A simple script to gather, annotate, and copy code to your clipboard

gather.js

#!/usr/bin/env node

/**
 * gather.js
 *
 * A CLI tool to gather code files from given directories/files, annotate them,
 * and copy the resulting annotated code blob into the clipboard.
 *
 * Usage:
 *   node gather.js relative/path/to/dir relative/path/to/file.js ...
 *
 * This tool will:
 * - Recursively crawl directories and pick up files with common code extensions.
 * - Concatenate their contents into a single annotated blob.
 * - Copy the blob to your clipboard using `pbcopy`.
 *
 * Example prompt annotation (this will be included at the top of the blob):
 *
 *  "Below is a codebase comprised of multiple files and directories. Each file is
 *   annotated with a header so that you know its path and language. I'll use this
 *   codebase as context for my next questions. Please carefully read through it
 *   so that when I ask my questions, you can refer to the relevant parts of the code.
 *   I will provide separate prompts after I paste this code."
 */

const fs = require('fs')
const path = require('path')
const { execSync } = require('child_process')

// Extensions of files we consider to be "code" files
const CODE_EXTENSIONS = [
  '.js',
  '.ts',
  '.jsx',
  '.tsx',
  '.php',
  '.rb',
  '.py',
  '.java',
  '.cs',
  '.go',
  '.html',
  '.css',
  '.scss',
  '.sass',
  '.json',
  '.yml',
  '.yaml'
]

// Recursively gather code files from a given path
async function gatherFilesFromPath(rootPath) {
  let results = []
  const stats = fs.statSync(rootPath)

  if (stats.isDirectory()) {
    const entries = fs.readdirSync(rootPath)
    for (const entry of entries) {
      const entryPath = path.join(rootPath, entry)
      const entryStats = fs.statSync(entryPath)
      if (entryStats.isDirectory()) {
        // Recurse into subdirectory
        const subResults = await gatherFilesFromPath(entryPath)
        results = results.concat(subResults)
      } else {
        // If it's a file, check extension
        const ext = path.extname(entryPath).toLowerCase()
        if (CODE_EXTENSIONS.includes(ext)) {
          results.push(entryPath)
        }
      }
    }
  } else if (stats.isFile()) {
    const ext = path.extname(rootPath).toLowerCase()
    if (CODE_EXTENSIONS.includes(ext)) {
      results.push(rootPath)
    }
  }

  return results
}

;(async function main() {
  const args = process.argv.slice(2)
  if (args.length === 0) {
    console.error('Usage: gather.js <file|directory> [<file|directory>...]')
    process.exit(1)
  }

  // Gather all files from the specified arguments
  let allFiles = []
  for (const arg of args) {
    const files = await gatherFilesFromPath(arg)
    allFiles = allFiles.concat(files)
  }

  // Deduplicate files (just in case)
  allFiles = [...new Set(allFiles)]

  // Create an annotated blob
  let blob = `
Below is a codebase comprised of multiple files and directories. Each file is annotated with a header so that you know its path and language. I'll use this codebase as context for my next questions. Please carefully read through it so that when I ask my questions, you can refer to the relevant parts of the code.

I will provide separate prompts after I paste this code.

------------------------------------------------------------
`

  for (const file of allFiles) {
    const relPath = path.relative(process.cwd(), file)
    const ext = path.extname(file).toLowerCase()
    const languageHint = (() => {
      // Simple heuristic: pick a language name based on extension for display purposes
      switch (ext) {
        case '.js':
          return 'JavaScript'
        case '.ts':
          return 'TypeScript'
        case '.jsx':
          return 'JavaScript (JSX)'
        case '.tsx':
          return 'TypeScript (TSX)'
        case '.php':
          return 'PHP'
        case '.rb':
          return 'Ruby'
        case '.py':
          return 'Python'
        case '.java':
          return 'Java'
        case '.cs':
          return 'C#'
        case '.go':
          return 'Go'
        case '.html':
          return 'HTML'
        case '.css':
          return 'CSS'
        case '.scss':
        case '.sass':
          return 'Sass/SCSS'
        case '.json':
          return 'JSON'
        case '.yml':
        case '.yaml':
          return 'YAML'
        default:
          return 'Code'
      }
    })()

    const code = fs.readFileSync(file, 'utf8')
    blob += `\n\n### File: ${relPath} (${languageHint})\n\`\`\`${languageHint.toLowerCase()}\n${code}\n\`\`\`\n`
  }

  blob += '\n------------------------------------------------------------\n'

  // Copy to clipboard using pbcopy (macOS)
  try {
    execSync('pbcopy', { input: blob })
    console.log('✅ Prompt copied to clipboard')
  } catch (error) {
    console.error("Failed to copy to clipboard. Here's the blob for reference:\n")
    console.log(blob)
  }
})()

Thanks for the gist. I forked it to fix the typo on line 161 (coipied => copied) but turns out you can't create a pull request for a gist 😅

Thanks for the gist. I forked it to fix the typo on line 161 (coipied => copied) but turns out you can't create a pull request for a gist 😅

Fixed! Thank you.