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Turn your codebase into AI-ready context.

A fast, lightweight CLI that turns your codebase into structured context for AI tools.

Installation · Usage · Configuration

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What is context?

context turns your project directory into a structured, AI-friendly representation.

Instead of manually copying files and explaining your project structure, run:

context

and get a single context file containing:

• Project directory structure
• Relevant source files
• File contents
• Project context notes
• Configurable exclusions
• File size limits

It is designed to make working with AI coding tools faster and more consistent.

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Quick start

Install context:

brew install meesakveld/tap/context

Navigate to your project:

cd your-project

Generate your project context and copy it directly to your clipboard:

context --clipboard

Then paste it into your AI assistant.

That's it.

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Why?

AI coding tools work much better when they understand the structure and relevant parts of a project.

But getting an entire codebase into an AI assistant isn't always convenient. Depending on the tool, uploading a project archive may not be supported, practical, or the best way to provide context.

context turns your codebase into a single, structured text representation that you can paste directly into AI tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI coding assistants.

context --clipboard

Then paste the generated context directly into your AI assistant.

No manual file selection. No copying files one by one. No need to manually create or upload a project archive.

Built for AI agents

context can also act as a simple bridge between your local codebase and AI agents that work primarily with text input.

Your project
     │
     ▼
   context
     │
     ├── Remove irrelevant files
     ├── Apply .contextignore
     ├── Skip binaries
     ├── Respect file size limits
     └── Handle environment files safely
     │
     ▼
Structured project context
     │
     ├── ChatGPT
     ├── Claude
     ├── Gemini
     └── Other AI agents

The goal is simple:

Less context preparation. More building.

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Features

• 🚀 Fast project scanning
• 📁 Automatic directory tree generation
• 📄 Collect relevant text files
• 🚫 Built-in exclusions for dependencies and build output
• 🔍 .contextignore support
• ⚙️ YAML configuration
• 📋 Clipboard support
• 🖥️ Stdout support
• 📊 Context statistics
• 🌳 Tree-only mode
• 📄 Files-only mode
• 🖲️ macOS Finder right-click quick action integration
• 🔐 Safe handling of environment files
• 🎨 Text, Markdown (.md), JSON (.json) and ZIP (.zip) output formats
• 💻 Cross-platform
• 🪶 Single binary with no runtime required

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Installation

Homebrew

brew install meesakveld/tap/context

From source

Make sure you have Go installed.

go install [github.com/meesakveld/context/cmd/context@latest](https://github.com/meesakveld/context/cmd/context@latest)

Build locally

git clone [https://github.com/meesakveld/context.git](https://github.com/meesakveld/context.git)
cd context

go build -o context ./cmd/context

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Usage

Run context from the root of your project:

context

This generates:

context.txt

with your project structure and relevant file contents.

Clipboard

Copy the generated context directly to your clipboard:

context --clipboard

This is useful when you want to paste your project context directly into an AI assistant.

Standard output

Print the generated context directly to stdout:

context --stdout

This is useful for piping the output into other tools.

Tree only

Only generate the project directory structure:

context --tree-only

Files only

Only include file contents:

context --files-only

Statistics

Show context statistics:

context --stats

Custom output

Write the generated context to a custom file:

context -o project-context.txt

Output formats & Automatic Extensions

context supports multiple output formats. When no custom output path is provided, the tool automatically selects the correct default file extension based on the chosen format:

Generate plain text (context.txt):

context --format txt

Generate Markdown (context.md):

context --format markdown
# or short flag:
context -f md

Generate JSON (context.json):

context --format json

Generate a filtered ZIP archive (context.zip) that respects all ignore rules and filters:

context --format zip
# or short flag:
context -f zip

File size limit

Limit the maximum size of individual files:

context --max-file-size 500KB

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Configuration

Create the default configuration files with:

context --init

This creates:

.context.yaml
.contextignore

If a .gitignore already exists, context --init also adds context.txt to it.

.context.yaml

Example:

output: context.txt

format: txt

max_file_size: 1MB

include_env: false

tree_only: false

files_only: false

include_notes: true

exclude: []

include: []

.contextignore

Use .contextignore to exclude files or directories:

# Dependencies
node_modules/
venv/
.venv/

# Build output
.next/
dist/
build/

# Generated files
coverage/
.cache/
.tmp/

# Secrets
*.pem
*.key
*.p12
*.pfx

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Environment files

Environment files are handled carefully by default.

These example files are safe to include:

.env.example
.env.template
.env.sample

Actual environment files such as:

.env
.env.local
.env.production

are not included unless explicitly enabled:

context --include-env

This helps prevent accidentally exposing secrets when generating context for AI tools.

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Examples

Typical project

Running:

context

might produce:

PROJECT DIRECTORY STRUCTURE

├── app/
│   ├── components/
│   │   ├── Button.tsx
│   │   └── Header.tsx
│   ├── page.tsx
│   └── layout.tsx
├── package.json
├── README.md
└── tsconfig.json

FILE CONTENTS

--- START FILE: app/components/Button.tsx ---

export function Button() {
    ...
}

--- END FILE: app/components/Button.tsx ---

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How it works

context scans your project and builds a structured representation while filtering out files that are unlikely to be useful to an AI assistant.

Project
   │
   ▼
Scan files
   │
   ├── Apply exclusions
   ├── Apply .contextignore
   ├── Check file types
   ├── Check file size
   └── Handle environment files
   │
   ▼
Build project tree
   │
   ▼
Collect file contents
   │
   ▼
Format output
   │
   ▼
context.txt / context.md / context.json / context.zip

The generated context contains both the structure of your project and the contents of relevant files, making it easier for AI tools to understand how your project is organised.

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Command reference

Command	Description
context	Generate project context
context -o file.txt	Write to a custom file
context --clipboard	Copy context to clipboard
context --stdout	Print context to stdout
context --tree-only	Generate only the directory tree
context --files-only	Generate only file contents
context --stats	Show context statistics
context --format txt	Generate plain text (context.txt)
context --format markdown	Generate Markdown (context.md)
context --format json	Generate JSON (context.json)
context --format zip	Generate a filtered ZIP archive (context.zip)
context --include-env	Include environment files
context --init	Create project configuration
context --install-finder	Install macOS Finder right-click
context --version	Show version

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Development

Clone the repository:

git clone [https://github.com/meesakveld/context.git](https://github.com/meesakveld/context.git)
cd context

Run the CLI:

go run ./cmd/context

Build:

go build ./...

Format the code:

gofmt -w cmd internal

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Contributing

Contributions, ideas and feedback are welcome.

If you find a bug or have an idea for a feature, open an issue or submit a pull request.

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License

Apache 2.0 © Mees Akveld