg)
+    return names
+
+
+def _parse_and_merge(path: str, languages: list[str]) -> CodeGraph:
+    """Parse ``path`` with each language parser and merge into one graph."""
+    if len(languages) == 1:
+        # Preserves pre-polyglot behavior exactly for the common case.
+        return _get_parser(languages[0]).parse_directory(path)
+
+    merged = CodeGraph(language="polyglot", root_path=str(Path(path).resolve()))
+    for lang in languages:
+        sub = _get_parser(lang).parse_directory(path)
+        merged.merge(sub)
+    # merge() doesn't touch `language`; preserve the polyglot marker.
+    merged.language = "polyglot"
+    return merged
+
+
+def _detect_file_language(path: Path) -> str | None:
+    """Infer one supported language from a file extension."""
+    ext = _file_extension(path.name)
+    for language, exts in _LANGUAGE_EXTENSIONS.items():
+        if ext in exts:
+            return language
+    return None
+
+
+def _file_extension(name: str) -> str:
+    """Return the lowercase extension including leading dot, or ``''``."""
+    dot = name.rfind(".")
+    if dot < 0:
+        return ""
+    return name[dot:].lower()
+
+
+__all__ = [
+    "detect_languages",
+    "parse_directory",
+    "parse_file",
+    "supported_languages",
+]

src/trailmark/parsers/_common.py

@@ -67,6 +67,11 @@ def module_id_from_path(file_path: str) -> str:
 )
 
 
+def should_skip_dir(dirname: str) -> bool:
+    """Return whether a directory should be skipped during source walks."""
+    return dirname in _EXCLUDED_DIRS or dirname.startswith(".")
+
+
 def walk_source_files(
     dir_path: str,
     extensions: tuple[str, ...],
@@ -77,7 +82,7 @@ def walk_source_files(
     and does not follow symlinks.
     """
     for root, dirs, files in os.walk(dir_path, followlinks=False):
-        dirs[:] = [d for d in dirs if d not in _EXCLUDED_DIRS and not d.startswith(".")]
+        dirs[:] = [d for d in dirs if not should_skip_dir(d)]
         for fname in sorted(files):
             if any(fname.endswith(ext) for ext in extensions):
                 yield os.path.join(root, fname)