archaeologist 0.5.0

Find and auto-delete dead code across 9 languages — with git intelligence and auto PR

☠ Dead Code Archaeologist

Find unused functions. Delete them safely. Open a PR. All in one command.

Dead Code Archaeologist scans your codebase for dead functions using a multi-signal confidence engine — combining static call graph analysis with git history — then automatically deletes them on an isolated branch, runs your test suite, and opens a GitHub PR.

Install

pip install deadcode-archaeologist

Quick start

# Scan and see what's dead (no changes)
deadcode ./my-project --explain

# Generate a full interactive HTML report
deadcode-report ./my-project

# Preview what would be deleted (safe — no changes)
deadcode-clean ./my-project --dry-run

# Full auto-clean: delete → test → branch → PR
deadcode-clean ./my-project --min-confidence 85

How it works

1. AST scan — tree-sitter parses every function definition and call across all supported languages
2. Git analysis — last commit date, author count, and commit frequency per file
3. Confidence scoring — 5 signals combine into a 0–100 score
4. Surgical deletion — functions removed by precise byte ranges, no broken syntax
5. Tests run — your test suite runs automatically before anything is committed
6. PR opened — a GitHub PR with full per-function documentation

Supported languages

Python, Dart/Flutter, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, Java, Rust, Kotlin, Ruby, Swift

Commands

Command	What it does
deadcode ./src --explain	Scan and print ranked table
deadcode ./src --json-output	Output results as JSON
deadcode-report ./src	Generate HTML dashboard
deadcode-clean ./src --dry-run	Preview deletions, no changes
deadcode-clean ./src --min-confidence 85	Full auto-clean + PR
deadcode-clean ./src --no-pr	Clean without opening PR
deadcode-clean ./src --lang dart	Only clean Dart files

Confidence score

Signal	Points
Zero callers in codebase	+45
Git age (2+ years untouched)	+20
Single author ever	+15
Callers are themselves dead	+10
Very few commits (≤2)	+10

Verdicts

• Safe to delete (80–100) — multiple signals agree, auto-deleted by deadcode-clean
• Review first (50–79) — likely dead, verify manually before deleting
• Needs runtime data (40–49) — may be called dynamically, add coverage tracing first

License

MIT