Production Mode

The default mode for Knip is comprehensive and targets all project code, including configuration files, test files, Storybook stories, and so on. Test files usually import production files. This prevents production files or their exports from being reported as unused, while sometimes both of them can be deleted. Knip features a “production mode” to focus only on the code that you ship.

Configuration

To tell Knip what is production code, add an exclamation mark behind each pattern! that represents production code:

{
  "entry": ["src/index.ts!", "build/script.js"],
  "project": ["src/**/*.ts!", "build/*.js"]
}

Depending on file structure and enabled plugins, it’s possible that you don’t need to modify your configuration at all.

Then run Knip with the --production flag:

knip --production

Here’s what’s included in production mode:

Only entry and project patterns suffixed with !
Only production entry file patterns exported by plugins (such as Next.js and Remix)
Only the start and postinstall scripts
Ignore exports with the @internal tag

Notes

The production run does not replace the default run. Depending on your needs you can run either of them or both separately. Usually both modes can share the same configuration.

To see the difference between default and production mode in great detail, use the --debug flag and inspect what entry and project files are used, and the plugins that are enabled. For instance, in production mode this shows that files such as tests and Storybook files (stories) are excluded from the analysis.

Strict Mode

Additionally, the --strict flag can be added to:

Consider dependencies (not devDependencies) when finding unused or unlisted dependencies
Include peerDependencies when finding unused or unlisted dependencies
Verify isolation: workspaces should use strictly their own dependencies
Type-only imports should be in devDependencies

knip --production --strict

Using --strict implies --production, so the latter can be omitted.

Types

Add --exclude types if you don’t want to include types in the report:

knip --production --exclude types