diff --git a/packages/backend-app-api/src/lib/DependencyTree.test.ts b/packages/backend-app-api/src/lib/DependencyTree.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5364dd4257
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/backend-app-api/src/lib/DependencyTree.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2023 The Backstage Authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import { DependencyTree } from './DependencyTree';
+
+describe('DependencyTree', () => {
+  it('should be empty', () => {
+    const empty = DependencyTree.fromMap({});
+    expect(Array.from(empty.nodes)).toEqual([]);
+    expect(empty.findUnsatisfiedDeps()).toEqual([]);
+    expect(empty.detectCircularDependency()).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it('should reject multiple producers', () => {
+    expect(() =>
+      DependencyTree.fromMap({
+        1: { produces: ['a'] },
+        2: { produces: ['a'] },
+      }),
+    ).toThrow(
+      "Dependency conflict detected, 'a' may not be produced by both '1' and '2'",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('should detect circular dependencies', () => {
+    expect(
+      DependencyTree.fromMap({
+        1: {},
+        2: {},
+        3: {},
+        4: {},
+      }).detectCircularDependency(),
+    ).toBeUndefined();
+
+    expect(
+      DependencyTree.fromMap({
+        1: { produces: ['a'] },
+        2: { consumes: ['a'], produces: ['b', 'c'] },
+        3: { consumes: ['b'] },
+        4: { consumes: ['c'] },
+      }).detectCircularDependency(),
+    ).toBeUndefined();
+
+    expect(
+      DependencyTree.fromMap({
+        1: { produces: ['a'], consumes: ['a'] },
+      }).detectCircularDependency(),
+    ).toEqual(['1', '1']);
+
+    expect(
+      DependencyTree.fromMap({
+        1: { produces: ['a'], consumes: ['b'] },
+        2: { produces: ['b'], consumes: ['a'] },
+      }).detectCircularDependency(),
+    ).toEqual(['1', '2', '1']);
+
+    expect(
+      DependencyTree.fromMap({
+        1: { produces: ['a'] },
+        2: { produces: ['b'], consumes: ['a', 'e'] },
+        3: { produces: ['c'], consumes: ['b'] },
+        4: { produces: ['d', 'e'], consumes: ['c', 'a'] },
+      }).detectCircularDependency(),
+    ).toEqual(['2', '3', '4', '2']);
+  });
+
+  it('should find unsatisfied dependencies', () => {
+    expect(
+      DependencyTree.fromMap({
+        1: {},
+        2: {},
+        3: {},
+        4: {},
+      }).findUnsatisfiedDeps(),
+    ).toEqual([]);
+
+    expect(
+      DependencyTree.fromMap({
+        1: { produces: ['a'] },
+        2: { consumes: ['a'], produces: ['b', 'c'] },
+        3: { consumes: ['b'] },
+        4: { consumes: ['c'] },
+      }).findUnsatisfiedDeps(),
+    ).toEqual([]);
+
+    expect(
+      DependencyTree.fromMap({
+        1: { consumes: ['a'] },
+      }).findUnsatisfiedDeps(),
+    ).toEqual([{ id: '1', unsatisfied: ['a'] }]);
+
+    expect(
+      DependencyTree.fromMap({
+        1: { produces: ['a'], consumes: ['b'] },
+        2: { produces: ['b'], consumes: ['a', 'd', 'e'] },
+      }).findUnsatisfiedDeps(),
+    ).toEqual([{ id: '2', unsatisfied: ['d', 'e'] }]);
+
+    expect(
+      DependencyTree.fromMap({
+        1: { produces: ['a'] },
+        2: { produces: ['b'], consumes: ['a', 'd', 'e'] },
+        3: { produces: [], consumes: ['b'] },
+        4: { produces: [], consumes: ['c', 'a'] },
+      }).findUnsatisfiedDeps(),
+    ).toEqual([
+      { id: '2', unsatisfied: ['d', 'e'] },
+      { id: '4', unsatisfied: ['c'] },
+    ]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/backend-app-api/src/lib/DependencyTree.ts b/packages/backend-app-api/src/lib/DependencyTree.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..80cf10ecb2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/backend-app-api/src/lib/DependencyTree.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2023 The Backstage Authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import { ConflictError, InputError } from '@backstage/errors';
