Dead Code Finder

A VSCode extension that helps you find and remove unused code in your projects.

Features

• Dead Code Detection: Find unused functions, methods, classes, and imports
• Interactive UI: View unused code in a custom tree view
• Code Navigation: Quickly navigate to dead code locations
• Inline Diagnostics: See warnings directly in your editor
• Whitelist Support: Exclude intentional unused code from analysis
• Configurable: Adjust confidence thresholds and other settings

Currently supports:

• Python (via Vulture)

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code v1.99.0 or higher
• Python 3.6+ (for Python code analysis)
• Vulture (will be automatically installed if not present)

Installation

From VSIX File (Local Installation)

1. Build the extension locally (see Development section)
2. In VSCode, go to Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X)
3. Click on the '...' menu (top-right) and select 'Install from VSIX...'
4. Navigate to the generated .vsix file and select it

From Marketplace

1. Open VSCode
2. Go to Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X)
3. Search for "Dead Code Finder"
4. Click Install

... or navigate to the Marketplace and click install.

Usage

Analyzing Code

1. Open a Python project in VSCode
2. Run one of these commands:
   • Find Dead Code: Analyze Workspace - Analyze all Python files in the workspace
   • Find Dead Code: Analyze Current File - Analyze only the current file

Viewing Results

Results are displayed in two ways:

1. Dead Code Explorer - A tree view showing all detected dead code grouped by file
2. Inline Diagnostics - Warnings displayed directly in your editor

Working with Results

• Click on any item in the Dead Code Explorer to navigate to its location
• Right-click on items for additional options:
  • Open Dead Code Location - Jump to the code
  • Add Item to Whitelist - Add this item to your whitelist

Generating a Whitelist

For code that's intentionally unused (like backup functions or placeholder methods):

1. Right-click on a dead code item and select "Add Item to Whitelist"
2. Or use the "Generate Whitelist File" button in the Dead Code Explorer view
3. The extension will create a whitelist file compatible with Vulture

Extension Settings

This extension contributes the following settings:

• deadCodeFinder.minConfidence: Minimum confidence threshold (0-100) for reporting dead code
• deadCodeFinder.enableAutoAnalysis: Enable automatic analysis on file save
• deadCodeFinder.showDiagnostics: Show inline diagnostics for dead code in editor
• deadCodeFinder.excludePatterns: Glob patterns for files to exclude from analysis
• deadCodeFinder.whitelistFile: Path to whitelist file for intentional dead code
• deadCodeFinder.logLevel: Log level for the extension (debug, info, warn, error)
• deadCodeFinder.vulturePath: Custom path to the Vulture executable (e.g., ~/.local/bin/vulture)

Vulture Integration

This extension uses Vulture for Python dead code detection. It now supports multiple ways to detect and run Vulture:

1. Using the Python module via pip (traditional method)
2. Using the binary directly if it's available in your PATH
3. Using the uvx command if you have uv installed
4. Using a custom binary path that you specify in the settings

If Vulture is not found automatically, the extension will prompt you to either:

• Install it automatically via pip
• Install it manually
• Specify a custom path to your existing Vulture installation

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js and npm
• Visual Studio Code

Building and Running Locally

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/sebastienfi/dead-code-finder.git
   cd dead-code-finder
   

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   

3. Build the extension:

   npm run compile
   

4. Run the extension in development mode:

   • Press F5 in VSCode to launch a new window with the extension loaded
   • Or run npm run watch to automatically rebuild on changes

Testing with Sample Projects

The repository includes sample Python projects with intentional dead code for testing:

1. Open the sample project folder:

   cd samples/dead_code_example
   

2. In the VSCode instance with the extension running, open this folder

3. Run the "Find Dead Code: Analyze Workspace" command

4. Verify that the extension correctly identifies the unused code

Building VSIX Package

To create a VSIX file for installation:

npm run package:production

This creates a .vsix file in the root directory that can be installed in VSCode.

Running Tests

npm run test

Known Issues

• Currently only supports Python via Vulture integration
• Large projects may take longer to analyze
• Some custom Python patterns may generate false positives

Roadmap

• Support for additional languages (JavaScript/TypeScript)
• Performance optimizations for larger codebases
• Statistics and metrics for dead code
• Integration with other code quality tools
• Automatic refactoring suggestions

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.