Introduction

Over time, as a Laravel project evolves - whether through updates, refactoring, or version upgrades - unused classes can accumulate in the codebase.
These unused classes add unnecessary maintenance overhead, increasing complexity and making upgrades more difficult.

To solve this issue, we can use the tomasvotruba/class-leak package, which helps detect and remove unused classes from our Laravel apps.

Why Remove Unused Classes?

Maintaining unused classes in a project leads to:

Increased technical debt
More time spent on unnecessary maintenance
Higher complexity in upgrades and refactoring
Wasted effort on testing and dependency management

By detecting and removing unused classes, we streamline our codebase, making it more efficient and maintainable.

Installing `class-leak`

To get started, install the package as a development dependency:

composer require tomasvotruba/class-leak --dev

The package supports PHP 7.2+.

Running the Unused Class Detection

When installed, run the following command to check for unused classes in key directories of your Laravel application:

php vendor/bin/class-leak check app tests config routes bootstrap database

Example Output

1. Finding used classes
=======================
 760/760 [▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓] 100%

2. Extracting existing files with classes
=========================================
 760/760 [▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓] 100%

Classes with a parent/interface:
--------------------------------
app/DataTransferObjects/Cart/CartStatusDTO.php
app/DataTransferObjects/Order/OrderCreateDTO.php
...

Classes without any parent/interface - easier to remove:
--------------------------------------------------------
app/Http/Middleware/Frontend/EnsureUserHasApiAccess.php
app/Support/Helpers/ArrayHelper.php
...

[ERROR] Found 30 unused classes. Remove them or skip them using "--skip-type" option

After reviewing and removing unused classes, the tool will display:

[OK] All services are used. Great job!

How `class-leak` Works

The tool follows a simple process:

Identify all existing classes in directories like app, src, etc.
Find all class usages across method calls, property accesses, and constant fetches.
Compare the lists and determine which classes are never used.

This helps locate and remove unnecessary code that is never referenced in the project.

Handling Special Cases

Skipping Specific Classes

In some cases, you may want to exclude certain classes from the scan. Use the --skip-type option:

php vendor/bin/class-leak check app src --skip-type="App\Contracts\SomeInterface"

Detecting Test-Only Classes

A class that is used only in tests may still be considered unused in production. If a class is only referenced in tests, consider removing it along with its corresponding test cases.

Automating in CI/CD

To prevent unused classes from creeping back into the project, add class-leak as part of your CI pipeline. This ensures that any new unused classes introduced during development are detected early and removed.

Result

Here is example pull request after reviewing and running class-leak.

Conclusion

Detecting and removing unused classes is a simple yet effective way to keep a Laravel project clean and maintainable. By integrating class-leak into your workflow, you can:

Reduce maintenance overhead
Improve code clarity
Avoid testing and upgrading unnecessary code

Try running it on your Laravel project today and free your codebase from unused classes!

Detect Unused Classes in Laravel