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A CLI tool to download files from GitHub repositories, including private ones, by leveraging your existing gh CLI authentication.

Project description

GitHub Downloader (gh-download)

gh-download is a Python command-line tool that allows you to download files from GitHub repositories, including private ones, by leveraging your existing gh (GitHub CLI) authentication.

[!TIP] If using uv, just run:

  1. uvx dotbins get cli/cli --name gh to install the GitHub CLI.
  2. uvx gh-download --help to see the help message.
[ToC] ๐Ÿ“š

Features

  • Download files from public and private GitHub repositories.
  • Utilizes your authenticated gh CLI session to access private repositories.
  • Automatically prompts for gh auth login if you are not authenticated.
  • Provides clear, user-friendly output and error messages using the Rich library.
  • Simple command-line interface.

Prerequisites

  • Python: Version 3.11 or higher.
  • GitHub CLI (gh): Must be installed and in your system's PATH. You can install it from https://cli.github.com/ or use dotbins and run uvx dotbins get cli/cli --name gh to install it.

Installation

Install gh-download using pip:

pip install gh-download

Or for development:

  1. Clone the repository:

    git clone git@github.com:basnijholt/gh-download.git
    cd gh-download
    
  2. Install in development mode:

    uv sync
    source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows use `.venv\Scripts\activate`
    

Usage

After installation, you can use the gh-download command:

gh-download REPO_OWNER REPO_NAME FILE_PATH [OPTIONS]
See the output of gh-download -h
 Usage: gh-download [OPTIONS] REPO_OWNER REPO_NAME FILE_PATH

 Download a specific file from a GitHub repository.

โ•ญโ”€ Arguments โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ•ฎ
โ”‚ *    repo_owner      TEXT  The owner of the repository (e.g., 'octocat').    โ”‚
โ”‚                            [required]                                        โ”‚
โ”‚ *    repo_name       TEXT  The name of the repository (e.g., 'Spoon-Knife'). โ”‚
โ”‚                            [required]                                        โ”‚
โ”‚ *    file_path       TEXT  The path to the file or folder within the         โ”‚
โ”‚                            repository (e.g., 'README.md' or                  โ”‚
โ”‚                            'src/my_folder').                                 โ”‚
โ”‚                            [required]                                        โ”‚
โ•ฐโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ•ฏ
โ•ญโ”€ Options โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ•ฎ
โ”‚ --branch  -b      TEXT  The branch, tag, or commit SHA to download from.     โ”‚
โ”‚                         [default: main]                                      โ”‚
โ”‚ --output  -o      TEXT  Local path to save the downloaded file or folder. If โ”‚
โ”‚                         downloading a file, this can be a new filename or a  โ”‚
โ”‚                         directory. If downloading a folder, this is the      โ”‚
โ”‚                         directory where the folder will be placed. Defaults  โ”‚
โ”‚                         to the original filename/foldername in the current   โ”‚
โ”‚                         directory.                                           โ”‚
โ”‚ --help    -h            Show this message and exit.                          โ”‚
โ•ฐโ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ”€โ•ฏ

Examples

# Download a file from a public repository
gh-download octocat Spoon-Knife README.md

# Download from a specific branch
gh-download octocat Spoon-Knife README.md --branch main

# Save to a specific location
gh-download octocat Spoon-Knife README.md --output ./my_readme.md

# Download from a different branch
gh-download microsoft vscode package.json --branch release/1.85

Arguments

  • REPO_OWNER: The owner of the repository (e.g., 'octocat')
  • REPO_NAME: The name of the repository (e.g., 'Spoon-Knife')
  • FILE_PATH: The path to the file within the repository (e.g., 'README.md')

Options

  • --branch, -b: The branch, tag, or commit SHA to download from (default: main)
  • --output, -o: Local path to save the downloaded file (defaults to the original filename in the current directory)
  • --help: Show help message

How it Works

  1. Checks for gh CLI: Verifies that the gh command-line tool is installed and accessible.
  2. Checks Authentication: Runs gh auth status to see if you are logged into GitHub.
  3. Prompts for Login: If not authenticated, it will ask if you want to run gh auth login. If you agree, it initiates the standard gh web-based authentication flow.
  4. Retrieves Token: Once authenticated, it uses gh auth token to get an OAuth token.
  5. Downloads File: Uses the GitHub API with the retrieved token to download the specified file.
  6. Saves File: Saves the downloaded content to the specified local output path.

Development

Running Tests

The project uses pytest for testing. To run tests using uv:

uv run pytest

Pre-commit Hooks

This project uses pre-commit hooks (ruff for linting and formatting, mypy for type checking) to maintain code quality. To set them up:

  1. Install pre-commit:

    pip install pre-commit
    
  2. Install the hooks:

    pre-commit install
    

    Now, the hooks will run automatically before each commit.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you find a bug or have a feature request, please open an issue. If you'd like to contribute code, please fork the repository and submit a pull request.

License

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

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