decomment.js

Remove every comment from modern JavaScript and TypeScript files with a single command. The CLI understands JSX, decorators, Flow, TypeScript, and the file extensions used across React, Next.js, and Node.js projects.

Highlights

• Works with .js, .cjs, .mjs, .jsx, .ts, .tsx, .cts, .mts (configurable via --extensions)
• Accepts individual files or entire directories (recursively)
• Safe by default: dry-run mode plus explicit --overwrite gating for in-place edits
• Write stripped sources somewhere else via --out <file|dir>
• JSON summaries for scripting plus a programmatic Node API
• Built on top of @babel/parser, so it keeps pace with the latest language features

Installation

npm install --global decomment.js
# or
npx -p decomment.js decommentjs --help

CLI Usage

Usage: decommentjs [options] <targets...>

Remove comments from modern JavaScript / TypeScript sources.

Arguments:
  targets                   File(s) or directories to process.

Options:
  -o, --out <path>          Write stripped files to this path (file or directory).
      --dry-run             Preview the files that would be written without modifying anything.
      --overwrite           Allow overwriting the input files or existing outputs.
  -e, --extensions <list>   Comma-separated list of file extensions to include.
      --json                Emit a machine-readable JSON summary.
      --silent              Suppress human-readable logs (useful when piping JSON).
  -h, --help                Display help for command

Supported extensions: .js, .cjs, .mjs, .jsx, .ts, .tsx, .cts, .mts

Common examples

# Preview what would change
decommentjs src --dry-run

# Overwrite files in place (requires explicit flag)
decommentjs src --overwrite

# Output to a sibling directory (creates it if needed)
decommentjs src --out dist/stripped

# Process a single file and write to another file
decommentjs component.jsx --out component.strip.jsx

# Emit JSON for scripting
decommentjs app --overwrite --json --silent > report.json

# Limit processed extensions
decommentjs src --extensions .js,.jsx --overwrite

Operational details

• Directories are traversed recursively; symbolic links are skipped to avoid accidental loops.
• Only files whose extension matches the allowlist are read or written.
• When --out is set:
  • Directories mirror the source tree structure.
  • Files are written even if no comments were removed so the output tree is complete.
• Without --out, the tool requires --overwrite to avoid accidental mutation.
• --json returns { summaries: [...], totals: { ... } }, mirroring the CLI stats.

Node.js API

const { stripCommentsFromCode, stripPath } = require('decomment.js');

stripCommentsFromCode(code, parserOptions?)

Removes every comment node from the provided string.

Returns:

{
  code: string;          // comment-free source
  commentCount: number;  // number of removed comments
  removedChars: number;  // total character count removed
  removedRanges: Array<{ start: number; end: number }>;
}

You can pass any @babel/parser option (for example a custom plugins array) via parserOptions.

stripPath(targetPath, options?)

Strips an individual file or an entire directory tree.

Options:

| Option | Type | Default | Description | | ------ | ---- | ------- | ----------- | | dryRun | boolean | false | Collect stats without writing files. | | overwrite | boolean | false | Required for in-place edits or when replacing existing outputs. | | outPath | string | undefined | Write results to this file or directory. Required if overwrite is false and you’re not in dry-run mode. | | extensions | string | string[] | Set | built-in list | Override the extension allowlist (provide .js-style entries). | | parserPlugins | string[] | internal presets | Override the parser plugin list. |

Result:

{
  target: string;
  outputBase: string | null;
  filesScanned: number;
  filesChanged: number;
  commentsRemoved: number;
  bytesRemoved: number;
  results: Array<{
    inputPath: string;
    outputPath: string;
    commentCount: number;
    removedChars: number;
    changed: boolean;
    wroteFile: boolean;
  }>;
}

Development

git clone <repo>
cd decomment.js
npm install
npm test

The test suite performs both unit-level (stripCommentsFromCode) and integration (stripPath) checks using temporary files.

License

MIT