Repository to Text Conversion: repo-to-text command

repo-to-text converts a directory's structure and contents into a single text file. Run it from the terminal to generate a formatted text representation that includes the directory tree and file contents. This makes it easy to share code with LLMs for development and debugging.

Quick Start

1. pip install repo-to-text — install the package
2. cd <your-repo-dir> — navigate to the repository directory
3. repo-to-text — run the command, result will be saved in the current directory

Example of Repository to Text Conversion

The generated text file will include the directory structure and contents of each file. For a full example, see the example output for this repository.

Installation

Using pip

To install repo-to-text via pip, run the following command:

pip install repo-to-text

To upgrade to the latest version, use the following command:

pip install --upgrade repo-to-text

Usage

After installation, you can use the repo-to-text command in your terminal. Navigate to the directory you want to convert and run:

repo-to-text

or

flatten

This will create a file named repo-to-text_YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM-SS-UTC.txt in the current directory with the text representation of the repository. The contents of this file will also be copied to your clipboard for easy sharing.

Options

You can customize the behavior of repo-to-text with the following options:

• --output-dir <path>: Specify an output directory where the generated text file will be saved. For example:

  repo-to-text --output-dir /path/to/output

  This will save the file in the specified output directory instead of the current directory.

• --create-settings or --init: Create a default .repo-to-text-settings.yaml file with predefined settings. This is useful if you want to start with a template settings file and customize it according to your needs. To create the default settings file, run the following command in your terminal:

  repo-to-text --create-settings

  or

  repo-to-text --init

  This will create a file named .repo-to-text-settings.yaml in the current directory. If the file already exists, an error will be raised to prevent overwriting.

• --debug: Enable DEBUG logging. By default, repo-to-text runs with INFO logging level. To enable DEBUG logging, use the --debug flag:

  repo-to-text --debug

  or to save the debug log to a file:

  repo-to-text --debug > debug_log.txt 2>&1

• input_dir: Specify the directory to process. If not provided, the current directory (.) will be used. For example:

  repo-to-text /path/to/input_dir

• --stdout: Output the generated text to stdout instead of a file. This is useful for piping the output to another command or saving it to a file using shell redirection. For example:

  repo-to-text --stdout > myfile.txt

  This will write the output directly to myfile.txt instead of creating a timestamped file.

Docker Usage

Building and Running

1. Build the container:

   docker compose build

2. Start a shell session:

   docker compose run --rm repo-to-text

Once in the shell, you can run repo-to-text:

• Process current directory:

  repo-to-text

• Process specific directory:

  repo-to-text /home/user/myproject

• Use with options:

  repo-to-text --output-dir /home/user/output

The container mounts your home directory at /home/user, allowing access to all your projects.

Settings

repo-to-text also supports configuration via a .repo-to-text-settings.yaml file. By default, the tool works without this file, but you can use it to customize what gets included in the final text file.

Creating the Settings File

To create a settings file, add a file named .repo-to-text-settings.yaml at the root of your project with the following content:

# Syntax: gitignore rules

# Ignore files and directories for all sections from gitignore file
# Default: True
gitignore-import-and-ignore: True

# Ignore files and directories for tree
# and "Contents of ..." sections
ignore-tree-and-content:
  - ".repo-to-text-settings.yaml"
  - "examples/"
  - "MANIFEST.in"
  - "setup.py"

# Ignore files and directories for "Contents of ..." section
ignore-content:
  - "README.md"
  - "LICENSE"
  - "tests/"

You can copy this file from the existing example in the project and adjust it to your needs. This file allows you to specify rules for what should be ignored when creating the text representation of the repository.

Configuration Options

• gitignore-import-and-ignore: Ignore files and directories specified in .gitignore for all sections.
• ignore-tree-and-content: Ignore files and directories for the tree and "Contents of ..." sections.
• ignore-content: Ignore files and directories only for the "Contents of ..." section.

Using these settings, you can control which files and directories are included or excluded from the final text file.

Wildcards and Inclusions

Using Wildcard Patterns

• *.ext: Matches any file ending with .ext in any directory.
• dir/*.ext: Matches files ending with .ext in the specified directory dir/.
• **/*.ext: Matches files ending with .ext in any subdirectory (recursive).

If you want to include certain files that would otherwise be ignored, use the ! pattern:

ignore-tree-and-content:
  - "*.txt"
  - "!README.txt"

gitignore Rule to Ignore generated files

To ignore the generated text files, add the following lines to your .gitignore file:

repo-to-text_*.txt

Install Locally

To install repo-to-text locally for development, follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/kirill-markin/repo-to-text
   cd repo-to-text

2. Install the package with development dependencies:

   pip install -e ".[dev]"

Requirements

• Python >= 3.6
• Core dependencies:
  • setuptools >= 70.0.0
  • pathspec >= 0.12.1
  • argparse >= 1.4.0
  • PyYAML >= 6.0.1

Development Dependencies

For development, additional packages are required:

• pytest >= 8.2.2
• black
• mypy
• isort
• build
• twine

Running Tests

To run the tests, use the following command:

pytest

Uninstall

To uninstall the package, run the following command from the directory where the repository is located:

pip uninstall repo-to-text

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you have any suggestions or find a bug, please open an issue or submit a pull request.

License

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

Contact

This project is maintained by Kirill Markin. For any inquiries or feedback, please contact [email protected].