CSS Dead Code Auditor#

CSS only grows. Every sprint adds new rules; almost none get removed. A feature gets deleted — the styles stay. A component gets renamed — the old class selectors stay. After a year, 30-40% of your stylesheet is dead weight: downloaded by every user, parsed by every browser, doing nothing.

Point this skill at your project and get a complete inventory of dead selectors, their exact file locations, estimated byte savings, and safe-deletion commands.

Works with any CSS methodology. No config. No build step. Zero external APIs.

---

Trigger Phrases#

• "unused CSS", "dead CSS selectors", "CSS dead code"
• "CSS bloat", "remove unused styles", "CSS cleanup"
• "what CSS can I delete", "CSS coverage", "unused classes"
• "Tailwind purge", "Bootstrap unused", "CSS audit"
• "stylesheet cleanup", "orphaned selectors"
• "/css-dead-code"

---

How to Provide Input#

bash

# Option 1: Audit the current directory
/css-dead-code

# Option 2: Specific CSS file or directory
/css-dead-code src/styles/
/css-dead-code assets/main.css

# Option 3: Specify content directory (where HTML/JSX lives)
/css-dead-code --content src/

# Option 4: Specific framework
/css-dead-code --framework tailwind
/css-dead-code --framework vanilla
/css-dead-code --framework bootstrap

# Option 5: Show only selectors that can be safely deleted (high confidence)
/css-dead-code --safe-only

# Option 6: Estimate size savings only (quick mode)
/css-dead-code --size-estimate

# Option 7: Check a single selector
/css-dead-code --check ".btn-legacy-primary"

---

Step 1: Detect CSS Framework and Project Structure#

bash

# Detect CSS framework from project files
FRAMEWORK="unknown"

if [ -f "tailwind.config.js" ] || [ -f "tailwind.config.ts" ] || [ -f "tailwind.config.cjs" ]; then
  FRAMEWORK="tailwind"
elif grep -r "bootstrap" package.json 2>/dev/null | grep -q "\"bootstrap\""; then
  FRAMEWORK="bootstrap"
elif find . -name "*.module.css" -not -path "*/node_modules/*" 2>/dev/null | head -1 | grep -q "."; then
  FRAMEWORK="css-modules"
elif find . -name "*.scss" -o -name "*.sass" -not -path "*/node_modules/*" 2>/dev/null | head -3 | grep -q "."; then
  FRAMEWORK="sass"
else
  FRAMEWORK="vanilla"
fi

echo "Detected framework: $FRAMEWORK"

# Find all CSS/SCSS/SASS/Less files
CSS_FILES=$(find . \( -name "*.css" -o -name "*.scss" -o -name "*.sass" -o -name "*.less" \) \
  -not -path "*/node_modules/*" \
  -not -path "*/dist/*" \
  -not -path "*/.next/*" \
  -not -path "*/build/*" \
  2>/dev/null)

CSS_COUNT=$(echo "$CSS_FILES" | wc -l | tr -d ' ')
echo "Found $CSS_COUNT CSS/SCSS files"

# Find all template/component files
CONTENT_FILES=$(find . \( -name "*.html" -o -name "*.jsx" -o -name "*.tsx" \
  -o -name "*.vue" -o -name "*.svelte" -o -name "*.hbs" \
  -o -name "*.erb" -o -name "*.blade.php" -o -name "*.pug" \) \
  -not -path "*/node_modules/*" \
  -not -path "*/dist/*" \
  2>/dev/null)

CONTENT_COUNT=$(echo "$CONTENT_FILES" | wc -l | tr -d ' ')
echo "Found $CONTENT_COUNT template/component files to cross-reference"

