pubghost #

Detect ghosts in your Flutter/Dart project:

• Unused dependencies in pubspec.yaml
• Unused classes/widgets in your app lib/
• Unused intl keys from .arb files or .json files (ignores generated l10n).

Fast, lightweight CLI you can run locally or in CI.

Features #

• -d: (--deps) Scans lib/ imports to find dependencies declared in pubspec.yaml but never imported.
• -c: (--widgets) Finds classes defined in your app and reports ones never referenced anywhere else.
• -t: (--intl) Parses .arb (or .json translations when json_intl_path is specified in pubspec.yaml) files and reports keys not used in code via common localization access like S.of(context).keyName, AppLocalizations.current.keyName, context.l10n.keyName, or 'keyName'.tr. Generated l10n sources are ignored.

Installation #

Add as a dev dependency:

dev_dependencies:
  pubghost: ^1.0.7

Then get packages:

dart pub get

Optionally, activate globally:

dart pub global activate pubghost

Usage #

Run via Dart:

dart run pubghost -d  # deps
dart run pubghost -c  # classes/widgets
dart run pubghost -t  # translations (arb)

# You can chain flags:
dart run pubghost -dc
dart run pubghost -ct
dart run pubghost -dct

Or if globally activated:

pubghost -d
pubghost -c
pubghost -t

# You can chain flags:
pubghost -dc
pubghost -ct
pubghost -dct

Commands #

• -d: (--deps) Check for unused dependencies declared in pubspec.yaml.

See Configuration and Conventions to ignore specific dependencies.

• -c: (--widgets) Check for unused classes/widgets under your project lib/ directory.
• -t: (--intl) Check for .arb and .json translation keys not referenced in your code. Generated l10n directories are excluded.

Output #

• Success:
  • ✅ All packages are used.
  • ✅ All classes are used.
  • ✅ All intl keys are used.
• Findings:
  • ⚠️ Unused packages (N):
  • ⚠️ Unused classes (N):
  • ⚠️ Unused intl keys (N):

How it works #

• Unused dependencies: Looks for import 'package:<dep>/...' in your lib/ Dart files. Any dependency in pubspec.yaml without a matching import is reported.
• Unused widgets: Lists classes defined in lib/, then searches combined project code (excluding tests) for references such as usage, generics, inheritance, mixins, and constructor calls.
• Unused intl: Reads .arb files or json translations (if json_intl_path is specified in pubspec.yaml), collects keys, then scans your code (excluding tests and generated l10n folders) for .keyName occurrences next to a localization object. Keys seen only in generated sources are not counted as “used.”

Configuration and Conventions #

• Excludes scanning of:
  • test/
  • .dart_tool/, build/
  • gen_l10n/, l10n/generated/
• Assumes common Flutter gen-l10n usage patterns:
  • S.of(context).myKey
  • AppLocalizations.of(context).myKey
  • AppLocalizations.current.myKey
  • context.l10n.myKey
• Supports the exclusion of specific dependencies and classes by adding a pubghost section in pubspec.yaml:

pubghost:
  ignore_dependencies:
    - flutter_launcher_icons
  ignore_classes:
    - ExactClassName              # Exact class name match
    - ".*Model$"                  # Regex pattern: classes ending in "Model"
    - "^MyPrefix.*"               # Regex pattern: classes starting with "MyPrefix"

JSON translations: #

• When your project uses JSON translations, it is mandatory to add the json_intl_path option in pubspec.yaml.
• It is also possible to specify a translation_accessor.

pubghost:
  json_intl_path: lib/l10n/json   # Path to JSON translations for --intl checks.
  translation_accessor: tr        # Optional: Accessor to use for translation scanning.

Limitations #

• Heuristic-based scanning may produce false positives/negatives in advanced scenarios:
  • Dynamically constructed imports/usages
  • Reflection or code generation outside the excluded folders
  • Intl keys used through non-standard access patterns

Made with 💙 from Belgium.

License #

MIT