Abstract: The present invention provides a way to collect semantic level state information for a (running) program such as a JVM. Under the present invention, a connection is first made to the virtual machine. Thereafter, a set of Application Program Interface (API) calls are made to nodes of the program to examine the program at a semantic level. Based on the API calls, semantic level state information is captured. References from the nodes (e.g., object-type nodes) of the program are then followed to other nodes (e.g., objects) to capture additional semantic level state information. As this is occurring, the present invention keeps track of all information captured and takes measures to avoid looping and/or duplication. In addition, through the use of configuration information, the present invention can control the information that is collected, as well as a depth of references followed.