Cleaning WoW Addons

Expert guidance for finding and removing cruft in addon codebases.

Related Commands

• c-clean - Cleanup workflow
• c-review - Full review (includes clean step)

MCP Tools

Task	MCP Tool
Find Dead Code	addon.deadcode(addon="MyAddon")
Find Stale Docs	docs.stale(addon="MyAddon")
Filter by Confidence	addon.deadcode(addon="MyAddon", include_suspicious=false)

Capabilities

1. Dead Code Detection — Find unused functions, orphaned files, dead exports
2. Stale Docs Detection — Find broken links, outdated refs, version drift
3. Confidence Levels — Definite (100%), Likely (90%+), Suspicious (70%+)

Detection Categories

Dead Code (addon.deadcode)

Category	Description
unused_function	Functions defined but never called
orphaned_file	Lua files not in TOC
dead_export	Exported values never used
unused_library	Libraries in Libs/ never used
stale_event	Event handlers for unregistered events
commented_code	Large blocks of commented-out code

Stale Docs (docs.stale)

Category	Description
dead_link	Internal links to non-existent files
dead_reference	Mentions of functions/files that don't exist
version_drift	Old version numbers in documentation
relative_staleness	Docs not updated in many commits

Workflow

Quick Cleanup

1. Run addon.deadcode with include_suspicious=false for high-confidence issues only
2. Remove identified dead code
3. Run docs.stale to find documentation issues
4. Fix broken links and update outdated references

Deep Cleanup

1. Run addon.deadcode with all confidence levels
2. Manually verify suspicious findings before removal
3. Run docs.stale with all techniques
4. Update documentation to match current code

Confidence Interpretation

Level	Meaning	Action
Definite	100% certain (e.g., file not in TOC)	Safe to remove
Likely	90%+ certain (e.g., function never called)	Review briefly, usually safe
Suspicious	70%+ certain (e.g., dynamic code patterns)	Manual verification required

Best Practices

1. Start with definite issues — These are safe to fix immediately
2. Check dynamic patterns — _G, rawget, loadstring may hide usage
3. Preserve intentional dead code — Mark with -- KEEP: comment if needed
4. Update docs after code changes — Run docs.stale after refactoring