ai-dead-code

Find unused exports, functions, and variables in your JavaScript/TypeScript codebase.

Install

npx ai-dead-code

What it does

• Finds exports that are never imported elsewhere
• Detects functions that are defined but never called
• Identifies potentially dead code for cleanup
• Works with JS, TS, JSX, and TSX files

Usage

# Scan current directory
npx ai-dead-code

# Scan specific directory
npx ai-dead-code -d ./src

# Only check exports (higher confidence)
npx ai-dead-code --exports-only

# Custom extensions
npx ai-dead-code -e js,mjs,cjs

# Ignore specific patterns
npx ai-dead-code --ignore "**/generated/**,**/vendor/**"

# Output JSON report
npx ai-dead-code -o dead-code.json

Example Output

🔍 Dead Code Finder

✔ Scanned 127 files

📊 Results

Total exports found: 234
Total functions found: 512

🚨 Potentially Unused Exports: 8

  src/utils/deprecated.ts
    → export formatLegacyDate
    → export parseLegacyFormat
  
  src/api/oldClient.ts
    → export default OldApiClient
  
  src/helpers/unused.ts
    → export helperThatNobodyUses

⚠️  Potentially Unused Functions: 14

  src/utils/helpers.ts
    → function internalHelper
    → const unusedCalculation
  
  src/components/Form.tsx
    → function validateLegacy

📋 Summary

  Dead code found: 22 items
  Unused exports: 8
  Unused functions: 14

⚠️  Note: Some "unused" code may be used dynamically or in entry points.
   Review before deleting. Run with --exports-only for higher confidence.

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-d, --dir <path>	Directory to scan	.
-e, --extensions <ext>	File extensions	js,ts,jsx,tsx
--ignore <patterns>	Patterns to ignore	-
--exports-only	Only check exports	false
-o, --output <file>	Save JSON report	-

What it skips

• node_modules/
• dist/ and build/
• Test files (*.test.*, *.spec.*, __tests__/)
• Type definitions (*.d.ts)
• Index files (often re-export)

Confidence Levels

Finding	Confidence
Unused named export	High
Unused default export	High
Unused local function	Medium
Unused arrow function	Medium

Tips

1. Start with --exports-only for high-confidence cleanup
2. Review before deleting - some code may be used dynamically
3. Check entry points - main.ts, app.tsx are intentionally exported
4. Run regularly - prevents dead code accumulation

License

MIT

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