repo-distiller

Convert a code repository into a single text file for LLM prompting.

When working with an LLM on a codebase, you often need to share the full context of a project. repo-distiller walks a repository, renders a directory tree, and concatenates all relevant source files into one clean text file you can paste into a prompt or attach to a conversation.

Installation

pip install repo-distiller

Or via uv:

uvx repo-distiller

Usage

repo-distiller <repo> -o <output> [options]

Arguments

Basic example

repo-distiller ./my-project -o context.txt

This writes a directory tree followed by the contents of every file, respecting .gitignore (including nested .gitignore files) and skipping common noise (lock files, __pycache__, .venv, node_modules, etc.).

Write to stdout

repo-distiller ./my-project -o - | pbcopy

Preview files without writing

repo-distiller ./my-project --dry-run

Output format

my-project/
├── src/
│   ├── main.py
│   └── utils.py
└── pyproject.toml

==============================
FILE: src/main.py
==============================
<file contents>

==============================
FILE: src/utils.py
==============================
<file contents>

Include config

Limit the output to specific paths, extensions, or file sizes:

# include.yaml
paths:
  - src/
extensions:
  - .py
  - .ts
limits:
  max_file_size_kb: 256

repo-distiller ./my-project -o context.txt -i include.yaml

Exclude specific paths

Exclude individual files or directories directly from the command line:

repo-distiller ./my-project -o context.txt -e tests/ -e docs/legacy/

Exclude config file

For more complex exclusion rules, use a YAML config file via --exclude-file:

# exclude.yaml
paths:
  - tests/
  - docs/
extensions:
  - .md
  - .txt

repo-distiller ./my-project -o context.txt --exclude-file exclude.yaml

When --exclude-file is provided, .gitignore is not loaded automatically — the exclude config takes full control.

Both flags can be combined — -e paths are merged with the YAML config:

repo-distiller ./my-project -o context.txt --exclude-file exclude.yaml -e extra_dir/

Combining include and exclude

repo-distiller ./my-project -o context.txt -i include.yaml -e tests/ -e docs/

Default exclusions

The following are excluded by default (disable with --no-default-excludes):

• Directories: .git, __pycache__, .venv, venv, node_modules, .mypy_cache, .pytest_cache, .ruff_cache, dist, build, .eggs
• Suffixes: .egg-info
• Files: common lock files (e.g. uv.lock, package-lock.json), .gitignore, LICENSE

License

MIT