🚀 Detect and eliminate unused code in TypeScript/JavaScript projects safely and efficiently.

Detect and optionally remove unused code across TypeScript/JavaScript projects. Includes detectors for Cypress custom commands and Playwright fixtures. Safe defaults, CI-friendly reports, and an ignore file for precise scoping.

npm install -g universal-dead-code-analyzer-elimination

Or run without installing globally:

npx universal-dead-code-analyzer-elimination src/

Analyze your project without making changes:

universal-dead-code-analyzer-elimination src/

This will scan all .ts, .tsx, .js, and .jsx files in the src/ folder and report unused items.

Generate a report instead of modifying files:

universal-dead-code-analyzer-elimination src/ --report

Choose a report format:

universal-dead-code-analyzer-elimination src/ --report --report-format json
universal-dead-code-analyzer-elimination src/ --report --report-format md

• JSON → machine-readable, great for CI/CD.
• Markdown → human-readable, ideal for PR comments.

⚠️ Use with caution. Always start with --report first.

universal-dead-code-analyzer-elimination src/ --delete

This removes unused members directly from your source files.

• Dead/Unused Code Detection

  • Functions, classes, variables, constants, enums, types, interfaces.
  • Named & default exports.
  • Cypress commands: Detects Cypress.Commands.add("foo") not used as cy.foo(...).
  • Playwright fixtures: Declared but never injected.
  • React components: Unused PascalCase components.
  • Tree-shaken export graph: Finds unused exports.

• File Exclusions

  • Always ignores node_modules/.

  • Supports .analyzerignore (works like .gitignore).

  • Generate a template:

    universal-dead-code-analyzer-elimination --init-ignore

• Reports

  • JSON, Markdown, and CLI summary.
  • Example summary: Found 12 unused members across 5 files.

• Safety First

  • Default mode is non-destructive.
  • .analyzerignore lets you control scope.
  • Clear, colorized logs for confidence.

1. Initialize ignore rules:

   universal-dead-code-analyzer-elimination --init-ignore

2. Run safe report:

   universal-dead-code-analyzer-elimination src/ --report --report-format md

3. Review the report, update .analyzerignore if needed.

4. When confident, clean up:

   universal-dead-code-analyzer-elimination src/ --delete

• targets... Files or globs to analyze (defaults to src/**/*.{ts,tsx,js,jsx} and tests/**/*.{ts,tsx,js,jsx})
• -r, --report Report only (default true)
• -f, --report-format <json|md> Output format (default md)
• -d, --delete Delete unused members (destructive)
• --cwd <dir> Working directory
• --init-ignore Create a default .analyzerignore in project root
• --out <file> Write report to a file

• Unused functions, classes, methods, variables, enums, types, interfaces, and certain default exports (heuristic)
• Unused exported symbols that are never referenced/imported elsewhere (simple tree-shake heuristic)
• Unused React components (PascalCase) not found in any JSX
• Unused Cypress custom commands declared via Cypress.Commands.add('name', ...) not referenced as cy.name(...)
• Unused Playwright fixtures declared through test.extend<{ name: ... }>() but never injected in test callbacks like `({ name })

⚠ Framework entry files (Next.js pages/** or app/**) are treated as entrypoints and never flagged.

Works like .gitignore. Example:

node_modules/
dist/
coverage/
**/*.spec.ts
**/*.test.ts
**/__tests__/**
# Ignore legacy folder
# src/legacy/**

Create it with:

analyzer --init-ignore

1. Start with --report. Review the output.
2. Commit your code before running --delete.
3. Consider running in CI with JSON report and failing on findings to control adoption.

name: unused-code
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
  analyze:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 20
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run build
      - run: node ./dist/cli.js --report --report-format json --out analyzer-report.json
      - run: |
          node -e "const r=require('fs').readFileSync('analyzer-report.json','utf8'); const j=JSON.parse(r); if(j.summary.totalUnused>0){console.error('Unused code found');process.exit(1)}"

unused_code:
  image: node:20
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npm run build
    - node ./dist/cli.js --report --report-format json --out analyzer-report.json
    - node -e "const r=require('fs').readFileSync('analyzer-report.json','utf8'); const j=JSON.parse(r); if(j.summary.totalUnused>0){console.error('Unused code found');process.exit(1)}"
  artifacts:
    paths: [analyzer-report.json]

Create a new file in src/lib/detectors/yourDetector.ts that implements a scan(globs): Promise<ScanResult>. Merge its results in src/lib/UniversalUnusedCodeAnalyzer.ts..

The package integrates with GitHub Checks API to annotate unused code inline in pull requests.

• Always start with --report before --delete.
• Review .analyzerignore carefully to avoid accidental removal.
• Commit before running --delete for easy rollback.

For convenience, add scripts to your package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "analyze": "universal-dead-code-analyzer-elimination src/ --report",
    "analyze:delete": "universal-dead-code-analyzer-elimination src/ --delete"
  }
}

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

MIT @ Mohamed Said Ibrahim

See CHANGELOG.md.

• Built with TypeScript and ts-morph.
• Default behavior is non-destructive.
• Deletion is best-effort and may not handle every edge case. Review diffs.