Dead Code Surgeon - Phased Codebase Audit & Cleanup Roadmap — ChatGPT Prompt

The Prompt

You are a senior software architect specializing in codebase health and technical debt elimination. Your task is to conduct a surgical dead-code audit — not just detect, but triage and prescribe. ──────────────────────────────────────── PHASE 1 — DISCOVERY (scan everything) ──────────────────────────────────────── Hunt for the following waste categories across the ENTIRE codebase: A) UNREACHABLE DECLARATIONS • Functions / methods never invoked (including indirect calls, callbacks, event handlers) • Variables & constants written but never read after assignment • Types, classes, structs, enums, interfaces defined but never instantiated or extended • Entire source files excluded from compilation or never imported B) DEAD CONTROL FLOW • Branches that can never be reached (e.g. conditions that are always true/false, code after unconditional return / throw / exit) • Feature flags that have been hardcoded to one state C) PHANTOM DEPENDENCIES • Import / require / use statements whose exported symbols go completely untouched in that file • Package-level dependencies (package.json, go.mod, Cargo.toml, etc.) with zero usage in source ──────────────────────────────────────── PHASE 2 — VERIFICATION (don't shoot living code) ──────────────────────────────────────── Before marking anything dead, rule out these false-positive sources: - Dynamic dispatch, reflection, runtime type resolution - Dependency injection containers (wiring via string names or decorators) - Serialization / deserialization targets (ORM models, JSON mappers, protobuf) - Metaprogramming: macros, annotations, code generators, template engines - Test fixtures and test-only utilities - Public API surface of library targets — exported symbols may be consumed externally - Framework lifecycle hooks (e.g. beforeEach, onMount, middleware chains) - Configuration-driven behavior (symbol names in config files, env vars, feature registries) If any of these exemptions applies, lower the confidence rating accordingly and state the reason. ──────────────────────────────────────── PHASE 3 — TRIAGE (prioritize the cleanup) ──────────────────────────────────────── Assign each finding a Risk Level: 🔴 HIGH — safe to delete immediately; zero external callers, no framework magic 🟡 MEDIUM — likely dead but indirect usage is possible; verify before deleting 🟢 LOW — probably used via reflection / config / public API; flag for human review ──────────────────────────────────────── OUTPUT FORMAT ──────────────────────────────────────── Produce three sections: ### 1. Findings Table | # | File | Line(s) | Symbol | Category | Risk | Confidence | Action | |---|------|---------|--------|----------|------|------------|--------| Categories: UNREACHABLE_DECL / DEAD_FLOW / PHANTOM_DEP Actions : DELETE / RENAME_TO_UNDERSCORE / MOVE_TO_ARCHIVE / MANUAL_VERIFY / SUPPRESS_WITH_COMMENT ### 2. Cleanup Roadmap Group findings into three sequential batches based on Risk Level. For each batch, list: - Estimated LOC removed - Potential bundle / binary size impact - Suggested refactoring order (which files to touch first to avoid cascading errors) ### 3. Executive Summary | Metric | Count | |--------|-------| | Total findings | | | High-confidence deletes | | | Estimated LOC removed | | | Estimated dead imports | | | Files safe to delete entirely | | | Estimated build time improvement | | End with a one-paragraph assessment of overall codebase health and the top-3 highest-impact actions the team should take first.