export-codebase

A simple CLI tool that exports a project's relevant text files into a single, structured file.

export-codebase is useful when you want to share a codebase, archive a project, or provide an entire project as context to an LLM.

Features

• Respects your project's .gitignore
• Automatically excludes node_modules, .git, build outputs, lock files, and environment files
• Keeps .env.example while excluding other .env files
• Skips binary files
• Skips files larger than 1 MB
• Generates an ASCII project structure
• Preserves each file's relative path in the output
• Supports custom output filenames
• Supports hidden files when explicitly enabled
• Works with any project, regardless of programming language

Installation

You don't need to install it globally.

Run it directly with npx:

npx export-codebase

Or install it as a dependency:

npm install export-codebase

Usage

Run the command from the root of your project:

npx export-codebase

By default, it creates:

project.txt

The generated file contains the project structure followed by the contents of the relevant files.

Example:

// Project structure
my-project/
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts
│   └── utils.ts
├── package.json
└── README.md

// src/index.ts

import { hello } from "./utils.ts"

hello()

// src/utils.ts

export function hello() {
  console.log("Hello, world!")
}

This makes it easy to copy an entire project into an LLM or share it as a single file.

Options

Custom output file

Use -o or --output to specify the output filename:

npx export-codebase -o codebase.txt

Silent mode

Use -s or --silent to suppress informational logs:

npx export-codebase --silent

Warnings, errors, and the final summary are still displayed.

Include hidden files

Hidden files and directories are excluded by default.

Use --include-hidden to process hidden files that are not otherwise ignored:

npx export-codebase --include-hidden

Exclusions

export-codebase automatically excludes:

• Files and directories matched by .gitignore
• node_modules
• .git
• .env and other environment files
• Build outputs such as dist, build, out, coverage, and target
• Package manager lock files
• Binary files
• Files larger than 1 MB
• The generated output file itself

.env.example is intentionally not excluded.

Why?

When working with AI coding tools, you often need to provide context from an entire codebase.

Copying files manually is tedious, while sending an entire directory can include unnecessary files such as dependencies, build artifacts, binaries, and secrets.

export-codebase creates a clean, structured representation of your project in a single file.

Project
  ↓
export-codebase
  ↓
project.txt
  ↓
LLM / sharing / archiving

Requirements

• Node.js 18 or newer

Development

Clone the repository and install dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/brkunver/export-codebase.git
cd export-codebase
npm install

Build the project:

npm run build

Run the CLI:

npm start

Run the manual smoke test:

npm run fulltest

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.

See the LICENSE file for details.

Repository

GitHub

NPM