SearchDeadCode for VS Code

Workspace-wide dead code analysis for Kotlin and Java, in the Problems panel.

This extension is a thin bridge: the analysis is done by the searchdeadcode CLI, which walks the whole workspace and resolves references across files. Findings come back as SARIF and land on the exact lines they belong to, with quick fixes.

Install

Install from the Marketplace or Open VSX. The build for your platform ships the analyzer inside it, so there is nothing else to install.

VSIX

Every release attaches one package per platform, plus a platform-independent one. Download the one matching your machine and install it:

code --install-extension searchdeadcode-0.1.0.vsix

The platform packages are named searchdeadcode-<version>-<platform>.vsix, where platform is one of darwin-arm64, darwin-x64, linux-x64, linux-arm64 or win32-x64. The unsuffixed package carries no analyzer and falls back to PATH.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/KevinDoremy/SearchDeadCode.git
cd SearchDeadCode/editors/vscode
npm ci && npm run package
code --install-extension searchdeadcode-0.1.0.vsix

That produces the platform-independent package. To bundle a local analyzer into it, drop the binary in bin/ before packaging: cargo build --release at the repo root, then cp ../../target/release/searchdeadcode bin/.

Bringing your own binary

Set searchdeadcode.path to use a specific build. That always wins over the bundled one, which is what you want when working on the CLI itself.

If you installed the platform-independent build, or run on a platform without one (linux-armhf, alpine), the extension falls back to PATH, then /opt/homebrew/bin, /usr/local/bin, ~/.cargo/bin and ~/.local/bin. VS Code on macOS often starts without Homebrew on its PATH, hence the extra directories. Install the CLI with:

brew install KevinDoremy/tap/searchdeadcode
# or
cargo install searchdeadcode

Version 0.10.0 or newer is required.

Use it

Run SearchDeadCode: Scan for dead code (workspace) from the command palette. The scan is never automatic: it runs when you ask for it, and the CLI caches its parse results so later runs are quick. SearchDeadCode: Clear dead code findings empties the Problems panel.

Findings for a file disappear as soon as you edit it, because their line numbers stop being trustworthy at that point. Rescan when you are done editing.

Quick fixes

Delete unused declaration appears when the CLI reports a safe deletion range.
Add to searchdeadcode baseline appends the finding to .searchdeadcode-baseline.json, the file the CLI reads to stay quiet about known cases.
Ignore here with a reason inserts a // deadcode:ignore(reason) comment above the declaration. The reason is mandatory: the CLI refuses a bare directive, on purpose, so that every silenced finding says why.

Settings

Setting	Default	What it does
`searchdeadcode.enabled`	`true`	Turns the scan command off entirely
`searchdeadcode.path`	`""`	Absolute path to the binary
`searchdeadcode.minConfidence`	`medium`	`low`, `medium`, `high` or `confirmed`
`searchdeadcode.rules`	DC001-DC005, DC008, DC010-DC013, DC019	Rule IDs to report
`searchdeadcode.exclude`	`[]`	Globs passed to the CLI as `--exclude`
`searchdeadcode.extraArgs`	`[]`	Extra CLI arguments, for advanced use

Style and anti-pattern rules are off by default because they are lint, not dead code. Add their IDs to searchdeadcode.rules if you want them.

Companion extension

For instant, editor-local feedback while you type (unused imports, parameters and private declarations, with no binary and no analysis pass), see Kotlin Jump. The two are complementary: Kotlin Jump answers within a file in milliseconds, this one answers across the whole workspace.

SearchDeadCode

Elumine