bloat-detector

Table of Contents

• Bloat Categories
• Quick Start
• When to Use
• Confidence Levels
• Prioritization
• Module Architecture
• Safety

Bloat Detector

Systematically detect and eliminate codebase bloat through progressive analysis tiers.

Bloat Categories

Category	Examples
Code	Dead code, God classes, Lava flow, duplication
AI-Generated	Tab-completion bloat, vibe coding, hallucinated deps
Documentation	Redundancy, verbosity, stale content, slop
Dependencies	Unused imports, dependency bloat, phantom packages
Git History	Stale files, low-churn code, massive single commits

Quick Start

Tier 1: Quick Scan (2-5 min, no tools)

/bloat-scan

Detects: Large files, stale code, old TODOs, commented blocks, basic duplication

Tier 2: Targeted Analysis (10-20 min, optional tools)

/bloat-scan --level 2 --focus code   # or docs, deps

Adds: Static analysis (Vulture/Knip), git churn hotspots, doc similarity

Tier 3: Deep Audit (30-60 min, full tooling)

/bloat-scan --level 3 --report audit.md

Adds: Cross-file redundancy, dependency graphs, readability metrics

When To Use

Do	Don't
Context usage > 30%	Active feature development
Quarterly maintenance	Time-sensitive bugs
Pre-release cleanup	Codebase < 1000 lines
Before major refactoring	Tools unavailable (Tier 2/3)

When NOT To Use

• Active feature development
• Time-sensitive bugs
• Codebase < 1000 lines

Confidence Levels

Level	Confidence	Action
HIGH	90-100%	Safe to remove
MEDIUM	70-89%	Review first
LOW	50-69%	Investigate

Prioritization

Priority = (Token_Savings × 0.4) + (Maintenance × 0.3) + (Confidence × 0.2) + (Ease × 0.1)

Module Architecture

Tier 1 (always available):

• See modules/quick-scan.md - Heuristics, no tools
• See modules/git-history-analysis.md - Staleness, churn, vibe coding signatures
• See modules/growth-analysis.md - Growth velocity, forecasts, threshold alerts

Tier 2 (optional tools):

• See modules/code-bloat-patterns.md - Anti-patterns (God class, Lava flow)
• See modules/ai-generated-bloat.md - AI-specific patterns (Tab bloat, hallucinations)
• See modules/documentation-bloat.md - Redundancy, readability, slop detection
• See modules/static-analysis-integration.md - Vulture, Knip

Shared:

• See modules/remediation-types.md - DELETE, REFACTOR, CONSOLIDATE, ARCHIVE

Auto-Exclusions

Always excludes: .venv, __pycache__, .git, node_modules, dist, build, vendor

Also respects: .gitignore, .bloat-ignore

Safety

• Never auto-delete - all changes require approval
• Dry-run support - --dry-run for previews
• Backup branches - created before bulk changes

Related

• bloat-auditor agent - Executes scans
• unbloat-remediator agent - Safe remediation
• context-optimization skill - MECW principles