ccontext 0.3.7

collect-context: Makes the process of collecting and sending context to an LLM like ChatGPT-4o as easy as possible.

ccontext

ccontext (collect-context) is a cross-platform utility designed to streamline the process of gathering and sending the context of a directory to large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT-4o. Our mission is to make collecting and sending context to an LLM as easy as possible.

🚀 Demo: Witness ccontext in Action! 🎥

⚠️ Warning: You May Be Amazed! 🤯

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c0a98dbc-d971-41dc-abe1-dad4be42e1ee

Features

Features

• 🌟 Easy Setup: Quick installation and configuration.
• 🌍 Cross-Platform Support: Supports Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• 💾 Binary File Support: Handle various binary files including PDFs, Word documents, images, audio, and video files.
• 📄 Markdown and PDF Generation: Generate detailed Markdown and PDF files of the directory structure and file contents.
• 🌐 Crawling of (documentation) Sites: Crawl and gather data from multiple sites using a specified list of URLs.
• ✂️ Tokenization and Chunking: Automatically handles tokenization and chunking to stay within LLM token limits.
• 🔧 Configurable Exclusions and Inclusions: Flexibly specify which files and directories to include or exclude.
• 🗣️ Verbose Output: Optional verbose mode for detailed output and debugging.
• 📝 Prompt Templates (Upcoming): Create and use custom templates for different types of prompts.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Usage
• Configuration
• Binary File Handling
• Document Crawling
• Use Cases and Examples
• Troubleshooting
• Development Guide

Installation

Using pipx (Recommended)

We recommend installing ccontext using pipx. pipx is a tool that lets you install and run Python applications in isolated environments, ensuring clean installation and easy management of CLI applications.

1. First, install pipx if you haven't already:

   # On macOS
   brew install pipx
   pipx ensurepath
   
   # On Ubuntu/Debian
   sudo apt install pipx
   pipx ensurepath
   
   # On Windows
   python -m pip install --user pipx
   python -m pipx ensurepath
   # or read https://pipx.pypa.io/stable/installation/#on-windows
   

2. Install ccontext using pipx:

   pipx install ccontext
   

Why use pipx?

• Isolated Environment: Each application runs in its own virtual environment
• No Dependency Conflicts: Avoids conflicts with other Python packages
• Easy Updates: Simple command to upgrade (pipx upgrade ccontext)
• Clean Uninstallation: Remove everything with one command (pipx uninstall ccontext)
• Global Access: Installed applications are available system-wide

Alternative: Installing from Source

If you prefer to install from source:

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/oxillix/ccontext.git
   cd ccontext
   

2. Set up a virtual environment:

   python3 -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows, use `venv\Scripts\activate`
   

3. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

4. Install the package:

   pip install .
   

Usage

Basic Usage

1. Run ccontext in the folder to ccollect with default settings defined in ~/.ccontext/config.json:

   ccontext
   

2. Specify a root path, exclusions, and inclusions:

   ccontext -p /path/to/directory -e ".git|node_modules" -i "important_file.txt|docs"
   

Command-Line Arguments

• -h, --help: Show help message.
• -p, --root_path: The root path to start the directory tree (default: current directory).
• -e, --excludes: Additional files or directories to exclude, separated by |, e.g., node_modules|.git.
• -i, --includes: Files or directories to include, separated by |, e.g., important_file.txt|docs.
• -m, --max_tokens: Maximum number of tokens allowed before chunking.
• -c, --config: Path to a custom configuration file.
• -v, --verbose: Enable verbose output to stdout.
• -ig, --ignore_gitignore: Ignore the .gitignore file for exclusions.
• -g, --generate-pdf: Generate a PDF of the directory tree and file contents.
• -gm, --generate-md: Generate a Markdown file of the directory tree and file contents.
• --crawl: Crawls the sites specified in the config.

Example

ccontext -p /home/user/project -e ".git|build" -i "README.md|src"

Configuration

Configuration File Location

ccontext looks for configuration in the following order:

1. Custom config file specified via -c argument
2. .ccontext-config.json in the current directory
   • If present, ccontext will automatically detect and use this local configuration file
   • Create this file in the same directory where you run the ccontext command
3. ~/.ccontext/config.json (default user configuration)

Configuration Options

{
  "verbose": false, // Enable detailed output
  "max_tokens": 115000, // Maximum tokens before chunking
  "model_type": "gpt-4o", // LLM model type for tokenization
  "buffer_size": 0.05, // Token buffer size (0-1)

