CLI Arguments

General

`--help`

Shortcut: -h

Prints a summary of this page.

`--version`

Shortcut: -V

Print the version number.

`--no-progress`

Shortcut: -n

Don’t show dynamic progress updates. Progress is automatically disabled in CI environments.

`--no-config-hints`

Suppress configuration hints.

`knip-bun`

Run Knip using the Bun runtime (instead of Node.js + jiti).

knip-bun

This is equal to bunx --bun knip

Requires Bun to be installed. Also see known issues for the type of issues this might help with.

NO_COLOR

The default reporters use the NO_COLOR friendly picocolors:

NO_COLOR=1 knip

Troubleshooting

`--debug`

Shortcut: -d

Show debug output.

`--performance`

Use this flag to get the count and execution time of potentially expensive functions in a table. Example:

Name                           size  min       max       median    sum
-----------------------------  ----  --------  --------  --------  --------
findReferences                  648     84.98   7698.61     96.41  70941.70
createProgram                     2   6295.84   7064.68   6680.26  13360.52
glob                              6      0.05    995.78    513.82   3150.87
findESLintDependencies            2      0.01     74.41     37.21     74.41
findGithubActionsDependencies     6      0.16     12.71      0.65     23.45
findBabelDependencies             2      0.00     38.75     19.37     38.75
...

Total running time: 5s (mem: 631.27MB)

name: the internal Knip function name
size: number of function invocations
min: the fastest invocation
max: the slowest invocation
median: the median invocation
sum the accumulated time of all invocations

This is not yet available in Bun, since it does not support performance.timerify (GitHub issue).

`--trace`

Trace exports to see where they are imported.

Also see Trace.

`--trace-export [name]`

Trace export name to see where it’s imported. Implies —trace.

`--trace-file [path]`

Trace file to see where its exports are imported. Implies —trace.

Configuration

`--config [file]`

Use an alternative path for the configuration file. Default locations:

knip.json
knip.jsonc
.knip.json
.knip.jsonc
knip.js
knip.ts
package.json#knip

Shortcut: -c

`--tsConfig [file]`

Use an alternative path for the TypeScript configuration file.

Default location: tsconfig.json

`--workspace [dir]`

Lint a single workspace including its ancestor and dependent workspaces. The default behavior is to lint all configured workspaces.

Shortcut: -W

`--directory [dir]`

Default: cwd (current directory)

Run the process from a different directory.

`--no-gitignore`

Ignore .gitignore files.

`--include-entry-exports`

When a repository is self-contained or private, you may want to include entry files when reporting unused exports:

knip --include-entry-exports

Also see includeEntryExports.

`--include-libs`

Getting false positives for exports consumed by external libraries? Try the --include-libs flag:

knip --include-libs

Also see external libs.

`--isolate-workspaces`

By default, Knip optimizes performance using workspace sharing to existing TypeScript programs, based on the compatibility of their compilerOptions. This flag disables this behavior and creates one program per workspace, which is slower but memory is spread more evenly over time.

Modes

`--production`

Lint only production source files. This excludes:

entry files defined by plugins:
- test files
- configuration files
- Storybook stories
devDependencies from package.json

`--strict`

Isolate workspaces and consider only direct dependencies. Implies production mode.

`--fix`

`--cache`

Enable caching.

Consecutive runs are 10-40% faster as the results of file analysis (AST traversal) are cached. Conservative. Cache strategy based on file meta data (modification time + file size).

`--cache-location`

Provide alternative cache location.

Default location: ./node_modules/.cache/knip

`--watch`

Watch current directory, and update reported issues when a file is modified, added or deleted.

Watch mode focuses on imports and exports in source files. During watch mode, changes in package.json and/or node_modules are not supported.

Filters

Available issue types when filtering output using --include or --exclude:

files
dependencies
optionalPeerDependencies
unlisted
unresolved
exports
nsExports
classMembers
types
nsTypes
enumMembers
duplicates

`--exclude`

Exclude provided issue types from report. Can be comma-separated or repeated.

Example:

knip --exclude classMembers,enumMembers
knip --exclude classMembers --exclude enumMembers

`--include`

Report only provided issue types. Can be comma-separated or repeated.

Example:

knip --include files,dependencies
knip --include files --include dependencies

`--dependencies`

Shortcut to include all types of dependency issues:

--include dependencies,optionalPeerDependencies,unlisted,binaries,unresolved

`--exports`

Shortcut to include all types of export issues:

--include exports,nsExports,classMembers,types,nsTypes,enumMembers,duplicates

`--experimental-tags`

Deprecated. Use —tags instead.

`--tags`

Exports can be tagged with known or arbitrary JSDoc/TSDoc tags:

/**
 * Description of my exported value
 *
 * @type number
 * @internal
 * @custom Unimportant matters
 */
export const myExport = 1;

And then include (+) or exclude (-) these tagged exports from the report like so:

knip --tags=+custom
knip --tags=-custom,-internal

This way, you can either focus on or ignore specific tagged exports with tags you define yourself. This also works for individual class or enum members.

The default directive is + (include) and the @ prefix is ignored, so the notation below is valid and will report only exports tagged @custom or @internal:

knip --tags @custom --tags @internal

Reporters & Preprocessors

`--reporter [reporter]`

Available reporters:

symbols (default)
compact
codeowners
json
markdown

Can be repeated. Example:

knip --reporter compact

Also see Reporters & Preprocessors.

`--reporter-options [json]`

Pass extra options to the preprocessor (as JSON string, see —reporter-options example)

Example:

knip --reporter codeowners --reporter-options '{"path":".github/CODEOWNERS"}'

`--preprocessor [preprocessor]`

Preprocess the results before providing it to the reporters.

Can be repeated. Examples:

knip --preprocessor ./my-preprocessor.ts

knip --preprocessor preprocessor-package

`--preprocessor-options [json]`

Pass extra options to the preprocessor as JSON string.

knip --preprocessor ./preproc.ts --preprocessor-options '{"key":"value"}'

Also see Reporters & Preprocessors.

Exit code

The default exit codes:

Code	Description
`0`	Knip ran successfully, no lint issues
`1`	Knip ran successfully, but there is at least one lint issues
`2`	Knip did not run successfully due to bad input or internal error

`--no-exit-code`

Always exit with code zero (0), even when there are lint issues.

`--max-issues`

Maximum number of issues before non-zero exit code. Default: 0