+
+interface NodeInput {
+  id: string;
+  consumes?: Iterable<string>;
+  produces?: Iterable<string>;
+}
+
+/** @internal */
+class Node {
+  static from(input: NodeInput) {
+    return new Node(
+      input.id,
+      input.consumes ? new Set(input.consumes) : new Set(),
+      input.produces ? new Set(input.produces) : new Set(),
+    );
+  }
+
+  private constructor(
+    readonly id: string,
+    readonly consumes: Set<string>,
+    readonly produces: Set<string>,
+  ) {}
+}
+
+/** @internal */
+export class DependencyTree {
+  static fromMap(nodes: Record<string, Omit<NodeInput, 'id'>>) {
+    return this.fromIterable(
+      Object.entries(nodes).map(([id, node]) => ({ id, ...node })),
+    );
+  }
+
+  static fromIterable(nodeInputs: Iterable<NodeInput>) {
+    const nodes = new Map<string, Node>();
+    for (const nodeInput of nodeInputs) {
+      const node = Node.from(nodeInput);
+      if (nodes.has(node.id)) {
+        throw new InputError(`Duplicate node with id ${node.id}`);
+      }
+      nodes.set(node.id, node);
+    }
+
+    return new DependencyTree(nodes);
+  }
+
+  #allProduced: Set<string>;
+  #allConsumed: Set<string>;
+  #producedBy: Map<string, string>;
+  #consumedBy: Map<string, Set<string>>;
+
+  private constructor(readonly nodes: Map<string, Node>) {
+    this.#allProduced = new Set();
+    this.#allConsumed = new Set();
+    this.#producedBy = new Map();
+    this.#consumedBy = new Map();
+
+    for (const node of this.nodes.values()) {
+      for (const produced of node.produces) {
+        this.#allProduced.add(produced);
+        if (this.#producedBy.has(produced)) {
+          throw new ConflictError(
+            `Dependency conflict detected, '${produced}' may not be produced by both '${this.#producedBy.get(
+              produced,
+            )}' and '${node.id}'`,
+          );
+        }
+        this.#producedBy.set(produced, node.id);
+      }
+      for (const consumed of node.consumes) {
+        this.#allConsumed.add(consumed);
+        if (!this.#consumedBy.get(consumed)?.add(node.id)) {
+          this.#consumedBy.set(consumed, new Set([node.id]));
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  findUnsatisfiedDeps(): Array<{ id: string; unsatisfied: string[] }> {
+    const unsatisfiedDependencies = [];
+    for (const node of this.nodes.values()) {
+      const unsatisfied = Array.from(node.consumes).filter(
+        id => !this.#allProduced.has(id),
+      );
+      if (unsatisfied.length > 0) {
+        unsatisfiedDependencies.push({ id: node.id, unsatisfied });
+      }
+    }
+    return unsatisfiedDependencies;
+  }
+
+  detectCircularDependency(): string[] | undefined {
+    for (const nodeId of this.nodes.keys()) {
+      const visited = new Set<string>();
+      const stack = new Array<[id: string, path: string[]]>([nodeId, [nodeId]]);
+
+      while (stack.length > 0) {
+        const [id, path] = stack.pop()!;
+        if (visited.has(id)) {
+          continue;
+        }
+        visited.add(id);
+        const node = this.nodes.get(id);
+        if (node) {
+          for (const produced of node.produces) {
+            const consumers = this.#consumedBy.get(produced);
+            if (consumers) {
+              for (const consumer of consumers) {
+                if (consumer === nodeId) {
+                  return [...path, nodeId];
+                }
+                if (!visited.has(consumer)) {
+                  stack.push([consumer, [...path, consumer]]);
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    return undefined;
+  }
+}