diff --git a/.github/workflows/code-formatting.yml b/.github/workflows/code-formatting.yml
index bc03905ab2bbd..1cb8633545995 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/code-formatting.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/code-formatting.yml
@@ -74,3 +74,23 @@ jobs:
       - name: mypy check
         run: |
           mypy
+
+  dead-code-vulture:
+    name: Python dead code checker
+    runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
+
+    # Timeout: https://stackoverflow.com/a/59076067/4521646
+    timeout-minutes: 10
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v2
+        with:
+          python-version: 3.7
+
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: pip install vulture && pip list
+
+      - name: Check for dead code with Vulture
+        run: |
+          vulture pytorch_lightning
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 99939ff7fce0c..65ccbe93ab378 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -154,7 +154,3 @@ cifar-10-batches-py
 *.pt
 # ctags
 tags
-data
-MNIST
-runs
-*trace*
diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index b7dcc232e66d6..b878b4e750191 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -39,6 +39,11 @@ repos:
         name: Format code
         language: python
 
+  - repo: https://github.com/jendrikseipp/vulture
+    rev: 'v2.3'
+    hooks:
+      - id: vulture
+
   - repo: https://github.com/PyCQA/flake8
     rev: 3.9.2
     hooks:
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index e8a3213f2b738..1f21e1f088acb 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -16,3 +16,28 @@ profile = "black"
 line_length = 120
 force_sort_within_sections = "False"
 order_by_type = "False"
+
+[tool.vulture]
+exclude = ['pytorch_lightning/metrics']
+make_whitelist = true
+min_confidence = 95
+paths = ["pytorch_lightning"]
+ignore_names = [
+    "*_nb",
+    "*batch",
+    "*idx",
+    "*param*",
+    "cmd_line",
+    "kw",
+    "loc",
+    "mocked_device_count*",
+    "my_path",
+    "new_device",
+    "new_dtype",
+    "prediction",
+    "root",
+    "signum",
+    "torch_save",
+    "using_lbfgs",
+]
+sort_by_size = true
diff --git a/pytorch_lightning/profiler/pytorch.py b/pytorch_lightning/profiler/pytorch.py
index fa2c2917f98a2..5b3a5a105cf3a 100644
--- a/pytorch_lightning/profiler/pytorch.py
+++ b/pytorch_lightning/profiler/pytorch.py
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ def __enter__(self) -> None:
 
                 self._handles[module_name] = [pre_forward_handle, post_forward_handle]
 
-    def __exit__(self, exc_type: Any, exc_value: Any, traceback: Any) -> None:
+    def __exit__(self, type: Any, value: Any, traceback: Any) -> None:
         for handles in self._handles.values():
             for h in handles:
                 h.remove()