TreeSnake for VS Code
Pick files and folders in your workspace and export them — structure and contents — as
LLM-ready text or XML, to the clipboard or a file. The VS Code companion to the
treesnake CLI; the output is the same as
treesnake scan --fmt llm|xml.
Usage
TreeSnake view (snake icon in the activity bar):
- Tick files or folders. Ticking a folder selects everything inside it, including files
created later; untick individual children to carve them out. Folders with a mixed
selection are marked partially selected.
- Toolbar: Copy as LLM, Copy as XML, Save to File..., Refresh;
... menu: Select All, Clear Selection.
- The selection is remembered per workspace.
Explorer context menu → TreeSnake: Copy as LLM, Copy as XML, Save to File... for
the right-clicked (or multi-selected) items without touching the view's selection, and
Add to Selection.
After copying, a notification shows the file count and a rough token estimate
(~4 chars/token).
LLM — every file under a # path header, separated by ---:
# myapp/main.py
print("hello")
---
# myapp/core/scanner.py
...
---
XML — nested <project>/<directory>/<file>, each file carries its full path,
content kept verbatim in CDATA:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project name="myapp">
<file name="main.py" path="myapp/main.py" size="42"><![CDATA[
print("hello")
]]></file>
</project>
In a multi-root workspace each folder is its own <project>, wrapped in <workspace>.
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
|
treesnake.excludeDirs |
.git, node_modules, venv, … |
Hidden in the view and skipped in output |
treesnake.excludeFiles |
*.pyc, *.exe, *.dll, … |
Same, for files |
treesnake.excludeContentFiles |
*.lock, package-lock.json, *.log |
Listed, but without content |
treesnake.useGitignore |
true |
Merge the workspace folder's root .gitignore |
treesnake.maxFileSize |
1048576 |
Larger files get [File too large: N bytes]; null = no limit |
treesnake.defaultFormat |
llm |
Pre-selected format in Save to File... |
Patterns match the bare name at every level, as in the CLI: exact (.git), glob (*.pyc)
or regex (re:^\..*). Only the gitignore subset the CLI supports is used — no negations,
no patterns with an inner /. Binary files (NUL in the first 8 KiB) and non-UTF-8 files
show up as [Content could not be read].
Development
npm install
npm test # compile + unit tests (node:test, no VS Code needed)
npm run watch # then F5 → "Run Extension"
npm run package # build treesnake-X.Y.Z.vsix
src/core/ is a VS Code–independent port of the CLI's rules, gitignore parser and
formatters; src/extension.ts, src/fileTree.ts and src/config.ts are the VS Code layer.
