CodeCat4AI (ccat)

A lightning-fast tool to concatenate entire repositories into markdown files for AI processing.

🌟 SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT 🌟
If this repository reaches 1000 stars in 7 days, I will make CodeCat4AI available as a free online service accessible via a single link!
Show your support by starring this repo if you find it useful!

Why CodeCat4AI?

I noticed people keep looking for tools to convert a repo into one file to attach to their favorite LLM. Finding no simple solution, I created this 5-line bash script to do the job efficiently!

Features

• Fast: Quickly processes repositories of any size
• Simple: Just a 5-line bash script - no complex dependencies
• Flexible: Works with both remote and local repositories
• Smart: Automatically detects text files
• Dual Output: Generates both full and compact versions
• Clean: Handles temporary files and cleanup automatically

Installation

Using Homebrew (macOS)

# Install from Homebrew
brew tap unclecode/ccat4ai
brew install ccat4ai

This will install the tool as ccat4ai.

Usage

# Basic usage - output defaults to "codebase"
ccat4ai [repository_url_or_path] [output_name]

The second parameter [output_name] is optional and defaults to codebase if not provided.

Local vs Remote Repositories

• If a URL is provided (starts with http://, https://, or git@), the tool clones the repository temporarily
• If just a name is provided (like "crawl4ai"), the tool assumes it's a local directory in the current path
• If a path is provided, the tool uses that local repository

Examples

# Process a remote repository with custom output name
ccat4ai https://github.com/unclecode/crawl4ai crawl4ai

# Process a remote repository with default output name
# Creates codebase.md and mini.codebase.md
ccat4ai https://github.com/unclecode/crawl4ai

# Process a local repository by name (if in current directory)
ccat4ai crawl4ai

# Process a local repository by path
ccat4ai ~/projects/crawl4ai

Output

The tool generates two files:

• [output_name].md - Full version with all text files concatenated
• mini.[output_name].md - Compact version with only function/class definitions

Both files include a directory tree structure at the end.

Using a Shorter Command Name

After installation, you can create a shorter ccat command if preferred:

# Create ~/bin directory if it doesn't exist
mkdir -p ~/bin

# Create the symlink
ln -sf $(which ccat4ai) ~/bin/ccat

# Add ~/bin to your PATH (if not already done)
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc  # or ~/.bashrc

# Apply changes to current terminal
source ~/.zshrc  # or ~/.bashrc

Then you can use the shorter command:

ccat https://github.com/unclecode/crawl4ai output-name

Manual Installation

You can also download and use the script directly without Homebrew:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/unclecode/ccat4ai.git

# Option 1: Run directly from the cloned directory
cd ccat4ai
chmod +x ccat.sh
./ccat.sh https://github.com/user/repo output-name

# Option 2: Create a symlink in your bin directory
mkdir -p ~/bin
ln -sf "$(pwd)/ccat.sh" ~/bin/ccat4ai
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc  # or ~/.bashrc
source ~/.zshrc  # or ~/.bashrc

Uninstallation

# If installed with Homebrew
brew uninstall ccat4ai
brew untap unclecode/ccat4ai

# If you created a symlink
rm -f ~/bin/ccat4ai
rm -f ~/bin/ccat  # If you created the shorter alias

# For a complete cleanup, use our cleanup script:
curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unclecode/ccat4ai/main/cleanup-ccat4ai.sh | bash

Examples

# Process a remote repository with custom output name
ccat4ai https://github.com/unclecode/crawl4ai crawl4ai

# Process a remote repository with default output name
# Creates codebase.md and mini.codebase.md
ccat4ai https://github.com/unclecode/crawl4ai

# Process a local repository by name (if in current directory)
ccat4ai crawl4ai

# Process a local repository by path
ccat4ai ~/projects/crawl4ai

# If you created the ccat symlink:
ccat https://github.com/unclecode/crawl4ai

Output

The tool generates two files:

• [output_name].md - Full version with all text files concatenated
• mini.[output_name].md - Compact version with only function/class definitions

Both files include a directory tree structure at the end.

About the Author

Created by Unclecode, author of the popular Crawl4AI library.

If you find this tool useful, please ⭐ CodeCat4AI and Crawl4AI on GitHub!

License

MIT