How to find unused npm packages in Package.json file

In this tutorial, we are going to learn about how to find the unused (not used) npm packages that are present inside the package.json file.

Sometimes, we install an npm package to test it, after some time we install a similar package that does our work and forgot to remove the old one in such cases we ended up installing the extra packages that don’t require.

Finding the unused npm packages

To find the unused npm packages, we can use the depcheck npm module.

Note: depcheck requires node version 10 or above.

1. Install the depcheck package globally by running the following command.

npm install -g depcheck

2. Now, open the project directory in your terminal and run the following command to find the unused packages.

depcheck

This above command prints the unused npm packages (present inside your project) like this:

Unused dependencies
* date-fns
* esm
* express-rate-limit
* rimraf

You can also use depcheck without installing it with the help of npx.

npx depcheck