DevNodeClean — Automated Dependency & Cache Cleanup

DevNodeClean — Automated Dependency & Cache CleanupKeeping Node.js projects fast, reproducible, and easy to maintain requires regular housekeeping: pruning unused packages, clearing stale caches, removing temporary build artifacts, and ensuring lockfiles match installed dependencies. DevNodeClean is a tool designed to automate that housekeeping so developers can focus on building features instead of fighting disk bloat, flaky installs, and long CI runs.

Why cleanup matters for Node projects

Node projects often accumulate cruft over time:

• Node package managers (npm, Yarn, pnpm) create caches and store many versions of packages.
• Build systems produce temporary artifacts (dist/, build/, .turbo/, .next/, etc.) that can balloon.
• Developers install and remove packages; lockfiles and node_modules can drift.
• CI artifacts and local caches can mask dependency mismatches and produce nondeterministic builds.

Consequences of neglect:

• Larger repo sizes and slower clones.
• Longer CI and local install times.
• Disk space exhaustion on developer machines and CI runners.
• Hard-to-debug dependency issues when lockfiles don’t reflect reality.
• Security exposure from forgotten, vulnerable packages.

DevNodeClean addresses these problems by providing reproducible, configurable cleanup routines targeted at Node ecosystems.

Core features

• Automated dependency pruning

  • Scans package.json and source code to detect unused dependencies.
  • Supports direct, dev, optional, and peer dependency classification.
  • Suggests safe removals and can apply changes automatically with a dry-run first.

• Cache management

  • Cleans npm, Yarn, and pnpm caches selectively or comprehensively.
  • Detects cache corruption and can refresh caches to resolve install failures.

• Artifact removal

  • Removes common build folders (dist, build, out, .next, .parcel-cache, etc.) with configurable rules.
  • Optionally preserves specific artifacts using include/exclude patterns.

• Lockfile and node_modules reconciliation

  • Detects mismatches between package-lock.json / yarn.lock / pnpm-lock.yaml and node_modules.
  • Offers regeneration workflows: reinstall, dedupe, or re-lock as needed.
  • Integrates with package managers’ CLI to run safe reinstalls.

• CI & pre-commit hooks

  • Run lightweight checks in CI to fail fast on stale dependencies or oversized node_modules.
  • Provide pre-commit hooks to run targeted cleanup (e.g., remove stray build outputs).

• Reporting & audit

  • Generates human-readable and machine-readable reports (JSON) of actions taken.
  • Visualizes disk savings, removed packages, and cache sizes before/after.
  • Security audit integration to flag vulnerable packages discovered during scans.

• Dry-run & safe mode

  • Always supports a dry-run that lists changes without modifying files.
  • Safe-mode enforces additional checks before destructive operations.

Typical workflows

1. Local maintenance

   • Run DevNodeClean in dry-run to preview removals.
   • Apply cleanup to free disk space and update lockfiles.
   • Commit updated lockfile and package.json changes.

2. On CI

   • Use DevNodeClean’s lightweight check to ensure no unexpected large artifacts or mismatched dependencies are introduced by PRs.
   • Fail fast if node_modules exceeds a configured threshold or if unknown files are checked into the repo.

3. Pre-release

   • Run full cleanup including cache purge and lockfile regeneration to ensure reproducible production builds.

How DevNodeClean detects unused dependencies

• Static analysis

  • Parses JS/TS/JSX/TSX files and checks import/require usage against package.json.
  • Handles dynamic imports conservatively (i.e., assumes usage when detection is ambiguous) to avoid false removals.

• Heuristics and config

  • Uses patterns for common runtime global usages (e.g., test frameworks referenced only in scripts).
  • Allows explicit include/exclude lists in config for packages that cannot be statically detected (peer deps, packages used by tooling).

• Script and binary detection

  • Analyzes npm scripts and package binaries referenced in repo to mark dependencies as used.

Configuration example

DevNodeClean can be configured via devnodeclean.config.json (or YAML). Example:

{   "prune": {     "autoApply": false,     "exclude": ["knex", "pg"],     "includeDevDependencies": true   },   "caches": {     "npm": true,     "yarn": false,     "pnpm": true,     "maxSizeMB": 1024   },   "artifacts": {     "paths": ["dist", "build", ".next", ".parcel-cache"],     "preserve": ["dist/important"]   },   "ci": {     "maxNodeModulesMB": 500,     "failOnMismatch": true   } } 

Safety considerations

• Always run dry-run first; DevNodeClean emphasizes non-destructive defaults.
• For monorepos and workspaces, DevNodeClean provides workspace-aware scanning to avoid removing packages used by sibling packages.
• When in doubt, the tool refuses to remove packages referenced via dynamic imports or by complex build tooling unless explicitly overridden.
• Backups: DevNodeClean can snapshot package.json, lockfiles, and a small manifest of node_modules state before changes.

Integration with existing tools

• npm / Yarn / pnpm: invokes package manager CLIs for reinstall/dedupe and leverages their caches.
• ESLint / TypeScript: can use existing parsing configuration (tsconfig.json) to perform more accurate static analysis.
• CI systems (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, CircleCI): provides actions/steps and exit codes optimized for CI run-time and caching strategies.
• Vulnerability scanners: reports can feed into Snyk, npm audit, or custom security tooling.

Example commands

• Dry-run prune:

  • devnodeclean prune –dry-run

• Apply prune and regenerate lockfile:

  • devnodeclean prune –apply && devnodeclean lock –regenerate

• Clear only npm cache:

  • devnodeclean cache –npm –max-size 512

• CI lightweight check:

  • devnodeclean check –ci

Case studies — what teams gain

• Small team startup

  • Reduced developer machine disk usage by 40% and decreased CI install times by 30% after scheduled weekly cleans.

• Large monorepo

  • Avoided multiple instances of duplicated packages across workspaces by enforcing lockfile reconciliation; saved hundreds of MB in CI runners and reduced failed builds caused by stale caches.

Limitations & future work

• Dynamic import-heavy codebases still require manual overrides for some dependencies.
• Native modules and binary artifacts may need custom handlers to avoid breaking rebuilds.
• Planned: deeper heuristics using runtime tracing (optional) to more accurately detect used modules, and plugins for popular frameworks (Next.js, Vite, Bun).

Conclusion

DevNodeClean streamlines Node.js project maintenance by automating safe dependency pruning, cache management, and artifact cleanup. It reduces disk bloat, speeds up installs and CI runs, and helps maintain reproducible builds — all while offering conservative defaults and dry-run safeguards to protect developer workflows.