# Load Dependencies

Load Dependencies pulls related records around a shape you've already placed on the canvas — hierarchies, relationships, references, and related lists — and drops them onto the board with the correct links already drawn. It's the fastest way to grow a diagram outwards from a known starting point.

## Opening the Dialog

1. Select a **data-bound shape** on the canvas (a shape tied to a ServiceNow record).
2. Click the **Load Dependencies** button in the editor toolbar.

<figure><img src="/files/86ukH9b5z7VFgvm9vAM1" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### When the Button Is Disabled

The button is disabled when the selected shape can't be used as a starting point. Common reasons:

* The selection is a **future-state item** (not yet committed)
* The selection is inside a **Hierarchy Map** group
* The selection is inside a **Kanban lane**
* The selection is inside a **Context Map**

Select a plain canvas shape bound to a ServiceNow record to re-enable the button.

## The Four Tabs

Each tab offers a different way to discover related records. You can select items across multiple tabs in one go — everything you tick is loaded when you press **Load**.

### Relationships

* **What it shows:** Parent-child relationship pairs, displayed as an expandable tree.
* **How you select:** Tick the parent checkbox to select the whole relationship group, or expand and tick individual child records.
* **Use when:** You know the relationship you want (e.g., *"Depends on"*) and want every record on the other side of it.

### Reference

* **What it shows:** Reference fields on the selected record, shown as a flat list.
* **How you select:** Tick a single checkbox per reference.
* **Use when:** You want to pull in the record referenced by a specific field (e.g., the **Owner** of an application).

### Hierarchy

* **What it shows:** Self-referential parent/child relationships — hierarchy lookups where records point up or down to the same table.
* **How you select:** Tick a single checkbox per hierarchy option.
* **Use when:** You're visualizing a structure like a capability tree or an org chart rooted at the selected element.

### Related Lists

* **What it shows:** Many-to-many (M2M) related lists with optional child records.
* **How you select:** Tick the parent checkbox, then optionally expand to pick specific child records.
* **Include related records toggle:** An **AirlineStops**-style toggle lets you choose between loading only the parent (the related list record itself) or also pulling in the child records attached to it.
* **Use when:** You want to walk across an M2M link (e.g., *"Business Applications consumed by Business Services"*).

## Shared Load Options

These toggles apply across all four tabs:

| Option                        | What It Does                                                                                                               |
| ----------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Autolayout**                | When enabled, runs autolayout on the loaded dependencies so they don't overlap existing content.                           |
| **Show Unique Relationships** | Visible when any relationships are selected. Deduplicates relationships of the same type between the same two elements.    |
| **Complement**                | Visible when items are selected. **On:** connect to existing elements if already on the board. **Off:** create duplicates. |

Click **Load** (disabled until you've ticked at least one item) to apply your selection.

## What Appears on the Canvas

* **Nodes** — one shape per selected record, positioned around your source element.
* **Links** — drawn between the source element and every loaded dependency, with the appropriate relationship type.
* **Selection** — the newly-loaded nodes and links are auto-selected so you can immediately style or move them.
* **Layout** — Autolayout repositions the whole connected graph if enabled; otherwise only the new nodes get placed.

## Limits & Gotchas

* **No explicit cap on items per load** — extremely broad selections (e.g., a reference field with thousands of values) can take a while. Start narrow and expand in follow-up loads.
* **Duplicates are avoided by default** thanks to the **Complement** toggle — turn it off intentionally if you want parallel copies of an already-loaded element.
* **Not available on future-state items.** If you want to pull dependencies around a shape you've created but not yet committed, [Commit](/models/work-in-the-app/editor/commit.md) it first.
* **Permissions** — no feature-level role gating. ServiceNow ACLs on the underlying records determine what you're allowed to see.

## Related

* [Data Hub](/models/work-in-the-app/editor/data-hub.md) — add the starting shape tied to a ServiceNow record
* [Data Panel](/models/work-in-the-app/editor/data-inspector.md) — inspect the records you've loaded
* [HOP (Hover-Over Panel)](/models/work-in-the-app/editor/hop.md) — another way to explore neighbors of a single record
* [Relationships](/models/work-in-the-app/editor/relationships.md) — style the links you've loaded


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