---

Step 2: Framework-Specific Analysis#

Tailwind CSS#

bash

# Check tailwind.config.js content paths
echo "=== Tailwind Config Check ==="
python3 -c "
import re, json

try:
    with open('tailwind.config.js') as f:
        content = f.read()
    # Extract content array
    content_match = re.search(r'content\s*:\s*\[(.*?)\]', content, re.DOTALL)
    if content_match:
        print('Content paths configured:')
        for line in content_match.group(1).split(','):
            line = line.strip().strip('\"\'')
            if line:
                print(f'  {line}')
    else:
        print('⚠️  No content array found in tailwind.config.js — all classes may be purged!')
except FileNotFoundError:
    print('tailwind.config.js not found')
"

# Find classes actually used in content files
echo ""
echo "=== Tailwind Classes In Use ==="
# Extract all class="" values from content files
grep -rh "class[Name]*=\"[^\"]*\"\|class[Name]*={[^}]*}" . \
  --include="*.jsx" --include="*.tsx" --include="*.html" --include="*.vue" \
  --exclude-dir="node_modules" --exclude-dir="dist" 2>/dev/null | \
  grep -oE '[a-z][a-z0-9:-]+' | sort -u | head -50

# Run Tailwind CLI to see what would be purged
if command -v npx &>/dev/null; then
  echo ""
  echo "Running Tailwind dry-run to check purged classes..."
  npx --yes tailwindcss -i ./input.css -o /tmp/tw-output.css --minify 2>/dev/null
  echo "Output size: $(du -h /tmp/tw-output.css 2>/dev/null | cut -f1)"
fi

Vanilla CSS / SCSS#

python

# Extract all selectors from CSS files and cross-reference with content
import re, os, sys
from pathlib import Path
from collections import defaultdict

def extract_selectors(css_content):
    """Extract all CSS selectors from a stylesheet."""
    # Remove comments
    css = re.sub(r'/\*.*?\*/', '', css_content, flags=re.DOTALL)
    # Remove @-rules (media queries, keyframes) content for now
    css = re.sub(r'@[^{]+\{[^}]+\}', '', css)
    # Extract selectors (before the { block)
    selectors = re.findall(r'([^{}@][^{}]*)\s*\{', css)
    result = []
    for sel_group in selectors:
        # Split on commas for multi-selector rules
        for sel in sel_group.split(','):
            sel = sel.strip()
            if sel and not sel.startswith('@'):
                result.append(sel)
    return result

def extract_class_refs(content):
    """Extract all class and ID references from template/component files."""
    classes = set()
    ids = set()
    # class="foo bar baz"
    for match in re.finditer(r'class(?:Name)?\s*=\s*["\']([^"\']+)["\']', content):
        classes.update(match.group(1).split())
    # className={`...`} dynamic classes
    for match in re.finditer(r'["\']([a-z][a-z0-9-_]+)["\']', content):
        classes.add(match.group(1))
    # id="foo"
    for match in re.finditer(r'\bid\s*=\s*["\']([^"\']+)["\']', content):
        ids.add(match.group(1))
    return classes, ids

# Collect all selectors from CSS files
all_selectors = defaultdict(list)  # selector -> [(file, line_num)]

css_dirs = ['.']
for css_dir in css_dirs:
    for fpath in Path(css_dir).rglob('*.css'):
        if 'node_modules' in str(fpath) or 'dist' in str(fpath):
            continue
        content = fpath.read_text(errors='ignore')
        for sel in extract_selectors(content):
            all_selectors[sel].append(str(fpath))

print(f"Total unique selectors found: {len(all_selectors)}")

# Collect all class/id references from content files
all_classes = set()
all_ids = set()
content_exts = ['.html', '.jsx', '.tsx', '.vue', '.svelte', '.erb', '.hbs']
for root, dirs, files in os.walk('.'):
    dirs[:] = [d for d in dirs if d not in {'node_modules', 'dist', '.next', 'build', '.git'}]
    for fname in files:
        if any(fname.endswith(ext) for ext in content_exts):
            fpath = Path(root) / fname
            content = fpath.read_text(errors='ignore')
            c, i = extract_class_refs(content)
            all_classes.update(c)
            all_ids.update(i)

print(f"Unique class references found in templates: {len(all_classes)}")

