auto-req-cleaner

Automatically detect and remove unused require/import statements in Node.js and TypeScript projects. This tool helps keep your codebase clean by identifying and removing unused imports, supporting both CommonJS (require) and ES6 import syntax.

Features

• Detects unused imports in JavaScript and TypeScript files
• Supports both require and import statements
• Handles destructured imports (e.g., const { foo } = require('bar'))
• Supports default exports (e.g., const foo = require('bar').default)
• Safe mode with dry-run option
• Fast and efficient analysis
• Flexible file pattern matching
• Full TypeScript decorator support
• Handles both JavaScript (.js) and TypeScript (.ts) files

Installation

You can install the package globally:

npm install -g auto-req-cleaner

Or locally in your project:

npm install --save-dev auto-req-cleaner

Usage

Command Line Interface

If installed globally:

auto-req-cleaner

If installed locally:

npx auto-req-cleaner

Options

• -p, --pattern <pattern>: File pattern to analyze (default: "**/*.{js,ts}")
• -i, --ignore <patterns>: Patterns to ignore (default: "node_modules/,dist/")
• --dry-run: Show what would be removed without making changes
• -v, --version: Show version number

Examples

1. Analyze all JavaScript and TypeScript files in your project:

auto-req-cleaner

2. Analyze specific files or directories:

auto-req-cleaner --pattern "src/**/*.{js,ts}"

3. Ignore multiple directories:

auto-req-cleaner --ignore "node_modules/**,dist/**,build/**"

4. Preview changes without removing anything:

auto-req-cleaner --dry-run

Supported Import Types

The tool can handle various import patterns in both JavaScript and TypeScript:

// Regular require
const foo = require('foo');

// Destructured require
const { foo, bar } = require('foo');

// Default export require
const foo = require('foo').default;

// ES6 imports
import foo from 'foo';
import { foo, bar } from 'foo';

// TypeScript decorators
@decorator
class MyClass {
  @propertyDecorator
  myProperty: string;

  @methodDecorator
  myMethod() {}
}

TypeScript Support

The tool fully supports TypeScript files including:

• Modern decorator syntax
• Class decorators
• Method decorators
• Property decorators
• Parameter decorators
• All TypeScript-specific import/export syntax

Output

The tool will show:

• Files being analyzed
• Unused imports found in each file
• Summary of cleaning actions
• Success message when no unused imports are found

Example output:

File: src/example.ts
Unused imports:
  - require: unused-package
  - import: another-unused-package

🧹 Cleaned up 2 unused imports

Safe Mode

Using the --dry-run option will show you what would be removed without actually making any changes:

auto-req-cleaner --dry-run

Known Limitations

• Only analyzes static imports (dynamic imports like require(variable) are not supported)
• Does not analyze imports inside comments or strings
• Requires files to be valid JavaScript/TypeScript syntax
• When using TypeScript decorators, ensure your tsconfig.json has the appropriate decorator settings:

  {
    "compilerOptions": {
      "experimentalDecorators": true,
      "emitDecoratorMetadata": true
    }
  }

Troubleshooting

If you encounter any issues with TypeScript decorators:

1. Make sure your tsconfig.json has the correct decorator settings (shown above)
2. Update to the latest version of auto-req-cleaner
3. If issues persist, try running with the --dry-run option first to verify the analysis

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

MIT

Support

If you encounter any issues or have questions, please file an issue on the GitHub repository.