get_dead_code

get_dead_code returns a tiered plan for unused code with high, medium and low confidence findings, directory rollups and safe-to-delete estimates. No LLM.

Dead-code detection that's fast (under 10 seconds for any repo size, no LLM involvement) and conservative by design. Findings are classified into confidence tiers; safe_to_delete requires confidence ≥ 0.70 and excludes dynamically-loaded patterns (*Plugin, *Handler, *Adapter, *Middleware). Framework-aware: Flask, FastAPI, Django, Rails, Laravel, and TYPO3 routes and convention files don't get flagged as unused. How findings are scored is on Dead code; which kinds are shown by default is on Findings and triage. The other tools are on MCP tools.

When to call

Before refactor sprints: min_confidence=0.7 to prioritize safe deletions.
Library API audits: kind="unused_export" to find unused public symbols.
Monorepo cleanup: include_zombie_packages=True to find packages no other package depends on.
Aggressive cleanup: include_internals=True asks for unused private symbols. That kind is currently hidden by the finding-type registry, so the call returns none and reports the held-back count in summary.withheld_types. The CLI's repowise dead-code --include-internals still lists them.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`repo`	string	—	Repository alias. Pass "all" for a workspace-wide scan.
`kind`	string	—	Filter by finding kind: "unreachable_file", "unused_export", "unused_internal", "zombie_package".
`min_confidence`	number	0.4	Confidence threshold. 0.7 is a good default for actionable cleanups.
`safe_only`	boolean	false	Return only findings marked safe_to_delete.
`limit`	number	20	Max findings per tier. Clamped to 25 by the MCP transport budget.
`tier`	string	—	Focus on one tier: "high" (≥0.7), "medium" (0.4 to 0.7), "low" (<0.4).
`directory`	string	—	Filter to a path prefix (e.g. "src/").
`owner`	string	—	Filter by primary owner name.
`group_by`	string	—	"directory" for per-dir rollup, "owner" for ownership hotspots.
`include_internals`	boolean	false	Ask for unused private/internal symbols. The kind is hidden today, so they are counted in summary.withheld_types, not listed.
`include_zombie_packages`	boolean	true	Include monorepo packages with no importers.
`no_unreachable`	boolean	false	Skip file-level reachability findings.
`no_unused_exports`	boolean	false	Skip public-export findings.
`finding_id`	string	—	Expand one finding by the stable id a previous response emitted.

Returns

Field	Description
`summary`	`total_findings`, `filtered_findings`, `deletable_lines`, `safe_to_delete_count`, `by_kind`, and `withheld_types`: finding types held back on every surface, each with a count and reason
`tiers.{high,medium,low}`	Each: `description`, `count`, `lines`, `safe_count`, `findings`, `truncated`
`by_directory`	(if `group_by="directory"`) per-dir rollup sorted by lines
`by_owner`	(if `group_by="owner"`) ownership hotspots sorted by lines
`impact`	`total_lines_reclaimable`, `safe_lines_reclaimable`, `recommendation`
`limit_note`	Present if the requested `limit` was clamped to 25

Each finding contains kind, file_path, symbol_name, confidence, reason, safe_to_delete, lines, last_commit_at, primary_owner, age_days, and last_meaningful_change.

Example

get_dead_code(min_confidence=0.7)             # safe cleanups only
get_dead_code(kind="unused_export", group_by="owner")
get_dead_code(directory="src/legacy/", include_internals=True)
get_dead_code(repo="all")                     # workspace-wide

Things worth knowing

Confidence tiers:
- High (≥ 0.7): no references found. Strong cleanup candidates.
- Medium (0.4 to 0.7): likely unused, may have indirect references.
- Low (< 0.4): possibly used via dynamic dispatch / reflection.
Safe-to-delete heuristic: zero references and stable age (not modified in months). The threshold isn't just confidence. A whole unreachable file is never marked safe: it always needs a review.
Workspace-wide (repo="all"): repos are scanned concurrently; a repo that fails is named in repos_failed, and one whose index is behind in repos_stale.
Preview languages: dead code on Java, C#, C, C++, Kotlin and Swift is served with a preview label in _meta.preview that carries its latest hand-judged measurement.
Cross-repo adjustment (workspace mode): if a file has cross-repo consumers, confidence is reduced by 50%; if other repos depend on this repo's package, unused_export confidence drops to 30% with a verification note.
Zombie package detection: monorepo packages flagged when no other package depends on them.
Last meaningful change: derived from significant commits (feature/fix/refactor only, style/chore filtered out).
Withheld types: a finding kind the registry hides is left out of every tier and total, even when named with kind. When one had rows, summary.withheld_types gives its count, state and reason.
Limit clamping: requests over 25 are clamped due to the MCP transport budget. limit_note will suggest tier/directory/owner filters to paginate.

Repowise surfaces candidates. Engineers decide. Keep the team in the loop on big deletions. group_by="owner" makes it easy to route a cleanup PR to the right reviewer.