CopyTree

Turn any codebase into a structured, AI-friendly format that fits in context windows.

🌐 copytree.dev

Who is this for?

• Engineers sharing code context with AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT, etc.)
• Code reviewers capturing diffs and changes
• Documentation writers exporting structured code snippets

📦 Installation

npm install -g copytree

⚡ Quick Start

# Copy to clipboard (default: XML format)
copytree

# Copy as file reference (useful for pasting into LLMs)
copytree -r

# Save to file
copytree -o project-structure.xml

# Display tree structure only (no file contents)
copytree -t
copytree --only-tree

# Copy from GitHub repository
copytree https://github.com/user/repo

# Display in terminal
copytree --display

# Note: Destination behavior
# - default (no flags): copies to clipboard
# - --display: prints to terminal
# - -o/--output: writes to a file
# - -S/--stream: streams to stdout/file (best for large outputs or CI)

🎯 Why CopyTree?

• Smart File Discovery - Intelligent selection with .gitignore, .copytreeignore, and .copytreeinclude support
• Multiple Output Formats - XML (default), Markdown, JSON, tree view
• Profile System - Default profile with customizable overrides
• Git Integration - Filter by modified files, branch diffs, staged changes
• External Sources - Include files from GitHub repos or other directories
• Character Limiting - Stay within AI context windows automatically
• Secrets Detection - Prevent accidental exposure of API keys and credentials
• Electron Ready - Works in Electron ≥28 main processes for desktop apps

🔧 Frequently Used Flags

• --format <xml|json|markdown|tree> – Output format (default: xml)
• -t, --only-tree – Tree structure only (no file contents)
• -i, --display – Print to terminal instead of clipboard
• --clipboard – Force copy to clipboard
• -S, --stream – Stream output to stdout/file (ideal for large projects or CI)
• -C, --char-limit <n> – Enforce character budget per file
• --with-line-numbers – Add line numbers to file contents
• --info – Include file metadata (size, modified date)
• --show-size – Show file sizes in output
• --with-git-status – Include git status for each file
• -r, --as-reference – Generate file and copy its reference (for LLMs)
• --always <pattern...> – Force include specific patterns
• --dedupe – Remove duplicate files
• --sort <path|size|modified|name|extension> – Sort files

🍳 Common Recipes

# Only modified files
copytree -m
copytree --modified

# Compare with main branch
copytree -c main
copytree --changed main

# Include JS/TS files, exclude node_modules
copytree -f "*.js" -f "*.ts" --exclude "node_modules"

# Copy GitHub folder to XML
copytree https://github.com/user/repo/tree/main/src -o repo-src.xml

# Stream output (great for CI or large projects)
copytree -S --format markdown > output.md
copytree --stream --format json | jq .

# Dry run (preview without copying)
copytree --dry-run

# Show only tree structure (no file contents)
copytree -t
copytree --only-tree

# Different output formats
copytree --format json -o structure.json
copytree --format xml -o structure.xml
copytree --format markdown -o structure.md

📋 Profiles (60-second guide)

Profiles control which files are included and how they're processed.

Create a custom profile:

# .copytree/my-profile.yml
name: my-profile
include: ["src/**/*.js", "README.md"]
exclude: ["**/*.test.js"]
output:
  format: markdown

Use your profile:

# Use a profile by name
copytree -p my-profile -o summary.md
copytree --profile my-profile

# Auto-detect a folder profile as a reference
copytree --as-reference

⚙️ Configuration

CopyTree uses hard-coded defaults to keep things simple. Configuration is managed through:

Configuration Files

• Global: ~/.copytree/config/
• Project: .copytree/config/

Example ~/.copytree/config/copytree.js:

module.exports = {
  defaultExclusions: ['node_modules', '.git', 'dist', 'build'],
  maxFileSize: 10 * 1024 * 1024, // 10MB
  includeHidden: false,
  respectGitignore: true
};

Ignore Files

Use .copytreeignore in your project directory for custom exclusions (uses .gitignore syntax):

# .copytreeignore
node_modules/
*.log
.env
dist/

Use .copytreeinclude to force-include specific files that would otherwise be excluded (e.g., hidden files):

# .copytreeinclude
.example/**
.github/**
config/**

Note: .copytreeinclude patterns have the highest precedence and will override all other exclusion rules, including .gitignore, .copytreeignore, and profile excludes.

🛠️ Requirements

• Node.js 20+ (required by engines in package.json)

📖 Documentation

For detailed guides, see the docs/ directory:

• Getting Started - Introduction and quick start
• CLI Reference - Complete command options
• Architecture - Pipeline and system design
• Troubleshooting - Common issues and solutions
• Electron Integration - Using CopyTree in Electron apps

📚 Commands Reference

Main Commands

• copytree [path] - Copy directory structure
• copytree cache:clear - Clear caches
• copytree config:validate - Validate configuration
• copytree config:inspect - Inspect effective configuration with source provenance (redacts secrets by default)

Note: CopyTree automatically creates required directories (e.g., ~/.copytree/cache/, ~/.copytree/profiles/) on first use. No manual setup is required.

🐛 Troubleshooting

Quick Fixes

Large file errors → Adjust COPYTREE_MAX_FILE_SIZE environment variable

Binary files → Use --include-binary to include binary files; control placeholder/base64 encoding via config

Memory issues → Reduce COPYTREE_MAX_TOTAL_SIZE or enable streaming mode with -S/--stream

Slow performance → Enable caching, add more exclusion patterns

Profile not found → Check search paths: project .copytree/ → user ~/.copytree/profiles/ → built-in profiles/

Git errors → Ensure directory is a git repository with git status

Debug Mode

# Enable verbose logging
DEBUG=copytree:* copytree /path/to/project

# Performance monitoring
COPYTREE_PERFORMANCE=true copytree /path/to/project

# Validate configuration
copytree config:validate
copytree config:inspect

# Clear cache
copytree cache:clear

For more solutions, see the Troubleshooting Guide.

🛠️ Development

Setup

git clone https://github.com/gregpriday/copytree.git
cd copytree
npm install
npm link  # Makes 'copytree' available globally

Testing

npm test                   # Run all tests
npm test -- --watch        # Watch mode
npm run test:coverage      # Coverage report
npm run lint               # Lint code
npm run format             # Format code

For detailed testing information, see tests/README.md.

🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests for new functionality
5. Ensure tests pass (npm test) and coverage meets thresholds (80%)
6. Run linting (npm run lint) and formatting (npm run format)
7. Commit your changes
8. Push to your branch
9. Open a Pull Request

See our Testing Guide for more details on writing and running tests.

⚡ Performance

CopyTree is optimized for large codebases:

• Streaming processing - Memory efficient for large files (>10MB)
• Parallel file processing - Faster for many files
• Smart caching - Avoid redundant transformations
• Configurable limits - Prevent resource exhaustion

Performance targets:

• Process 10,000 files in < 30 seconds
• Memory usage < 500MB for large projects
• Support projects up to 100MB total size

📄 License

MIT License. See LICENSE file for details.

📝 Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for version history and release notes.

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Need help? Check the docs or open an issue.