Flatten

A command-line utility to flatten all files from a Git repository into a single text file. This tool is particularly useful for feeding entire codebases into Large Language Models (LLMs) for analysis, documentation, or code review purposes.

Features

• 🔍 Git-aware: Works directly with Git repositories and specific revisions
• 📁 Complete file extraction: Processes all files from any Git commit, branch, or tag
• 🚫 Binary file handling: Automatically detects and skips binary files with placeholders
• 📝 Clear file separation: Each file is clearly marked with headers for easy navigation
• ⚡ Fast and efficient: Uses Git's native object database for optimal performance
• 🛠️ Flexible output: Customizable output file location

Installation

From Source

git clone https://github.com/irvingoujAtDevolution/flatten.git

cd flatten

cargo build --release

The binary will be available at target/release/flatten (or target/release/flatten.exe on Windows).

Using Cargo

cargo install --path .

Usage

Basic Usage

# Flatten the current repository to default output file

flatten


# Flatten a specific repository

flatten --repo /path/to/repository


# Flatten a specific branch or commit

flatten --rev main

flatten --rev abc123def


# Specify custom output file

flatten --output my_codebase.txt

Command Line Options

Options:
  -r, --repo <REPO_PATH>        The path to the git repository [default: .]
  -v, --rev <REVISION>          The git revision to inspect (branch, tag, or commit hash) [default: HEAD]
  -o, --output <OUTPUT_FILE>    The path for the output file [default: flattened_files.txt]
  -h, --help                    Print help
  -V, --version                 Print version

Examples

# Flatten the main branch of a repository

flatten --repo ./my-project --rev main --output codebase.txt


# Flatten a specific commit

flatten --rev a1b2c3d4 --output snapshot.txt


# Flatten current repository with custom output

flatten -o project_dump.txt

Output Format

The tool creates a text file with the following structure:

--- File: src/main.rs ---
[file content here]

--- File: README.md ---
[file content here]

--- File: assets/image.png ---
[Binary file: content not included]

Use Cases

• LLM Analysis: Feed entire codebases to language models for code review, documentation generation, or refactoring suggestions
• Code Documentation: Create comprehensive snapshots of project states
• Legacy Code Analysis: Extract and analyze historical versions of codebases
• Code Migration: Prepare code for migration tools that require flat file inputs
• Educational Purposes: Create teaching materials from real-world codebases

Technical Details

• Language: Rust 2024 Edition
• Dependencies:
  • clap - Command-line argument parsing
  • git2 - Git repository access
  • anyhow - Error handling
• Binary Detection: Automatically identifies binary files and excludes their content
• Memory Efficient: Streams file content directly to output without loading entire repository into memory

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under either of

• Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE)
• MIT License (LICENSE-MIT)

at your option.

Author

Irving Ou - jou@devolutions.net

Note: This tool respects Git's ignore rules by default and will only process files that are tracked in the Git repository at the specified revision.