chore: add focused pre-push vulture guard

.github/workflows/lint.yml

@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Re-run pre-commit to verify clean
         run: uv run pre-commit run --all-files
 
-      - name: Run pyright
+      - name: Run pre-push checks (pyright, vulture)
         run: SKIP=pytest uv run pre-commit run --all-files --hook-stage pre-push
 
   # If PR is from a fork, fail on any diff
@@ -54,5 +54,5 @@ jobs:
       - name: Run pre-commit checks
         run: uv run pre-commit run --all-files --show-diff-on-failure
 
-      - name: Run pyright
+      - name: Run pre-push checks (pyright, vulture)
         run: SKIP=pytest uv run pre-commit run --all-files --hook-stage pre-push

.pre-commit-config.yaml

@@ -37,6 +37,14 @@ repos:
         pass_filenames: false
         stages: [pre-push]
 
+      - id: vulture
+        name: vulture
+        entry: uv run vulture
+        language: system
+        types: [python]
+        pass_filenames: false
+        stages: [pre-push]
+
       - id: pytest
         name: pytest
         entry: uv run pytest tests/ -x -q

gittensor/classes.py

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 from enum import Enum
 from math import prod
-from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, DefaultDict, Dict, List, Optional, Set, Tuple
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Dict, List, Optional, Set, Tuple
 
 import bittensor as bt
 
@@ -112,21 +112,6 @@ def is_test_file(self) -> bool:
 
         return any(re.search(pattern, basename) for pattern in test_patterns)
 
-    @classmethod
-    def from_github_response(cls, pr_number: int, repository_full_name: str, file_diff: DefaultDict) -> 'FileChange':
-        """Create FileChange from GitHub API response"""
-        return cls(
-            pr_number=pr_number,
-            repository_full_name=repository_full_name,
-            filename=file_diff['filename'],
-            changes=file_diff['changes'],
-            additions=file_diff['additions'],
-            deletions=file_diff['deletions'],
-            status=file_diff['status'],
-            patch=file_diff.get('patch'),
-            previous_filename=file_diff.get('previous_filename'),
-        )
-
 
 @dataclass
 class Issue:
@@ -193,8 +178,6 @@ class PullRequest:
     review_quality_multiplier: float = 1.0  # Penalty for CHANGES_REQUESTED reviews from maintainers
     label_multiplier: float = 1.0  # Multiplier resolved from repository label config
     label: Optional[str] = None  # Resolved scoring label, set during scoring
-    current_labels: frozenset[str] = field(default_factory=frozenset)
-    label_timeline_order: tuple[str, ...] = field(default_factory=tuple)  # Newest current labels first
     changes_requested_count: int = 0  # Number of maintainer CHANGES_REQUESTED reviews
     earned_score: float = 0.0
     collateral_score: float = 0.0  # For OPEN PRs: potential_score * collateral_percent
@@ -220,10 +203,6 @@ class PullRequest:
     head_ref_oid: Optional[str] = None
     base_ref_oid: Optional[str] = None
 
-    def set_file_changes(self, file_changes: List[FileChange]) -> None:
-        """Set the file changes for this pull request"""
-        self.file_changes = file_changes
-
     def is_pioneer_eligible(self) -> bool:
         """Check if this PR qualifies for pioneer consideration.
 

gittensor/cli/issue_commands/helpers.py

@@ -325,7 +325,7 @@ def validate_bounty_amount(bounty: str) -> int:
             param_hint='--bounty',
         )
 
-    sign, digits, exponent = d.as_tuple()
+    _sign, _digits, exponent = d.as_tuple()
     decimal_places = max(0, -int(exponent))
     if decimal_places > ALPHA_DECIMALS:
         raise click.BadParameter(

gittensor/constants.py

@@ -25,8 +25,6 @@
 GRAPHQL_VIEWER_QUERY = '{ viewer { login } }'
 # 1MB max file size for github api file fetches. Files exceeding this get no score.
 MAX_FILE_SIZE_BYTES = 1_000_000
-# Too many object lookups in one GraphQL query can trigger 502 errors and lose all results.
-MAX_FILES_PER_GRAPHQL_BATCH = 50
 
 # =============================================================================
 # das-github-mirror (https://mirror.gittensor.io)

gittensor/utils/utils.py

@@ -3,18 +3,12 @@
 """
 
 import os
-from typing import Dict
 
 
 def backoff_seconds(attempt: int, base: int = 5, cap: int = 30) -> int:
     return min(base * (2**attempt), cap)
 
 
-def parse_repo_name(repo_data: Dict):
-    """Normalizes and converts repository name from dict"""
-    return f'{repo_data["owner"]["login"]}/{repo_data["name"]}'.lower()
-
-
 def get_contract_address() -> str:
     """Get contract address. Override via CONTRACT_ADDRESS env var for dev/testing.
 

gittensor/validator/utils/datetime_utils.py

@@ -2,8 +2,6 @@
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 from typing import Optional
 
-import pytz
-
 from gittensor.constants import (
     SECONDS_PER_HOUR,
     TIME_DECAY_GRACE_PERIOD_HOURS,
@@ -12,8 +10,6 @@
     TIME_DECAY_SIGMOID_STEEPNESS_SCALAR,
 )
 
