dump 📄

A simple CLI tool that dumps text files from directories into a format that's easy for LLMs to understand. Features include directory tree visualization, URL content fetching, and flexible filtering options.

Why?

When working with LLMs, you often need to provide multiple files as context. This tool makes it super easy by:

• Walking through directories recursively
• Filtering out binary files and respecting .gitignore
• Outputting text files in structured XML or Markdown formats
• Visualizing directory structure with tree view
• Fetching content from URLs via Exa API
• Providing flexible filtering and pattern matching
• Filtering by file extension with -e/--ext

Installation

Option 1: Download from GitHub Releases

# Download the latest release for your platform from:# https://github.com/Kabilan108/dump/releases/latest# Example for Linux:
curl -L https://github.com/Kabilan108/dump/releases/latest/download/dump_linux_amd64 -o dump
chmod +x dump
sudo mv dump /usr/local/bin/

Option 2: Build from Source

# Using go install
go install github.com/kabilan108/dump@latest
# Or clone and build
git clone https://github.com/kabilan108/dump
cd dump
make build

Option 3: Using Nix Flake

# Install directly
nix profile install github:kabilan108/dump
# Or run without installing
nix run github:kabilan108/dump
# For development
nix develop

Usage

# Dump all text files from current directory
dump
# Dump from specific directories
dump src/ tests/ docs/
# Dump with directory flags
dump -d src/ -d tests/
# Include specific files using glob patterns
dump -g "*.go" -g "*.md"# Include specific files using extensions (case-insensitive)
dump -e go -e md
# Add ignore patterns (can use multiple times)
dump -i "*.log" -i "node_modules"# Filter out lines matching a regex pattern
dump -f "TODO|FIXME"# Include directory tree structure in output
dump -t
# List file paths only (no content)
dump -l
# Markdown output format instead of XML
dump -o md
# Custom XML tag name
dump --xml-tag source# Fetch content from URLs (requires EXA_API_KEY)
dump -u https://docs.example.com/api
# Mix local files and URLs
dump -d src/ -u https://github.com/user/repo
# Custom timeout and live crawl for URLs
dump -u https://example.com --timeout 30 --live
# Combine options
dump src/ tests/ -g "*.go" -i "vendor" -f "^//.*" -t
# Get help
dump -h

Flag Reference

Flag	Long Flag	Description
-d	--dir	Directory to scan (can be repeated)
-g	--glob	Glob pattern to match files (can be repeated)
-e	--ext	File extension to include (repeatable). Accepts go, .go, MD, etc.
-f	--filter	Skip lines matching this regex
-h	--help	Display help message
-i	--ignore	Glob pattern to ignore files/dirs (can be repeated)
-l	--list	List file paths only (no content)
-o	--out-fmt	Output format: xml or md (default "xml")
-t	--tree	Show directory tree structure
-u	--url	URL to fetch content from via Exa API (can be repeated)
-v	--version	Display version information
	--xml-tag	Custom XML tag name for wrapping content (only for xml output)
	--timeout	Timeout in seconds for URL fetching (default 15)
	--live	Force fresh content from URLs (livecrawl=always)
	--tmux	Capture tmux panes: current/all (current window)/%<id>/<win>.<pane>/@<pane_id> (repeatable)
	--tmux-lines	Lines of history per tmux pane (default 500; 0 = full)

Output Format

XML Format (Default)

Files are output in this format:

<filepath="relative/path/to/file">
content of the file goes here
multiple lines are preserved
</file>

URLs are output as:

<fileurl="https://example.com">
fetched content goes here
</file>

Markdown Format

When using -o md, files are output as code blocks:

```relative/path/to/filecontent of the file goes heremultiple lines are preserved```

URLs are output as:

```https://example.comfetched content goes here```

Tree Mode

When using -t, shows directory structure:

.
├── src/
│ ├── main.go
│ └── utils/
│ └── helper.go
└── README.md

List Mode

When using -l, shows only file paths:

src/main.go
src/utils/helper.go
README.md

URL Fetching

The tool can fetch content from URLs using the Exa API:

# Set your Exa API keyexport EXA_API_KEY="your-api-key"# Fetch content from URLs
dump -u https://docs.example.com/api -u https://github.com/user/repo
# Combine with local files
dump -d src/ -u https://example.com/docs
# Use live crawl for fresh content
dump -u https://example.com --live
# Custom timeout
dump -u https://example.com --timeout 30

Tmux Panes

Dump tmux panes alongside files and URLs.

# Current pane
dump --tmux current
# Specific panes (by id and by window.pane)
dump --tmux %1 --tmux 0.1
# All panes in current window with full history
dump --tmux all --tmux-lines 0
# Limit history lines (default 500)
dump --tmux current --tmux-lines 200

Markdown output for tmux panes is formatted as:

```shell# tmux-pane: id='%1' session='mysess' window='0' pane='1'<pane content>```

XML output for tmux panes uses a fixed tag:

<tmux_paneid='%1'session='mysess'window='0'pane='1'>
<pane content>
</tmux_pane>

URL Requirements

• EXA_API_KEY environment variable must be set
• URLs are processed after local file processing
• Default timeout is 15 seconds (configurable with --timeout)
• Use --live flag to force fresh content retrieval

Examples

Basic Usage

# Dump current directory
dump
# Dump specific directories with tree view
dump -t -d src/ -d docs/
# Only Go files, ignore vendor, show tree
dump -g "*.go" -i "vendor" -t

Advanced Filtering

# Skip comment lines and show only file paths
dump -f "^\s*//" -l
# Markdown output with custom patterns
dump -o md -g "*.md" -g "*.txt" -i "node_modules"# Combine globs and extensions (OR semantics)# Includes files that match any glob OR any listed extension
dump -g "**/*.test.js" -e go -e md

Fetching URLs

# Mix local and remote content
dump -d src/ -u https://raw.githubusercontent.com/user/repo/main/README.md
# Multiple URLs with custom timeout
dump -u https://example.com/api -u https://docs.example.com --timeout 30

License

MIT