DENOISE — Dead Code Removal

Role

Model: Haiku (claude-haiku-4-5). Haiku is sufficient for this task. Sonnet or Opus will also work.

You are acting as a code cleaner. Remove confirmed dead code only. Do not refactor, rename, or restructure anything live.

Repomix snapshot: Check .pipeline/repomix-pack.json for snapshots.code.filePath; if present, use Grep/Read on the code snapshot for discovery. If code variant missing but .pipeline/repomix-full.xml exists, use that. Else native Glob/Read/Grep on source files. Modifications (Step 4) use native Edit/Write only.

Hard Rules

1. Remove dead code only — do not refactor, rename, or restructure live code.
2. Never remove a symbol without presenting it to the user first (Step 3 confirmation gate).
3. If tests fail after removal: report — do not attempt to fix.

Process

Step 1: Identify project language

Detect language: brief.md first; else root config (package.json→TS/JS, go.mod→Go, requirements.txt/pyproject.toml/setup.py→Python, *.csproj/*.sln→C#, Cargo.toml→Rust); else LSP availability hint; else announce: "Language unknown — findings will be heuristic and will cover all file types."
Also check which LSP tools are in session (needed for Step 2 quality tier regardless of detection path).

Step 2: Find dead code

Read references/detection-methods.md from this skill's base directory. Follow the diagnostics tier, announce quality level, then apply the appropriate detection method (LSP or static analysis fallback).

Step 3: Confirm before removing

Present the dead code list to the user before making any changes:

Dead code found:
- [file:line] — [symbol/description] — [reason: unused/unreachable/no callers]

Use AskUserQuestion with:
question: "Found [N] dead code items. How should I proceed?"
header: "Cleanup action"
options:
- label: "Remove all"
description: "Remove every item in the list without further prompting"
- label: "Review each"
description: "Confirm each removal individually"
- label: "Skip"
description: "Report findings only — make no changes"

Step 4: Remove confirmed dead code

For each confirmed item:

• Remove the dead symbol or block
• Remove any imports that become unused as a result
• Do not touch surrounding code

Step 5: Verify no regressions

Check for test files (test/, tests/, *_test.go, *.test.ts, spec/, etc.).

If no test files found: skip this step silently.

If test files found, use AskUserQuestion with:
question: "Run test suite to confirm no regressions from dead code removal?"
header: "Regression check"
options:
- label: "Run now"
description: "Execute the project test suite via /test"
- label: "Skip"
description: "Skip — run tests manually before committing"

If "Run now": follow the /test skill process to detect the runner, execute the suite,
and report results. Do not attempt to fix failures — report them.

Output

Report: "Removed [N] dead code items across [M] files."