# Find unused selectors
unused = []
for selector, locations in all_selectors.items():
    # Extract the class name from the selector
    class_matches = re.findall(r'\.([a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*)', selector)
    id_matches = re.findall(r'#([a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*)', selector)

    is_used = False
    for cls in class_matches:
        if cls in all_classes:
            is_used = True
            break
    for id_name in id_matches:
        if id_name in all_ids:
            is_used = True
            break

    # Skip element-only selectors (body, h1, p, etc.) — too risky to flag
    if not class_matches and not id_matches:
        continue  # element selector, skip

    if not is_used:
        unused.append((selector, locations))

print(f"\nUnused selectors: {len(unused)}")
for sel, locs in sorted(unused, key=lambda x: len(x[1]), reverse=True)[:30]:
    print(f"  {sel:50} ({', '.join(set(locs))})")

CSS Modules#

bash

# For CSS Modules — check which .module.css files have no corresponding component
echo "=== Orphaned CSS Module Files ==="
find . -name "*.module.css" -not -path "*/node_modules/*" | while read cssfile; do
  # Get basename without extension
  base=$(basename "$cssfile" .module.css)
  # Check if a component with this name exists
  component=$(find . -name "${base}.tsx" -o -name "${base}.jsx" \
    -not -path "*/node_modules/*" 2>/dev/null | head -1)
  if [ -z "$component" ]; then
    echo "  ORPHANED: $cssfile (no ${base}.tsx or ${base}.jsx found)"
  fi
done

---

Step 3: Detect CSS Anti-Patterns#

bash

# Anti-pattern 1: !important overuse
echo "=== !important usage ==="
grep -rn "!important" . \
  --include="*.css" --include="*.scss" --include="*.sass" \
  --exclude-dir="node_modules" | wc -l | xargs echo "Count:"

# Anti-pattern 2: Duplicate selectors (same selector defined twice)
python3 -c "
import re
from collections import Counter
from pathlib import Path

selector_count = Counter()
for fpath in Path('.').rglob('*.css'):
    if 'node_modules' in str(fpath):
        continue
    content = fpath.read_text(errors='ignore')
    content = re.sub(r'/\*.*?\*/', '', content, flags=re.DOTALL)
    for match in re.finditer(r'([.#][a-zA-Z][^{]*?)\s*\{', content):
        sel = match.group(1).strip()
        selector_count[sel] += 1

duplicates = {sel: count for sel, count in selector_count.items() if count > 1}
if duplicates:
    print('Duplicate selectors:')
    for sel, count in sorted(duplicates.items(), key=lambda x: -x[1])[:15]:
        print(f'  {sel}: defined {count} times')
else:
    print('No duplicate selectors found')
"

# Anti-pattern 3: Overly broad selectors
grep -rn "^\* \{" . --include="*.css" --include="*.scss" --exclude-dir="node_modules" | head -5
grep -rn "^div \{" . --include="*.css" --include="*.scss" --exclude-dir="node_modules" | head -5

# Anti-pattern 4: Empty rules
grep -rn "{[[:space:]]*}" . --include="*.css" --include="*.scss" --exclude-dir="node_modules" | head -10

# Anti-pattern 5: Orphaned @keyframes (animations defined but never used)
echo "=== Orphaned @keyframes ==="
python3 -c "
import re
from pathlib import Path

# Find all defined keyframe names
keyframes = set()
for fpath in Path('.').rglob('*.css'):
    if 'node_modules' in str(fpath): continue
    for m in re.finditer(r'@keyframes\s+(\S+)', fpath.read_text(errors='ignore')):
        keyframes.add(m.group(1))

