Rstring: Rsync-Powered Code Stringification

Rstring is a developer tool that uses Rsync to efficiently gather and stringify code from your projects. It's designed to streamline the process of preparing code context for AI programming assistants, making it easy to get intelligent insights about your codebase.

Quickly prompt an LLM with your whole project!

Installation

Rstring requires Python 3.8+. We recommend using pipx for installation, as it installs Rstring in an isolated environment, preventing conflicts with other packages.

Using pipx (recommended)

1. Install pipx if you haven't already. Follow the official pipx installation guide for your operating system.

2. Install Rstring:

   pipx install rstring

Using pip

If you prefer to use pip, you can install Rstring with:

pip install rstring

Updating Rstring

To update Rstring to the latest version:

With pipx:

pipx upgrade rstring

With pip:

pip install --upgrade rstring

For more detailed information about pipx and its usage, refer to the pipx documentation.

Quick Start

Basic usage:

rstring  # All files (filtered by .gitignore)

Work with different directories:

rstring /path/to/project  # Analyze a specific directory
rstring -C /path/to/project  # Change directory before processing

Custom filtering:

rstring --include='*.py'  # Only Python files
rstring --include='*/' --include='*.js' --exclude='test*'  # Complex patterns

Get help:

rstring --help

Get a tree view of selected files:

rstring --summary

Advanced Usage

Custom Filtering

Rstring uses rsync's powerful include/exclude patterns:

# Include only Python files
rstring --include='*/' --include='*.py' --exclude='*'

# Include web development files, exclude tests
rstring --include='*/' --include='*.{js,css,html}' --exclude='test*' --exclude='*'

# Include documentation
rstring --include='*/' --include='*.md' --include='*.rst' --exclude='*'

Creating Custom Shortcuts

For frequently used patterns, create shell aliases in your .bashrc or .zshrc:

# Python source files only
alias rstring-py="rstring --include='*/' --include='*.py' --exclude='test*'"

# Web development files
alias rstring-web="rstring --include='*/' --include='*.{js,ts,css,html}' --exclude='node_modules/'"

# Documentation files
alias rstring-docs="rstring --include='*/' --include='*.{md,rst,txt}' --exclude='*'"

# All source code (no tests, docs, or config)
alias rstring-src="rstring --include='src/' --include='lib/' --exclude='*'"

Usage:

rstring-py                    # Python files in current directory
rstring-web -C /path/to/app   # Web files in different directory
rstring-docs --summary        # Documentation with tree view

File Preview

Limit output to first N lines of each file:

rstring --preview-length=10

Gitignore Integration

By default, Rstring automatically excludes .gitignore patterns. To ignore .gitignore:

rstring --no-gitignore

Interactive mode

Enter interactive mode to continuously preview and select matched files:

rstring -i

Understanding Rstring

1. Under the Hood: Rstring efficiently selects files based on filters by running rsync --archive --itemize-changes --dry-run --list-only <your filters>. This means you can use Rsync's powerful include/exclude patterns to customize file selection.

2. Default Behavior: When run without specific patterns, rstring includes all files and directories, filtered by your project's .gitignore file.

3. Output Format:

   --- path/to/file1.py ---
   [File contents]
   
   --- path/to/file2.js ---
   [File contents]
   

4. Binary Files: Content of binary files is represented as a hexdump preview.

5. Clipboard Integration: Output is automatically copied to clipboard unless disabled with --no-clipboard.

6. Git Integration: By default, Rstring respects .gitignore patterns. Use --no-gitignore to ignore them.

Pro Tips

1. Start simple: rstring with no arguments gives you everything in your project (filtered by .gitignore).

2. Refer to Rsync documentation: Rstring uses Rsync for file selection. Refer to the Filter Rules section of the rsync man page to understand how include/exclude patterns work.

3. Create project-specific aliases: Set up shell aliases for your common file selection patterns.

4. Use with AI tools: Rstring is great for preparing code context for AI programming assistants.

5. Large projects may produce substantial output: Use --preview-length or specific patterns for better manageability.

Common Patterns

Here are some useful rsync patterns for different scenarios:

# Python projects
rstring --include='*/' --include='*.py' --exclude='__pycache__/' --exclude='test*'

# JavaScript/Node.js projects
rstring --include='*/' --include='*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx}' --exclude='node_modules/' --exclude='test*'

# Web projects (frontend)
rstring --include='*/' --include='*.{js,ts,css,html,vue,svelte}' --exclude='dist/' --exclude='build/'

# Documentation only
rstring --include='*/' --include='*.{md,rst,txt}' --exclude='*'

# Configuration files
rstring --include='*/' --include='*.{json,yaml,yml,toml,ini}' --exclude='*'

# Source code only (exclude tests, docs, config)
rstring --include='src/' --include='lib/' --exclude='*'

Support and Contributing

• Issues and feature requests: GitHub Issues
• Contributing: See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup and guidelines
• Pull requests welcome!

License

Rstring is released under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.