Is there an easy way to find unused assembly references in my .NET project?

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Tools for finding unused references

I inherited a brownfield project and am in the process of refactoring the code to support new requirements. The number of assembly references has grown considerably over time, and I would like to know if any references are no longer being used. What is the best approach to this other than dropping the reference and trying to re-compile the code.

Answer 1

I would suggest checking out NDepend. It gives you not only an idea for what assemblies reference other assemblies, but also a list of dependencies across them.

Answer 2

Look at this question.

Answer 3

Resharper suggests to add references if you used classes form dll that is not referenced, you can delete all references and add them back by resharper

Answer 4

You can do this with Resharper by JetBrains.

Just right click on a reference, and choose "Find Dependent Code". It will search the project and tell you exactly what is referencing an assembly.

Answer 5

Interesting enough, VB.NET projects do have an option that will do this, C# does not (that I have found). Resharper will allow you to right click on a reference and "Find Dependent Code".

Answer 6

So is there no free software to do this? Both Resharper and NDepend are paid apps. Though I guess you could use their trial versions(don't know if they are limited in functionality).

Answer 7

Peli's Assembly Graph can show your assembly dependency graphs. It's a free add-in for .NET Reflector.