laravel-deadcode-detector 🧹🔎

Detect and report dead / unused code in your Laravel applications — controllers, models, views, routes, middleware, migrations, and more.

Requirements 🧰

Installation 🚀

composer require arafa/laravel-deadcode-detector

The service provider is auto-discovered. No manual registration needed.

Publish the config file

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=deadcode-config

Usage 🔍

# Detailed table output (default)
php artisan dead:scan --details

# Show one line per finding (less scrolling)
php artisan dead:scan --compact

# Save the full report to a text file (recommended for big projects)
php artisan dead:scan --output=storage/app/deadcode-full.txt

# With --output, skip tables in the terminal (only counts + file path)
php artisan dead:scan --output=storage/app/deadcode-full.txt --only-summary

# JSON output (pipe-friendly). Use this when you want JSON only.
php artisan dead:scan --format=json > report.json

# Interactive mode – confirm before marking files
php artisan dead:scan --interactive

Configuration

After publishing, edit config/deadcode.php:

return [
    // Toggle built-in analyzers on/off, or replace with a custom FQCN
    'analyzers' => [
        'controllers' => true,
        'models'      => true,
        'views'       => true,
        'routes'      => true,
        'middlewares' => true,
        'migrations'  => true,
    ],

    // Register your own analyzers
    'custom_analyzers' => [
        \App\DeadCode\UnusedJobsAnalyzer::class,
    ],

    // Directories to scan (defaults to app/ and resources/views)
    'scan_paths' => [
        app_path(),
        resource_path('views'),
    ],

    // Glob patterns to exclude
    'exclude_paths' => [
        'tests',
    ],
];

Registering a Custom Analyzer

Implement AnalyzerInterface:

use Arafa\DeadcodeDetector\Analyzers\Contracts\AnalyzerInterface;
use Arafa\DeadcodeDetector\DTOs\DeadCodeResult;

class UnusedJobsAnalyzer implements AnalyzerInterface
{
    public function getName(): string        { return 'unused-jobs'; }
    public function getDescription(): string { return 'Finds job classes never dispatched.'; }

    public function analyze(): array
    {
        // ... your logic ...
        return [
            DeadCodeResult::fromArray([
                'analyzerName' => $this->getName(),
                'type'         => 'job',
                'filePath'     => '/path/to/SendWelcomeEmail.php',
                'className'    => 'App\Jobs\SendWelcomeEmail',
            ]),
        ];
    }
}

Then add it to config/deadcode.php:

'custom_analyzers' => [
    \App\DeadCode\UnusedJobsAnalyzer::class,
],

Architecture

src/
├── Analyzers/Contracts/AnalyzerInterface.php   – contract every analyzer must satisfy
├── Reporters/Contracts/ReporterInterface.php   – contract for output formatters
├── Commands/DeadScanCommand.php                – artisan dead:scan entry point
├── Support/PhpFileScanner.php                  – recursive PHP file discovery
├── DTOs/DeadCodeResult.php                     – immutable value object for findings
└── DeadCodeServiceProvider.php                 – service provider / bootstrapper
config/
└── deadcode.php                                – user-facing configuration

Design principles

• No facades inside the package core — dependencies are injected via the container.
• Analyzer failures are isolated — one broken analyzer never stops the rest.
• Lazy file iteration — PhpFileScanner yields SplFileInfo objects without loading file contents into memory.
• SOLID — each class has a single responsibility; analyzers and reporters are interchangeable via interfaces.

License 📄

MIT