dir_to_clipboard

A simple command-line utility that copies directory contents and file contents to your clipboard. Bring your GPT up to speed with your codebase fast.

Features

• 📁 Copy directory listings (ls -l output)
• 📄 Copy file contents
• 🌳 Optional recursive directory traversal
• 🔍 File pattern filtering (e.g., *.rs, *.txt)
• 📋 Direct clipboard integration
• 🚀 Fast and memory efficient
• ✅ Base directory selection with --base-dir
• 🔓 .gitignore support for ignoring files (toggleable with --no-ignore)

Installation

Prerequisites

• Rust and Cargo (if building from source)
• A clipboard-compatible system (macOS, Linux with X11)
• Linux users: Install xsel for clipboard functionality:

  sudo pacman -S xsel  # Arch Linux
  sudo apt-get install xsel  # Debian/Ubuntu
  sudo yum install xsel  # Red Hat/CentOS

Building from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/deep-ink-ventures/dir_to_clipboard
cd dir_to_clipboard

# Build for release
cargo build --release

# Install globally (macOS/Linux)
sudo cp target/release/dir_to_clipboard /usr/local/bin/

# Or install for current user only
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
cp target/release/dir_to_clipboard ~/.local/bin/
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc  # or ~/.bashrc

Usage

Basic Usage

# Copy current directory contents
dir_to_clipboard

# Copy recursively
dir_to_clipboard --recursive

# Filter specific files
dir_to_clipboard --filter "*.rs"

# Combine options
dir_to_clipboard --recursive --filter "*.rs"

# Set base directory
dir_to_clipboard --base-dir /path/to/dir

# Disable .gitignore filtering
dir_to_clipboard --no-ignore

# Short form
dir_to_clipboard -r -f "*.rs" -d /path/to/dir --no-ignore

Output Format

The copied content will be formatted as follows:

=== Directory: ./path/to/dir ===
[ls -l output here]

=== File: ./path/to/file.rs ===
[file contents here]

Command-line Options

Option	Short	Description
--base-dir <DIR>	-d	Set the base directory (default: current dir)
--recursive	-r	Recursively process subdirectories
--filter <PATTERN>	-f	Filter files by pattern (e.g., "*.rs")
--no-ignore		Disable .gitignore filtering
--help	-h	Show help message
--version	-V	Show version information

Smart Directory Handling

When using recursive mode with a filter:

• Only directories containing matching files are included
• Empty directories are automatically skipped
• Directory listings are shown before their file contents

Dependencies

• clipboard - System clipboard integration
• walkdir - Directory traversal
• anyhow - Error handling
• clap - Command-line argument parsing
• glob - File pattern matching
• gitignore - .gitignore file handling
• xsel (Linux) - Clipboard management
• tempfile - For tests

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

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

Acknowledgments

• The Rust community for excellent crates
• Ferris the crab for being an awesome mascot 🦀;