Knip Hits 500 Releases with v5.62.0, Improving TypeScript Config Detection and Plugin Integrations

Knip is a neat open source tool that scans JavaScript and TypeScript projects for unused files, exports, and dependencies, helping teams remove dead code and reduce maintenance overhead. It supports a wide ecosystem of frameworks and tools through more than 100 plugins, including Vite, ESLint, Bun, Tailwind, Next.js, and Storybook, and has been credited by companies like Vercel for helping remove over 300,000 lines of unused code.

This week, the project reached a major milestone: 500 releases. Maintainer Lars Kappert announced the milestone alongside v5.62.0, which brings improved TypeScript configuration support and updates for Vite, Biome, ESLint, and Angular plugins.

The latest update adds support for .ts extensions in the toLilconfig utility, improving Knip’s ability to automatically detect default TypeScript configurations. It also corrects the default reporter name for clearer output, along with other small improvements and bug fixes.

Rapid Growth and Community Adoption#

Knip’s 500-release milestone highlights its active development and growing adoption across the JavaScript ecosystem. The project has over 8,500 GitHub stars and has reached nearly 12 million of monthly downloads on npm.

Knip’s rapid rise in popularity reflects a broader industry shift toward proactive code hygiene and supply chain security. As high-profile supply chain attacks make headlines, developers are adopting tools that reduce risk by eliminating unused dependencies and dead code. Knip's ability to scale from small projects to large monorepos has made it a valuable addition for organizations seeking to streamline and secure their software.

Kappert marked the milestone on Bluesky, thanking contributors and supporters for their role in Knip’s ongoing evolution.

Knip’s Ongoing Momentum#

While v5.62.0 is a smaller update, it reflects Knip’s steady focus on incremental improvements and modern tooling support. Developers using Vite or ESLint, in particular, may benefit from the plugin updates and TypeScript enhancements included in this release.

Frequent releases, now at over 500, is a major driver of Knip's growth, demonstrating active maintenance and responsiveness to user feedback, which builds trust among developers. Combined with its straightforward setup and broad coverage of frameworks, Knip is increasingly becoming a standard part of the JavaScript and TypeScript developer toolkit.