  // System prompt for LLM context
  "context_prompt": "[[SYSTEM INSTRUCTIONS]] The following output represents...",

  // Web crawler configuration
  "urls_to_crawl": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.django-rest-framework.org/",
      "match": ["https://www.django-rest-framework.org/**"],
      "exclude": ["https://www.django-rest-framework.org/community/**"],
      "selector": "",
      "maxPagesToCrawl": 100,
      "outputFileName": "django-rest-framework.org.json",
      "maxTokens": 10000000
    }
  ],

  // Files/folders to explicitly include
  "included_folders_files": [],

  // Files/folders to exclude (supports glob patterns)
  "excluded_folders_files": [
    "**/.git",
    "**/bin",
    "**/build",
    "**/node_modules/**",
    "**/venv",
    "**/__pycache__",
    "**/package-lock.json",
    "**/ccontext.egg-info",
    "**/dist",
    "**/__tests__",
    "**/coverage",
    "**/.next",
    "**/pnpm-lock.yaml",
    "**/poetry.lock",
    "**/ccontext-output.pdf",
    "**/ccontext-output.md",
    "**/*.phpstorm.meta.php",
    "**/*.min.js",
    "**/composer.lock",
    "**/*.lock",
    "**/vendor",
    "**/laravel_access.log",
    "**/gpt-crawler",
    "**/*.DS_Store",
    "**/*.tox"
  ],

  // File extensions that can be uploaded to LLMs
  "uploadable_extensions": [
    // Documents
    ".pdf",
    ".doc",
    ".docx",
    ".xls",
    ".xlsx",
    ".ppt",
    ".pptx",

    // Images
    ".jpg",
    ".jpeg",
    ".png",
    ".gif",
    ".bmp",
    ".tiff",
    ".webp",
    ".heic",

    // Audio
    ".mp3",
    ".wav",
    ".ogg",
    ".flac",
    ".aac",
    ".m4a",

    // Video
    ".mp4",
    ".mkv",
    ".avi",
    ".mov",
    ".wmv",
    ".webm",

    // Archives
    ".zip",
    ".rar",
    ".7z",
    ".tar",
    ".gz",

    // Binary/System
    ".exe",
    ".dll",
    ".iso",
    ".dmg",
    ".bin",
    ".dat",
    ".apk",
    ".img",
    ".so",
    ".swf",
    ".psd"
  ]
}

Understanding Glob Patterns

ccontext uses the wcmatch library for glob pattern matching, which gives you powerful but easy-to-use file matching capabilities. Here's a simple guide to using glob patterns:

1. Important Wildcards Explained:

   • * (single star): Matches anything in the current folder only

     "*.txt"      # Matches: a.txt, b.txt  (in current folder)
     "*.txt"      # Won't match: sub/a.txt, deep/sub/b.txt
     

   • ** (double star): Matches any number of folders

     "**/temp"    # Matches: temp, sub/temp, deep/sub/temp
     "**/temp"    # Won't match: temp/file.txt
     

   • **/* (double star slash star): Matches everything in all folders

     "**/*.txt"   # Matches: a.txt, sub/b.txt, very/deep/c.txt
     "**/*"       # Matches everything, everywhere
     

   • ? matches any single character

   • .txt matches exact file extension

2. Simple Examples:

   {
     "excluded_folders_files": [
       // Basic matching
       "temp.txt", // Matches exact file temp.txt
       "*.txt", // Matches all .txt files in root folder
       "**/*.txt", // Matches all .txt files in any folder
   
       // Folder matching
       "temp/*", // Matches everything in temp folder
       "**/temp", // Matches temp folder anywhere
       "**/temp/**", // Matches everything in any temp folder
   
       // Common use cases
       "**/node_modules", // Matches node_modules folders anywhere
       "**/__pycache__", // Matches Python cache folders
       "**/*.pyc", // Matches Python compiled files
       "build/*" // Matches everything in build folder
     ]
   }
   

3. Tips for Beginners:

   • Start simple! Use *.ext for file extensions
   • Use **/ when you want to match in any folder
   • Test your patterns with a small folder first
   • When in doubt, be more specific
   • Remember, patterns are case-sensitive

The glob system is very forgiving - if you make a mistake, it usually just won't match anything rather than causing errors. Feel free to experiment!

Configuration Options Explained

Option	Description	Default
verbose	Enable detailed output	false
max_tokens	Maximum tokens before chunking	115000
model_type	LLM model type for tokenization	"gpt-4o"
buffer_size	Token buffer size (0-1)	0.05
excluded_folders_files	Glob patterns for exclusion	[".git", ...]
included_folders_files	Glob patterns for inclusion	[]
uploadable_extensions	File extensions to upload	[".pdf", ...]

