Codebase Dump

codebase-dump.sh is a simple, efficient Bash script designed to create a single-file text representation of your project. It is specifically optimized for providing full-codebase context to Large Language Models (LLMs).

Features

• Smart Filtering: Automatically respects your .gitignore settings.
• Safety First: Skips binary files and common lock-files (e.g., package-lock.json, Cargo.lock, yarn.lock).
• Visual Structure: Generates a project tree at the beginning of the dump.
• Flexible Scope: Supports recursive dumps or top-level-only analysis for both the root and any subfolder.
• Named Arguments: Supports short (-d, -R) and long (--dir, --no-recursive) flags.
• Progress Tracking: Displays real-time status with a file counter.
• Error Handling: Exits with a non-zero code and removes the output file if the dump fails or produces an empty result.

Usage

Ensure the script is executable:

chmod +x scripts/codebase-dump.sh

Dump the entire project

bash scripts/codebase-dump.sh

Output: dumps/codebase/codebase-dump.txt

Dump a specific subfolder (recursive)

bash scripts/codebase-dump.sh -d src/components

Output: dumps/codebase/codebase-dump_src_components.txt

Dump root-level files only (non-recursive)

bash scripts/codebase-dump.sh --no-recursive

Output: dumps/codebase/codebase-dump_root-only.txt

Dump top-level files of a subfolder only (non-recursive)

bash scripts/codebase-dump.sh -d src/components --no-recursive

Output: dumps/codebase/codebase-dump_src_components_top-only.txt

Requirements

• bash
• git (the script must be run inside a git repository)
• perl (used for robust binary file detection)

.gitignore recommendation

Add the following to your .gitignore to avoid committing dump files:

# Dumps (e.g. database dumps, codebase dumps, etc.)
dumps/