dead-code-detector

dead-code-detector is a skill for Claude Code from terrylica/cc-skills. It costs 37 tokens per session (2,753 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A code-analysis skill that finds unused or unreachable code in Python, TypeScript, and Rust projects. It uses language-specific tools to identify unused imports, functions, files, exports, dependencies, and compiler warnings.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it before a release or refactor, while learning an existing codebase, or when investigating build and bundle size. It can check Python, TypeScript, and Rust code for different kinds of unused code.
Why use it?
It helps reduce code that adds maintenance work without being used. Finding this code can also clarify an unfamiliar project and expose possible sources of unnecessary build or bundle size.

Skill for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: allowed-tools in frontmatter. Also seen: mentions subagents; names the AskUserQuestion tool; mentions Claude Code.

Part of the quality-tools plugin — 11 skills shipped together , and of cc-skills

Good fit Use it before a release or refactor, while learning an existing codebase, or when investigating build and bundle size. It can check Python, TypeScript, and Rust code for different kinds of unused code.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/terrylica/cc-skills/dead-code-detector
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add terrylica/cc-skills --skill dead-code-detector
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/terrylica/cc-skills

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install quality-tools, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 11 skills.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for dead-code-detector

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/terrylica/cc-skills/dead-code-detector.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/terrylica/cc-skills/dead-code-detector)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/terrylica/cc-skills/dead-code-detector"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/terrylica/cc-skills/dead-code-detector.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 37 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,753 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe. Third-party audits
  • NVIDIA SkillSpector fail 7 Sept 2026
SkillSpector: 1 finding, up to high
  • high Rogue Agent · line 349
    Skill modifies its own code, configuration, or behavior at runtime. Self-modification enables an agent to escalate privileges, disable safety constraints, or install persistent backdoors.
    Fix: Prevent the skill from modifying its own code, SKILL.md, or configuration files. Treat skill files as read-only at runtime.
How audits are shown
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00037 $0.02753
Opus 5 $0.00018 $0.01376
Sonnet 5 $0.00007 $0.00551
Haiku 4.5 $0.00004 $0.00275

Measured 2d ago against content hash 37edd9a28e8e, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

dead-code-detector scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

plugins/quality-tools/skills/dead-code-detector/SKILL.md · 352 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 352 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Dead Code Detector

Find and remove unused code across Python, TypeScript, and Rust codebases.

Self-Evolving Skill: This skill improves through use. If instructions are wrong, parameters drifted, or a workaround was needed — fix this file immediately, don't defer. Only update for real, reproducible issues.

Tools by Language

Language Tool Detects
Python vulture v2.14+ Unused imports, functions, classes, variables
TypeScript knip v5.0+ Unused exports, dependencies, files
Rust cargo clippy + rustc lints Unused functions, imports, dead_code warnings

Why these tools?

  • vulture: AST-based, confidence scoring (60-100%), whitelist support
  • knip: Successor to ts-prune (maintenance mode), monorepo-aware, auto-fix
  • cargo clippy: Built-in to Rust toolchain, zero additional deps

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

  • Cleaning up a codebase before release
  • Refactoring to reduce maintenance burden
  • Investigating bundle size / compile time issues
  • Onboarding to understand what code is actually used

NOT for: Code duplication (use quality-tools:code-clone-assistant)


Quick Start Workflow

Python (vulture)

# Step 1: Install
uv pip install vulture

# Step 2: Scan with 80% confidence threshold
vulture src/ --min-confidence 80

# Step 3: Generate whitelist for false positives
vulture src/ --make-whitelist > vulture_whitelist.py

# Step 4: Re-scan with whitelist
vulture src/ vulture_whitelist.py --min-confidence 80

TypeScript (knip)

# Step 1: Install (project-local recommended)
bun add -d knip

# Step 2: Initialize config
bunx knip --init

# Step 3: Scan for dead code
bunx knip

# Step 4: Auto-fix (removes unused exports)
bunx knip --fix

Read the full file on GitHub · 352 lines

Files

What ships with it

4 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 352 lines · 37 tokens per session scan A 37edd9a28e8e

Subscribe to this mod's changes

dead-code-detector is a skill published in the GitHub repository terrylica/cc-skills (62 stars, last pushed yesterday), licensed MIT. It adds 37 tokens to every session and 2,753 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-09-05.

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