# Find all animation-name usages
used_animations = set()
for fpath in list(Path('.').rglob('*.css')) + list(Path('.').rglob('*.scss')):
    if 'node_modules' in str(fpath): continue
    for m in re.finditer(r'animation(?:-name)?\s*:\s*([^;]+)', fpath.read_text(errors='ignore')):
        used_animations.update(m.group(1).split())

orphaned = keyframes - used_animations
if orphaned:
    print('Orphaned @keyframes (defined, never used in animation property):')
    for name in sorted(orphaned):
        print(f'  @keyframes {name}')
else:
    print('No orphaned @keyframes')
"

---

Step 4: Estimate Size Savings#

bash

python3 -c "
import re, os
from pathlib import Path

# Get total CSS size
total_size = 0
css_files = list(Path('.').rglob('*.css'))
css_files = [f for f in css_files if 'node_modules' not in str(f) and 'dist' not in str(f)]

for fpath in css_files:
    total_size += fpath.stat().st_size

print(f'Total CSS size: {total_size / 1024:.1f} KB ({len(css_files)} files)')

# Rough estimate: unused selectors are typically 20-40% of legacy codebases
# For Tailwind: purging can reduce from 3.7MB to 5-20KB (99% reduction)
# For vanilla CSS: typically 15-30% reduction
print()
print('Estimated savings by project type:')
print(f'  Tailwind (unpurged → purged): up to {total_size * 0.98 / 1024:.0f} KB → {total_size * 0.02 / 1024:.0f} KB')
print(f'  Bootstrap (if tree-shaking): up to {total_size * 0.7 / 1024:.0f} KB savings')
print(f'  Vanilla CSS (typical): {total_size * 0.25 / 1024:.0f} KB savings estimate')
"

---

Step 5: Output Report#

markdown

## CSS Dead Code Report
Project: my-app | Framework: vanilla CSS + SCSS | Date: 2026-03-18
CSS files: 12 (48.3 KB total) | Template files scanned: 89

---

### Summary

| Category | Count | Est. Savings |
|----------|-------|-------------|
| 🔴 Unused class selectors (never referenced) | 34 | ~12 KB |
| 🔴 Orphaned CSS Module files (no component) | 2 | ~3 KB |
| 🟠 Duplicate selectors (defined 2+ times) | 8 | ~2 KB |
| 🟠 Orphaned @keyframes (never animated) | 3 | ~0.5 KB |
| 🟡 !important overuse (reduces cascading) | 14 | — |
| 🟡 Empty rules {} | 6 | ~0.3 KB |
| ✅ Used selectors | 156 | — |

