dump_dir

🚀 dump_dir 📂✨

Copy a bunch of files into your clipboard to provide context for LLMs

[!WARNING] Read this before you start using.

This project was from an earlier era of LLM development which mostly comprised of copying files and pasting them into the ChatGPT or Claude interface. It was REALLY handy for a year or so.

Now the landscape has changed dramatically and this is no longer an optimal flow.

That and this was my first attempt at learning go so its pretty rough in here.

That said it is still sometimes useful from the CLI to just grab a bunch of files at once and paste them somewhere. (e.g. taking markdown files and pasting them in Notion)

🌟 Functionality

• 🔍 Search for files with specific extensions or all files
• 📋 Automatically copy file contents to clipboard
• 🚫 Skip specified directories
• 📝 Respects .gitignore rules by default
• 🚀 Fast! Can copy 1.6 million tokens in ~0.8 seconds

Example: dump_dir-ing this repo

🚀 Usage

dump_dir <directory1> [directory2] ...

📚 Options

• -h, --help: Display help information
• -v, --version: Display the version of dump_dir
• -s <directory>, --skip <directory>: Skip specified directory
• -e <extension[s]>, --extension <extension[s]>: Filter by specific file extensions
• --include-ignored: Include files that would normally be ignored (e.g., those in .gitignore)
• -m <size>, --max-filesize <size>: Specify the maximum file size to process. You can use units like B, KB, or MB (e.g., 500KB, 2MB). If no unit is specified, it defaults to 500KB.
• -g <pattern>, --glob <pattern>: Match file names with a glob pattern. Does not support matching directory names or ** patterns.
• -nc, --no-config: Ignore the .dump_dir.yml configuration file
• -r, --raw: Output raw file contents without START FILE:/END FILE: markers

📑 Examples

Get all files in your project directory of all types:

dump_dir ./project

Get all JS files, ignoring your dist directory:

dump_dir ./project -e js  --skip ./project/dist

Get all Go, JavaScript, and Python files in your project:

dump_dir ./project --extension go,js,py 

Get all files, including those normally ignored (e.g., files in .gitignore):

dump_dir ./project --include-ignored

Get specific files regardless of their extension:

dump_dir ./README.md ./main.go --extension py

Set a maximum file size of 1MB:

dump_dir ./project --max-filesize 1MB

Use --glob to match files with a glob pattern:

dump_dir ./project --glob "*.go"

Get raw file contents without markers:

dump_dir ./project --raw

🔒 Gitignore Behavior

By default, dump_dir respects your project's .gitignore rules. This means:

Files and directories listed in your project's .gitignore will not be included in the output. The tool also respects your global gitignore file. Common version control directories (like .git) are automatically ignored.

To include ignored files, use the --include-ignored flag as shown in the examples above.

👉 Special Files Behavior

By default, files are too large if they are >500KB. You can adjust this limit using the -m or --max-filesize option. If any files are skipped for any reason, dump_dir will inform you.

📝 Configuration File

dump_dir will check for a file in your current directory called .dump_dir.yml which can be used to specify default options.

Example .dump_dir.yml file:

---
# Always include these paths
include:
  - ./README.md
  - ./prompts

# Always skip these directories
# (even if they aren't in your gitignore)
ignore:
  - ./dist 
  - ./vendor

You can check the config file of this repo as another example.

Purpose

Including things like coding standards, general architecture patterns, and high level explanations of your work can produce dramatically better results with LLMs.

🛠️ Installation

Mac and Linux

You can easily install the latest version of dump_dir using curl. Run the following command in your terminal:

curl -sfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fargusplumdoodle/dump_dir/main/install.sh | bash

This script will:

• Detect your operating system and architecture
• Download the latest release of dump_dir
• Install it to /usr/local/bin (you may need to use sudo for this)

Alternatively, you can manually download the latest release from the GitHub Releases page and place it in a directory in your PATH.

Windows

For Windows users, please download the latest release from the GitHub Releases page and add it to your PATH manually.

💡 Tips for LLM Development

• 📁 Use dump_dir to quickly gather context from multiple project files
• 📚 Include documentation in your prompts
• 🧠 Paste the copied content directly into your LLM conversation
• 🔄 Easily update context by re-running dump_dir with different parameters

🤝 Contributing

Raise an issue or make a PR. Run tests with go test ./tests/...

📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Happy coding! 🎉👨‍💻👩‍💻