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 (Coming Soon)

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

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

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.