diff --git a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/graph/rendering/TreeView.scala b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/graph/rendering/TreeView.scala
index d5732f5b7..f3cd7b4f7 100644
--- a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/graph/rendering/TreeView.scala
+++ b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/graph/rendering/TreeView.scala
@@ -10,14 +10,17 @@ package internal
 package graph
 package rendering
 
-import java.io.{ OutputStream, InputStream, FileOutputStream, File }
-import java.net.URI
-
-import graph.{ Module, ModuleGraph }
 import sbt.io.IO
 
-import scala.annotation.{ nowarn, tailrec }
-import scala.util.parsing.json.{ JSONArray, JSONObject }
+import java.io.File
+import java.io.FileOutputStream
+import java.io.InputStream
+import java.io.OutputStream
+import java.net.URI
+import scala.annotation.nowarn
+import scala.annotation.tailrec
+import scala.util.parsing.json.JSONArray
+import scala.util.parsing.json.JSONObject
 
 @nowarn object TreeView {
   def createJson(graph: ModuleGraph): String = {
@@ -36,18 +39,27 @@ import scala.util.parsing.json.{ JSONArray, JSONObject }
     new URI(graphHTML.toURI.toString)
   }
 
-  private def processSubtree(graph: ModuleGraph, module: Module): JSONObject = {
-    val children = graph.dependencyMap
-      .getOrElse(module.id, List())
-      .map(module => processSubtree(graph, module))
-      .toList
-    moduleAsJson(module, children)
+  private[rendering] def processSubtree(
+      graph: ModuleGraph,
+      module: Module,
+      parents: Set[GraphModuleId] = Set()
+  ): JSONObject = {
+    val cycle = parents.contains(module.id)
+    val dependencies = if (cycle) List() else graph.dependencyMap.getOrElse(module.id, List())
+    val children =
+      dependencies.map(dependency => processSubtree(graph, dependency, parents + module.id)).toList
+    moduleAsJson(module, cycle, children)
   }
 
-  private def moduleAsJson(module: Module, children: List[JSONObject]): JSONObject = {
+  private def moduleAsJson(
+      module: Module,
+      isCycle: Boolean,
+      children: List[JSONObject]
+  ): JSONObject = {
     val eviction = module.evictedByVersion.map(version => s" (evicted by $version)").getOrElse("")
+    val cycle = if (isCycle) " (cycle)" else ""
     val error = module.error.map(err => s" (errors: $err)").getOrElse("")
-    val text = module.id.idString + eviction + error
+    val text = module.id.idString + eviction + error + cycle
     JSONObject(Map("text" -> text, "children" -> JSONArray(children)))
   }
 
diff --git a/main/src/test/scala/sbt/internal/graph/rendering/TreeViewTest.scala b/main/src/test/scala/sbt/internal/graph/rendering/TreeViewTest.scala
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..544629e16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/main/src/test/scala/sbt/internal/graph/rendering/TreeViewTest.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+/*
+ * sbt
+ * Copyright 2011 - 2018, Lightbend, Inc.
+ * Copyright 2008 - 2010, Mark Harrah
+ * Licensed under Apache License 2.0 (see LICENSE)
+ */
+
+package sbt
+package internal
+package graph
+package rendering
+
+import org.scalatest.DiagrammedAssertions
+import org.scalatest.FunSuite
+
+import scala.annotation.nowarn
+import scala.util.parsing.json.JSONArray
+import scala.util.parsing.json.JSONObject
+
+@nowarn("msg=class JSONObject in package json is deprecated")
+class TreeViewTest extends FunSuite with DiagrammedAssertions {
+
+  val modA = GraphModuleId("orgA", "nameA", "1.0")
+  val modB = GraphModuleId("orgB", "nameB", "2.0")
+
+  val graph = ModuleGraph(
+    nodes = Seq(Module(modA), Module(modB)),
+    edges = Seq(
+      modA -> modA,
+      modA -> modB,
+    )
+  )
+
+  test("TreeView should detect cycles and truncate") {
+    val json = TreeView.processSubtree(graph, Module(modA))
+    val (rootText, children) = parseTree(json)
+    assert(rootText == modA.idString)
+
+    val childrenText = children.map(parseTree).map(_._1)
+    val expected = List(s"${modA.idString} (cycle)", modB.idString)
+    assert(childrenText == expected)
+  }
+
+  @nowarn("cat=unchecked")
+  def parseTree(json: JSONObject): (String, List[JSONObject]) = {
+    (json.obj.get("text"), json.obj.get("children")) match {
+      case (Some(text: String), Some(JSONArray(children: List[JSONObject])))
+          if children.forall(_.isInstanceOf[JSONObject]) =>
+        text -> children
+      case _ =>
+        fail("a string field 'text' and an array of objects in 'children' field were expected!")
+    }
+  }
+
+}