Binary File Handling

ccontext supports handling binary files through the uploadable_extensions configuration.

Supported Binary Files

• Documents: .pdf, .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx
• Images: .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif, .bmp, .tiff, .webp, .heic
• Audio: .mp3, .wav, .ogg, .flac, .aac, .m4a
• Video: .mp4, .mkv, .avi, .mov, .wmv, .webm
• Archives: .zip, .rar, .7z, .tar, .gz
• Binary/System: .exe, .dll, .iso, .dmg, .bin, .dat, .apk, .img, .so, .swf, .psd

Binary File Processing

• Binary files matching uploadable_extensions are prepared for upload to LLMs
• File references are automatically copied to clipboard
• Most LLM providers limit maximum of X binary files per prompt
• Rate limits may apply based on your LLM provider

Example configuration for handling specific file types:

{
  "uploadable_extensions": [".pdf", ".jpg", ".png", ".xlsx"]
}

Document Crawling

The crawling feature allows you to gather documentation from websites for context.

Crawler Configuration

{
  "urls_to_crawl": [
    {
      "url": "https://docs.example.com",
      "match": ["https://docs.example.com/**"],
      "exclude": ["https://docs.example.com/internal/**"],
      "selector": "",
      "maxPagesToCrawl": 100,
      "outputFileName": "docs.json",
      "maxTokens": 2000000
    }
  ]
}

Crawler Options

• url: Starting URL for crawling
• match: Glob patterns for URLs to include
• exclude: Glob patterns for URLs to exclude
• selector: CSS selector for content extraction
• maxPagesToCrawl: Limit on pages to crawl
• outputFileName: Name of output file
• maxTokens: Maximum tokens to collect

Best Practices

• Use specific match patterns
• Respect robots.txt and site policies

Use Cases and Examples

Common Usage Patterns

1. Analyzing a Python Project

ccontext -p /path/to/project -e "venv|__pycache__|*.pyc"

2. Processing Documentation

ccontext -p ./docs --crawl -gm

3. Including Specific Files

ccontext -i "README.md|docs/*|*.py"

4. Generating PDF and Markdown

ccontext -g -gm  # Generates both PDF and Markdown

Integration Examples

1. With GitHub Copilot

ccontext -p . -e "node_modules|dist" -i "src/**/*.ts"

2. **With ChatGPT (webapp has max 32k) **

ccontext -p . --max_tokens 32000

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Clipboard Issues in SSH

   • Issue: Cannot copy to clipboard in SSH session
   • Solution:
     • Use SSH with X11 forwarding (ssh -X user@host), test using xeyes
     • On Mac, install XQuartz (brew install --cask xquartz)

2. Token Limit Exceeded

   • Issue: Content too large for LLM
   • Solution: Adjust max_tokens or use chunking feature

3. Binary File Handling

   • Issue: Binary files not being processed
   • Solution: Check uploadable_extensions configuration

Platform-Specific Issues

Windows: Use WSL if possible!

Otherwise:

• Issue: Path separators in configuration
• Solution: Use forward slashes or escaped backslashes

Linux

• Issue: X11 clipboard support
• Solution: Install xclip or xsel

macOS

• Issue: Clipboard permissions
• Solution: Grant terminal app accessibility permissions

Development Guide

Project Structure

ccontext/
├── ccontext/           # Main package directory
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── main.py         # Entry point
│   ├── file_tree.py    # Tree operations
│   └── ...
├── tests/              # Test directory
├── docs/               # Documentation
└── examples/           # Example configurations

Development Setup

1. Clone the repository
2. Create a virtual environment
3. Install development dependencies
4. Run tests

git clone https://github.com/oxillix/ccontext.git
# or
git clone [e-mail]:NicolasArnouts/ccontext.git
cd ccontext
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip3 install -r requirements.txt
pip3 install -e .

Contributing Guidelines

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Write tests for new features
4. Submit a pull request

Code Style

• Follow PEP 8 guidelines
• use isort and black
• Use type hints
• Keep functions focused and small

License

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

Acknowledgments

• Thanks to all contributors! 😊
• Inspired by the need for better context handling in AI interactions.
• Built with love and passion for the developer community! 💖

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Feel free to raise issues or contribute to the project. We appreciate your support!

Happy coding adventures! 🚀 Nicolas Arnouts

Looking for a skilled freelancer? I’m available for hire! Let’s collaborate — reach out to me at: [e-mail]

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