remove_unused_localizations

A Flutter development tool that automatically detects and removes unused localization keys from .arb files, keeping your project clean and optimized.

Features

✅ Scans all .arb files dynamically (supports multiple languages).
✅ Detects and removes only truly unused keys (avoiding false deletions).
✅ Works with global localization variables like:

localizations.welcome           // Generic localization instance
S.of(context).welcome           // Flutter-generated localization access
AppLocalizations.of(context)!.welcome // Nullable-safe access
_myCubit.appLocalizations.welcome    // Deep object chains
SomeClass().localizations.welcome    // Method return chaining

✅ Excludes important files (e.g., app_localizations.dart).
✅ Provides a detailed report of removed keys.

Installation

Add the package to your dev dependencies in pubspec.yaml:

dev_dependencies:
  remove_unused_localizations: ^1.0.2

Run:

flutter pub get

Usage

Run the Package from the Terminal

You can run the package directly as a CLI tool using:

dart run remove_unused_localizations

This will automatically scan all .arb files in your project, detect unused keys, and remove them, keeping your localization files clean and optimized.

If you want to keep the unused keys in order to delete it manually you can use this command:

dart run remove_unused_localizations --keep-unused

Configuration

By default, the tool scans only the lib directory for Dart files that use localization keys. For monorepos, shared packages, or projects with Dart code in other directories, you can add a remove_unused_localizations.yaml config file at your project root (next to l10n.yaml).

Config file: remove_unused_localizations.yaml

# Directories to scan for Dart files that use localization keys.
# Paths are relative to the project root. Default: [lib]
dart-scan-dirs:
  - lib
  - packages/app1/lib
  - packages/shared/lib
  • The config file is optional. When absent, the tool scans lib only (backward compatible).
  • Paths in dart-scan-dirs are relative to the project root.
  • If a directory does not exist, the tool prints a warning and skips it.

Note: If you use a non-standard project structure (e.g. you set arb-dir to a custom path like reference/l10n in l10n.yaml), make sure to also configure dart-scan-dirs in remove_unused_localizations.yaml to include all directories that contain Dart code using localization keys. Otherwise, the tool may incorrectly mark keys as unused.

Example for monorepos:

dart-scan-dirs:
  - packages/app1/lib
  - packages/app2/lib
  - packages/shared/lib

Example Output

Unused keys found: welcome_message, login_button
Updated lib/l10n/app_en.arb, removed unused keys.
Updated lib/l10n/app_ar.arb, removed unused keys.
✅ Unused keys successfully removed.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request on GitHub.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

Libraries

remove_unused_localizations