repo-to-txt

Extract any GitHub repository into a single, organized text file.

Overview

extract_repo.sh clones a GitHub repository (public or private), extracts all text-based files, and generates a comprehensive output file containing:

• A hierarchical directory structure
• All code files with clear headers
• Automatic filtering of binary files, build artifacts, and dependencies

Perfect for code reviews, documentation, AI analysis, or creating shareable snapshots of your codebase.

Features

• Branch-specific extraction - Clone and extract from any branch
• Private repository support - Works with GitHub CLI authentication or SSH
• Smart filtering - Automatically excludes binary files, images, and common artifacts
• Hierarchical structure - Tree view of the entire repository at the top

Prerequisites

• git - For cloning repositories
• gh (optional) - GitHub CLI for private repository access

Usage

./extract_repo.sh <repository_url> [branch]

Output

The script generates a file named <repo-name>_<branch>_code.txt containing:

===========================================================
Repository: my-project
Branch: main
===========================================================

DIRECTORY STRUCTURE:
-----------------------------------------------------------
.
├── src/
│   ├── components/
│   │   └── Header.jsx
│   └── index.js
├── package.json
└── README.md

===========================================================

===========================================================
FILE: ./README.md
===========================================================
# My Project
...

What Gets Filtered Out

The script automatically excludes:

Directories:

• .git/ - Git metadata
• node_modules/ - Node.js dependencies
• venv/ - Python virtual environments
• __pycache__/ - Python cache

Files:

• Binary files (.so, .dll, .dylib)
• Compiled Python (.pyc)
• Images (.png, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .ico, .svg)
• Documents (.pdf)
• Archives (.zip, .tar, .gz)
• System files (.DS_Store)

Customization

Edit extract_repo.sh to customize filtering:

Add more excluded directories:

-not -path '*/dist/*' \
-not -path '*/build/*' \

Add more file extensions to skip:

-not -name '*.mp4' \
-not -name '*.wav' \

Authors

Ali Siahkoohi (alisk@ucf.edu)