diff --git a/amalgamation/.gitignore b/amalgamation/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e808ea276
--- /dev/null
+++ b/amalgamation/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+nnvm.d
+nnvm.cc
diff --git a/include/nnvm/symbolic.h b/include/nnvm/symbolic.h
index 4d26947ca..ab836ad5e 100644
--- a/include/nnvm/symbolic.h
+++ b/include/nnvm/symbolic.h
@@ -137,6 +137,12 @@ class Symbol {
    *                including input variables and intermediate outputs.
    */
   Symbol GetInternals() const;
+  /*
+   * \brief Get the direct inputs of the head node(s) of this symbol.
+   * \return symbol A new symbol whose output contains all the inputs of the head
+   *                node(s).
+   */
+  Symbol GetChildren() const;
   /*!
    * \brief Set additional attributes to current node.
    *
diff --git a/src/core/symbolic.cc b/src/core/symbolic.cc
index a101deed7..51cc1fa9e 100644
--- a/src/core/symbolic.cc
+++ b/src/core/symbolic.cc
@@ -435,6 +435,19 @@ Symbol Symbol::GetInternals() const {
   return ret;
 }
 
+Symbol Symbol::GetChildren() const {
+  static auto& fnum_vis_output = Op::GetAttr<FNumVisibleOutputs>("FNumVisibleOutputs");
+  Symbol ret;
+  std::unordered_set<Node*> visited;
+  for (const auto& p : this->outputs) {
+    Node* node = p.node.get();
+    if (visited.count(node)) continue;
+    visited.insert(node);
+    ret.outputs.insert(ret.outputs.end(), node->inputs.begin(), node->inputs.end());
+  }
+  return ret;
+}
+
 void Symbol::SetAttrs(const std::vector<std::pair<std::string, std::string> >& attrs) {
   Node* node = outputs[0].node.get();
   for (const NodeEntry& e : outputs) {