Refactor & Dead Code Cleaner

Identify and remove dead code, duplicates, and unused exports to keep the codebase lean and maintainable. Safety-first approach with comprehensive documentation.

Related Skills:

• kavak-documentation – Query for Kavak-specific patterns that might look like dead code but are used dynamically
• Use kavak-platform/plati_query MCP tool to verify before removing Kavak SDK/platform code

Quick Start

Detect project type and run appropriate analysis:

Node/TypeScript:

npx knip                    # unused exports/files/deps
npx depcheck                # unused dependencies
npx ts-prune                # unused exports

Go:

go mod tidy                 # remove unused deps
deadcode ./...              # find unreachable code (golang.org/x/tools)
staticcheck ./...           # includes unused code detection

Python:

vulture .                   # find dead code
pip-autoremove              # unused dependencies

Java:

./mvnw dependency:analyze   # unused dependencies
# Use IDE or SpotBugs for dead code detection

Workflow

1. Analysis Phase

Run detection tools and categorize findings:

2. Risk Assessment

For each item to remove:

• Grep for all references (including string patterns)
• Check for dynamic imports
• Verify not part of public API
• Review git history for context

3. Safe Removal Process

a) Start with SAFE items only
b) Remove one category at a time:
   1. Unused npm dependencies
   2. Unused internal exports
   3. Unused files
   4. Duplicate code
c) Run tests after each batch
d) Commit each batch separately

4. Document Deletions

Update docs/DELETION_LOG.md after each session:

## [YYYY-MM-DD] Refactor Session

### Removed
- package-name - Reason
- src/unused-file.ts - Replaced by X

### Impact
- Files: -15, Deps: -5, Lines: -2,300

Safety Rules

Before removing ANYTHING:

• Run detection tools
• Grep for all references
• Check dynamic imports
• Run all tests
• Create backup branch

After each removal:

• Build succeeds
• Tests pass
• Commit changes
• Update DELETION_LOG.md

When NOT to Use

• During active feature development
• Right before production deployment
• Without proper test coverage
• On code you don’t understand

Error Recovery

# Immediate rollback if something breaks
git revert HEAD

# Reinstall deps and verify (by language)
# Node: npm install && npm run build && npm test
# Go:   go mod download && go build ./... && go test ./...
# Python: pip install -r requirements.txt && pytest
# Java: ./mvnw clean install

Then investigate: Was it a dynamic import/reflection? Update “DO NOT REMOVE” list.

References