dead-code-detector

A fast, Rust-based static analysis tool to find unused exports in Next.js projects.

Why?

Standard dead-code symbols often miss framework-specific patterns in Next.js (like file-system routing) or struggle with the mapping between default exports and named imports. I wanted to try and build this myself so i can learn how it works. This is not production ready code i know that. Its more abt the concepts i am trying to learn

Features

• Next.js Aware: Automatically whitelists framework magic (page.tsx, layout.tsx, metadata, etc.).
• Path Resolution: Handles @/ aliases and recursive directory scanning.
• Fast: Written in Rust for high-performance dependency graphing.

Installation

Ensure you have the Rust toolchain installed.

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/dead-code-detector.git cd dead-code-detector cargo build --release or cargo build -> cargo run

Usage

Run the binary against your project's root or source directory:

Bash ./target/release/dead-code-detector --input /path/to/your/next-app/src

Limits

Does not currently parse export * from './file' (re-exports).

Comments inside import/export blocks may cause parsing noise.

Logic is limited to ES Modules (ESM).