explaingit

andershaig/cssess

Analysis updated 2026-07-17 · repo last pushed 2011-08-19

3JavaScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 1/5DormantSetup · easy

TLDR

A bookmarklet that crawls your site and flags CSS rules that aren't actually used, so you can clean up bloated stylesheets.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Finds unused CSS
      Crawls linked pages
      Runs as bookmarklet
    Tech stack
      JavaScript
      Bookmarklet
      Hidden iframe
    Use cases
      Audit before launch
      Clean legacy CSS
      Speed up page loads
    Audience
      Web developers
      Site owners
    Limitations
      Same domain only
      No dynamic style handling

Code map

Detail Auto

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filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Audit a website's CSS before launch to remove unused rules.

USE CASE 2

Clean up orphaned CSS after redesigning HTML on a legacy project.

USE CASE 3

Reduce stylesheet size to speed up page loads for visitors.

What is it built with?

JavaScript

How does it compare?

andershaig/cssessamarjitjim/browserpilotboneskull/buggin
Stars333
LanguageJavaScriptJavaScriptJavaScript
Last pushed2011-08-192022-12-30
MaintenanceDormantDormant
Setup difficultyeasymoderateeasy
Complexity1/53/52/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Only works within a single domain due to browser security rules.

No license info given in the explanation.

In plain English

CSSess is a browser tool that finds CSS code you're not actually using on your website. When you install it as a bookmarklet (a saved bookmark that runs JavaScript), you click it while browsing your site, and it scans all the pages to identify CSS rules that aren't doing anything. This helps you clean up bloated stylesheets and reduce the amount of code your site downloads. The tool works by quietly loading each page from your site into a hidden background frame, then comparing all the CSS rules you've written against what's actually being displayed on the page. If a CSS selector isn't matched to any element on the site, it gets flagged as unused. Unlike some older tools, CSSess automatically crawls all the linked pages on your domain instead of making you manually list each URL you want to check. A web developer or site owner would use this to audit their codebase before launching a site or after inheriting a legacy project. For example, if you're redesigning a site and cleaned up the HTML but forgot to remove the old CSS, CSSess would quickly show you all the orphaned rules you can delete. Reducing unused CSS means faster page loads for visitors and less maintenance burden. One thing to keep in mind: the tool only works within a single website domain due to browser security rules, so you can't use it to scan a competitors' sites. Also, the README doesn't detail how it handles dynamic styles added by JavaScript after the page loads, so very dynamic sites might show false positives for styles that only appear under certain conditions.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Explain how I'd install and run CSSess as a bookmarklet on my own site.
Prompt 2
What are the limitations of CSSess when it comes to dynamically injected styles?
Prompt 3
Help me write a checklist for auditing unused CSS on my site using CSSess.

Frequently asked questions

What is cssess?

A bookmarklet that crawls your site and flags CSS rules that aren't actually used, so you can clean up bloated stylesheets.

What language is cssess written in?

Mainly JavaScript. The stack also includes JavaScript.

Is cssess actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2011-08-19).

What license does cssess use?

No license info given in the explanation.

How hard is cssess to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is cssess for?

Mainly developer.

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