-CHICAGO_TZ = pytz.timezone('America/Chicago')
-
 
 def parse_github_iso_to_utc(timestamp_str: str) -> datetime:
     """Parse a GitHub-style ISO 8601 string to a timezone-aware UTC datetime.
@@ -39,14 +35,6 @@ def parse_optional_github_iso_to_utc(value: Optional[str]) -> Optional[datetime]
     return parse_github_iso_to_utc(value) if value else None
 
 
-def parse_github_timestamp_to_cst(timestamp_str: str) -> datetime:
-    """
-    Parse GitHub's ISO format timestamp and convert to Chicago timezone.
-    GitHub returns timestamps like: 2024-01-15T10:30:00Z
-    """
-    return parse_github_iso_to_utc(timestamp_str).astimezone(CHICAGO_TZ)
-
-
 def calculate_time_decay(merged_at: datetime) -> float:
     """Calculate sigmoid-based time decay multiplier from a merge timestamp."""
     now = datetime.now(timezone.utc)

neurons/base/validator.py

@@ -77,7 +77,6 @@ def __init__(self, config=None):
         self.should_exit: bool = False
         self.is_running: bool = False
         self.thread: Union[threading.Thread, None] = None
-        self.lock = asyncio.Lock()
 
     def serve_axon(self):
         """Serve axon to enable external connections."""

pyproject.toml

@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ dev = [
     "pyright",
     "ruff==0.14.10",
     "pre-commit>=4.0",
+    "vulture==2.16",
 ]
 debug = [
     "debugpy==1.8.11",
@@ -55,3 +56,65 @@ quote-style = "single"
 
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]
 testpaths = ["tests"]
+
+[tool.vulture]
+# Dead-code scanner. Run via pre-push hook (`uv run vulture`) or directly.
+# False positives live in `vulture_whitelist.py`; framework-driven names are
+# matched here so individual call sites don't need annotation.
+paths = ["gittensor", "neurons", "scripts", "tests"]
+exclude = [
+    ".venv/",
+    "smart-contracts/",
+    "assets/",
+    # Issue-bounty contract client: enum members and dataclass fields mirror
+    # the on-chain shape, so unused-name reports here are not actionable
+    "gittensor/validator/issue_competitions/contract_client.py",
+    # das-github-mirror response schema: dataclass fields mirror the upstream
+    # wire format and are kept even when no validator code reads them today
+    "gittensor/utils/mirror/models.py",
+]
+min_confidence = 60
+sort_by_size = true
+ignore_decorators = [
+    # Click command/group registration - vulture cannot see the registry calls
+    "@click.command",
+    "@click.group",
+    "@*.command",
+    "@*.group",
+    # pytest fixtures (incl. autouse) are resolved by pytest, not by import
+    "@pytest.fixture",
+]
+ignore_names = [
+    # `__exit__(self, exc_type, exc_value, traceback)` - dunder signature
+    "exc_type",
+    "exc_value",
+    "exc",
+    "tb",
+    "traceback",
+    # pytest hook functions defined in conftest.py
+    "pytest_*",
+    # Click subclass overrides invoked by the framework
+    "get_help",
+    "command_class",
+    # `lru_cache`'s synthetic cache-buster argument used by ttl_cache()
+    "ttl_hash",
+    # MagicMock attribute consumed by the mock framework, not by us
+    "side_effect",
+    # psycopg Connection attributes (autocommit setter, prepared-statement
+    # threshold) - written for side effects, read inside the driver
+    "autocommit",
+    "prepare_threshold",
+    # Required-env-var capture; kept for parity with `.env.example` even when
+    # no code reads it directly (wandb consumes WANDB_API_KEY from the env)
+    "WANDB_API_KEY",
+    # Attribute set on IssueCompetitionContractClient test doubles - the
+    # client itself is excluded above, so reads of this attribute are invisible
+    "contract_address",
+    # PRInfo TypedDict fields populated and read via `dict.get(...)`; vulture
+    # cannot link a string-keyed dict access to a typed attribute name
+    "author_id",
+    "review_count",
+    # Consumed only by `gittensor/utils/mirror/models.py`, excluded above as
+    # wire-format schema; the helper itself is otherwise invisible to vulture
+    "parse_optional_github_iso_to_utc",
+]

tests/cli/test_cli_helpers.py

@@ -576,13 +576,6 @@ def test_register_aborts_on_github_503_before_contract_call(self, cli_root, runn
         """
         import gittensor.cli.issue_commands.mutations as mut
 
-        exec_was_called = {'value': False}
-
-        class _Sentinel:
-            def exec(self, *_args, **_kwargs):
-                exec_was_called['value'] = True
-                raise AssertionError('register_issue must not be submitted on a GitHub skip')
-
         with (
             patch(
                 'gittensor.cli.issue_commands.mutations._resolve_contract_and_network',
@@ -605,7 +598,6 @@ def exec(self, *_args, **_kwargs):
             )
 
         assert result.exit_code != 0
-        assert exec_was_called['value'] is False
         assert 'Could not verify' in result.output
         assert '503' in result.output