🎯 console-sniper

Remove console.* statements from JavaScript and TypeScript source code using AST parsing — no regex, no string hacks, no surprises.

Why console-sniper?

Most tools that remove console statements use regular expressions — which are brittle, break on multiline calls, and can corrupt your code.

console-sniper uses Babel's AST parser to:

• Understand your code's structure, not just its text
• Safely remove entire expression statements (including semicolons)
• Support JS, TS, JSX, TSX, ESM, and CJS
• Handle edge cases like console["log"](), decorators, optional chaining, etc.

Install

npm install console-sniper
# or
pnpm add console-sniper
# or
yarn add console-sniper

Usage

1. Vite Plugin

// vite.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "vite";
import consoleSniper from "console-sniper/vite";

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    consoleSniper({
      methods: ["log", "warn", "error", "info", "debug"],
      removeComments: true,
      productionOnly: true, // Only strip in production builds
    }),
  ],
});

2. CLI

# Strip console.* from all files in src/
console-sniper src/

# Only remove specific methods
console-sniper src/ --methods log,warn

# Preview changes without modifying files
console-sniper src/ --dry-run

# Exclude patterns
console-sniper src/ --exclude "**/*.test.ts"

# Show all files (including unchanged)
console-sniper src/ --verbose

3. Programmatic API

import { stripConsoleFromCode } from "console-sniper";

const sourceCode = `
  console.log("Hello!");
  const x = 1 + 2;
  console.warn("watch out");
`;

const { code, removedCount, removedMethods, changed } = stripConsoleFromCode(
  sourceCode,
  {
    methods: ["log", "warn"],
    removeComments: true,
  }
);

console.log(code);        // → "const x = 1 + 2;"
console.log(removedCount); // → 2
console.log(changed);      // → true

Options

StripConsoleOptions

| Option | Type | Default | Description | |------------------|------------|------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------| | methods | string[] | ["log","warn","error","info","debug"] | Which console methods to remove | | removeComments | boolean | true | Remove comments that reference console | | include | RegExp[] | [] | File path patterns to include (plugin/CLI) | | exclude | RegExp[] | [] | File path patterns to exclude (plugin/CLI) | | silent | boolean | false | Suppress all logging output |

Vite-specific options (VitePluginOptions)

| Option | Type | Default | Description | |-----------------|-----------|---------|-----------------------------------------------------| | productionOnly| boolean | true | Only strip during production builds (vite build) |

CLI Reference

Usage: console-sniper [targets...] [options]

Arguments:
  targets               Files or directories to process (default: "src")

Options:
  -v, --version         Print version
  -m, --methods <list>  Comma-separated methods to remove (default: log,warn,error,info,debug)
  --no-comments         Keep console-related comments
  -e, --exclude <glob>  Exclude patterns (repeatable)
  -d, --dry-run         Preview without modifying files
  -s, --silent          Suppress all output
  --verbose             Show details for unchanged files too
  --no-banner           Skip the ASCII banner
  -h, --help            Show help

How It Works

Source Code
     │
     ▼
 @babel/parser  →  AST
                    │
                    ▼
            @babel/traverse  (finds console.* ExpressionStatements)
                    │
                    ▼
            nodePath.remove()  (safely removes matched nodes)
                    │
                    ▼
            Comment filtering  (removes "console" comments from all nodes)
                    │
                    ▼
         @babel/generator  →  Transformed Source Code

Architecture

console-sniper/
├── src/
│   ├── core/              ← Pure AST engine (no Vite, no CLI, no FS)
│   │   ├── stripConsole.ts  ← The main strip function
│   │   ├── types.ts         ← All TypeScript types
│   │   ├── constants.ts     ← Default values
│   │   └── utils.ts         ← Pure helpers
│   │
│   ├── vite/              ← Vite plugin (thin wrapper over core)
│   │   └── vitePlugin.ts
│   │
│   ├── cli/               ← CLI tool (commander + file I/O)
│   │   ├── cli.ts
│   │   ├── fileScanner.ts
│   │   └── logger.ts
│   │
│   └── shared/            ← Shared UI (banner, etc.)
│       └── banner.ts

The core engine is intentionally isolated — it has no dependency on Vite, Node.js FS, or the CLI. This makes it easy to add:

• Rollup plugin
• Webpack plugin
• esbuild plugin
• Bun plugin

Supported Syntax

• ✅ JavaScript (.js, .mjs, .cjs)
• ✅ TypeScript (.ts, .mts, .cts)
• ✅ JSX (.jsx)
• ✅ TSX (.tsx)
• ✅ ESM (import/export)
• ✅ CommonJS (require/module.exports)
• ✅ Decorators (@Injectable())
• ✅ Optional chaining (?.)
• ✅ Nullish coalescing (??)
• ✅ Top-level await
• ✅ Bracket notation (console["log"]())

Contributing

1. Fork the repo
2. npm install
3. npm test — make sure tests pass
4. Make your changes
5. npm test again
6. Open a PR!

License

MIT © Bakioui Souhail