tinyparrot

tinyparrot is a simple yet powerful CLI and Node.js API for optimizing CSS stylesheets.

It combines several proven tools into a single workflow:
- vendor prefixing via autoprefixer
- CSS minification via cssnano
- duplicate rule removal
- optional unused selector removal via PurgeCSS

Designed to work out of the box with modern frontend stacks and CI pipelines.

---

Features

- ✅ Autoprefix CSS for target browsers
- ✅ Minify CSS output
- ✅ Remove duplicate rules
- ✅ Optional property sorting
- ✅ Purge unused selectors (PurgeCSS)
- ✅ CLI and programmatic API
- ✅ Zero configuration by default
- ✅ Pure JavaScript (no TypeScript, no build step)
- ✅ ESM compatible

---

Installation

$3

``bash
npm install --save-dev css-optimizer
`

or

`bash
pnpm add -D css-optimizer
`

or

`bash
yarn add -D css-optimizer
`

Global (optional)

`bash
npm install -g css-optimizer
`

CLI Usage

$3

`bash
npx tinyparrot --in styles.css --out styles.min.css
`

This will:

* add vendor prefixes
* remove duplicate rules
* minify the CSS

$3

`bash
npx css-optimizer --in styles.css > styles.min.css
`

$3

`bash
npx css-optimizer --in styles.css --out styles.min.css \
--no-autoprefix \
--no-minify
`

Available disable flags:
* --no-autoprefix
* --no-minify
* --no-dedupe

$3

`bash
npx css-optimizer --in styles.css --out styles.min.css --sort
`

⚠️ Property sorting may cause large diffs in version control.

$3

PurgeCSS removes selectors that are not found in your HTML / JS / Vue / React files.

#### Example

`bash
npx css-optimizer \
--in styles.css \
--out styles.purged.css \
--purge \
--content "src/*/.{html,js,ts,tsx,vue}"
`

Important notes

* When --purge is enabled, --content is required
* PurgeCSS runs before minification

Safelist (dynamic selectors)

If your project uses dynamically generated class names:

`bash
npx css-optimizer \
--in styles.css \
--out styles.purged.css \
--purge \
--content "src/*/.{html,js,vue}" \
--safelist active open modal
`

> CLI safelist supports strings only.
>
> The API supports both strings and RegExp.

CLI Options

| Option | Description |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------------- |
| --in | Input CSS file (required) |
| --out | Output file (defaults to stdout) |
| --no-autoprefix | Disable autoprefixer |
| --no-minify | Disable minification |
| --no-dedupe | Disable duplicate removal |
| --sort | Sort CSS properties |
| --purge | Enable PurgeCSS |
| --content | Files to scan for used selectors |
| --safelist | Safelisted selectors |

Node.js API

$3

`bash
import { optimizeCss } from "css-optimizer";

const inputCss =
.button {
display: flex;
display: flex;
}
;

const { css } = await optimizeCss(inputCss);

console.log(css);
`

$3

`bash
import { optimizeCss } from "css-optimizer";

const { css } = await optimizeCss(inputCss, {
autoprefix: true,
minify: true,
dedupe: true,
sort: false,
purge: true,
content: ["src//.html", "src//.js"],
safelist: ["active", /^modal-/]
});
`

API Options

`bash
optimizeCss(css, {
from?: string,
to?: string,

autoprefix?: boolean,
minify?: boolean,
dedupe?: boolean,
sort?: boolean,

purge?: boolean,
content?: string[],
safelist?: (string | RegExp)[]
})
`

Typical Use Cases

* 📦 Preparing CSS for production
* ⚡ Asset optimization in CI pipelines
* 🧹 Cleaning up utility-heavy CSS (e.g. Tailwind)
* 🏗 Integration with Vite, Webpack, Nuxt, Next.js
* 🧪 One-off CSS optimization scripts

Browser Support

Browser compatibility depends on autoprefixer and browserslist.

If your project defines a browserslist` configuration, it will be picked up automatically.

Limitations

* CLI safelist does not support RegExp
* Source maps are not supported yet
* No config file support (.cssoptimizerrc) yet

Roadmap

- [ ] Source map support
- [ ] --stdin / --stdout flags
- [ ] Config file support
- [ ] Presets (safe, aggressive)
- [ ] PostCSS plugin mode
- [ ] Extended CLI safelist support