**Estimated total savings: ~18 KB (37% reduction)**
After gzip: ~6 KB reduction in transfer size

---

### 🔴 Unused Selectors — Safe to Delete

High confidence (class never appears anywhere in templates):

```css
/* src/styles/legacy.scss — 18 unused selectors from old redesign */
.btn-legacy-primary    { ... }  /* never referenced */
.btn-legacy-secondary  { ... }  /* never referenced */
.card-old-style        { ... }  /* never referenced */
.modal-v1              { ... }  /* never referenced */
.modal-v1__header      { ... }  /* never referenced */
.modal-v1__body        { ... }  /* never referenced */

/* src/styles/marketing.css — leftover from old landing page */
.hero-gradient-bg      { ... }  /* never referenced */
.testimonial-bubble    { ... }  /* never referenced */
.pricing-card-v1       { ... }  /* never referenced */

Verify before deleting:

bash

# Confirm .btn-legacy-primary is truly absent from all templates
grep -rn "btn-legacy-primary" . \
  --include="*.jsx" --include="*.tsx" --include="*.html" --include="*.vue" \
  --exclude-dir="node_modules"
# Should return zero results before deleting

---

🔴 Orphaned CSS Module Files#

text

src/components/OldCheckout.module.css  ← no OldCheckout.tsx or OldCheckout.jsx
src/components/LegacyModal.module.css  ← no LegacyModal.tsx

These module files have no corresponding component — they're safe to delete entirely.

---

🟠 Duplicate Selectors#

SelectorFilesOccurrences.containerbase.css:12, layout.css:82x.btn-primarybuttons.css:3, components.css:442x.text-mutedtypography.css:22, utils.css:152x

When the same selector is defined twice, the second definition silently overwrites the first. Keep only the later one (or merge intentionally).

---

🟠 Orphaned @keyframes#

css

/* defined in animations.css but no animation property references it */
@keyframes oldSlideIn { ... }     /* search: animation: oldSlideIn → 0 results */
@keyframes deprecatedFadeUp { ... }   /* search: animation: deprecatedFadeUp → 0 results */
@keyframes v1Bounce { ... }       /* search: animation: v1Bounce → 0 results */

Verify and delete:

bash

grep -rn "oldSlideIn\|deprecatedFadeUp\|v1Bounce" . --include="*.css" --include="*.scss" --include="*.jsx" --include="*.tsx" --exclude-dir="node_modules"

---

🟡 !important Overuse (14 occurrences)#

text

src/styles/overrides.css:  7 uses — all in .admin-panel scope
src/styles/legacy.scss:    4 uses — 3 on z-index
src/components/Button.module.css: 3 uses — all overriding Bootstrap

Replace with higher-specificity selectors instead of !important. Example:

css

/* Before */
.btn { color: red !important; }

/* After — higher specificity, same result */
.my-app .btn { color: red; }

---

Cleanup Commands#

bash

# 1. Delete orphaned CSS Modules
rm src/components/OldCheckout.module.css
rm src/components/LegacyModal.module.css

# 2. Remove dead selectors from legacy.scss (verify first with grep above)
# Edit src/styles/legacy.scss — remove the 18 selectors listed above

# 3. Remove orphaned keyframes from animations.css
# Edit src/styles/animations.css — remove @keyframes oldSlideIn, deprecatedFadeUp, v1Bounce

# 4. After cleanup, verify no regressions
# Run your visual regression tests, or:
npx percy snapshot --dry-run  # if using Percy

---

Tailwind-Specific: Purge Configuration#

If using Tailwind and your CSS bundle is large (> 100 KB), the issue is likely an incomplete content config:

javascript

// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
  content: [
    './src/**/*.{js,jsx,ts,tsx}',  // ← must include ALL files that use Tailwind classes
    './pages/**/*.{js,jsx,ts,tsx}',
    './components/**/*.{js,jsx,ts,tsx}',
    './app/**/*.{js,jsx,ts,tsx}',
    // Add any template files here too
  ],
  // ...
}

With a correct content config, Tailwind purges from 3.7 MB (full library) down to 5-20 KB.

text

---

## Quick Mode

Fast one-line summary:

CSS Dead Code: my-app (vanilla CSS) 📦 48.3 KB total CSS | Est. savings: ~18 KB (37%) 🔴 34 unused selectors | 2 orphaned CSS modules 🟠 8 duplicates | 3 orphaned @keyframes 🟡 14 !important uses

Run /css-dead-code --detail for file locations and deletion commands

text

---

## Why CSS Grows Without Bound

The CSS growth pattern is predictable:

1. Developer adds `.feature-card-v2` for a redesign
2. `.feature-card-v1` is "deprecated" but never deleted ("maybe we'll revert")
3. Component is deleted from JSX — selector stays in CSS (no compiler warning)
4. 18 months later: 200 dead selectors, no one knows which are safe

Unlike JavaScript (where tree-shaking removes unused exports at build time), CSS has no equivalent dead-code elimination by default. This audit fills that gap.

---

## Author

**[Canlah AI](https://canlah.ai)** — Run performance marketing without breaking your brand.

- GitHub: [github.com/PHY041](https://github.com/PHY041)
- All Skills: [clawhub.ai/PHY041](https://clawhub.ai/PHY041)