📖 What is this?

When working with AI assistants like Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini, you often need to share:

• The content of a specific file you want help with
• The overall structure of your project so the AI understands the context

Without this extension, you'd manually open a file, copy its content, then separately describe your folder layout. That's slow, error-prone, and the AI still lacks full context.

LLM Context Copy solves this in a single right-click. It scans your project, builds an optimized tree of your file structure, appends the content of your chosen file, and puts everything on your clipboard — formatted perfectly for LLMs.

📸 Screenshots

Right-click any file in the Explorer

The Copy for LLM submenu appears on every file and folder — choose your mode.

Clean, structured output — ready to paste

The copied context includes a metadata header, a full annotated project tree with the focus file marked, and the complete file content with language hints.

Token estimate notification

Every copy shows you exactly how much context you're sending — so you never accidentally exceed a model's context window.

Fully configurable via Settings

Customize exclusions, output format, file size limits, tree depth — everything is exposed in VS Code's native Settings UI.

✨ Features

🛠️ Tech Stack

This is a native VS Code extension. No external services, no internet calls, no runtime dependencies.

There are zero runtime node_modules — everything is bundled into a single 9 KB file.

📦 Installation

Method 1 — VS Code Marketplace (recommended)

Option A — Install button in VS Code:

1. Open VS Code
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+X (or Cmd+Shift+X on Mac) to open the Extensions panel
3. Search for LLM Context Copy
4. Click Install

Option B — Install from browser:

1. Go to the Marketplace page
2. Click the green Install button
3. Allow the browser to open VS Code when prompted
4. Click Install in the VS Code dialog that appears

Method 2 — Install from .vsix (offline / pre-release)

Use this if you downloaded a .vsix file directly from the Releases page.

Via terminal:

code --install-extension llm-context-copy-1.0.0.vsix

Via VS Code UI:

1. Open the Extensions panel (Ctrl+Shift+X)
2. Click the ··· menu at the top right of the panel
3. Select Install from VSIX...
4. Browse to and select the .vsix file

Method 3 — Build from source

Use this if you want to modify the extension or contribute to it.

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Aayush-Nayak-Jain/llm-context-copy
cd llm-context-copy

# 2. Install dev dependencies
npm install

# 3. Build the extension bundle
npm run bundle

# 4. Package into a .vsix file
npm run package

# 5. Install it
code --install-extension llm-context-copy-1.0.0.vsix

For live development with auto-rebuild:

npm run bundle:watch
# Then press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host

🚀 How to Use

Step 1 — Open a project in VS Code

Open any folder or workspace. The extension works with any language or framework.

Step 2 — Right-click a file

In the Explorer panel (left sidebar) or in the editor tab, right-click the file you want to focus on. You'll see the Copy for LLM submenu.

Step 3 — Choose a copy mode

Step 4 — Paste into your LLM

Go to Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or any AI — paste with Ctrl+V. The output arrives pre-formatted with:

• A metadata header showing project name, timestamp, git branch, and focus file
• A full annotated file tree with your focus file marked as ◄ FOCUS
• The complete file content in a fenced code block with the correct language tag

Keyboard shortcuts

Command Palette

Press Ctrl+Shift+P → type LLM Context → all four commands appear.

📤 Example Output

Here's exactly what gets copied when you use File + Structure (Markdown format):

# 🤖 LLM Context — `my-api`

| | |
|---|---|
| **Project** | `my-api` |
| **Generated** | 2025-06-01 14:23:11 UTC |
| **Branch** | `feature/auth` |
| **Focus file** | `src/auth/login.service.ts` |

---

## 📁 Project Structure

my-api/
├── 📁 src/
│   ├── 📁 auth/
│   │   ├── 🔷 login.service.ts (4.2 KB)  ◄ FOCUS
│   │   └── 🔷 auth.module.ts (1.1 KB)
│   ├── 📁 users/
│   │   └── 🔷 users.service.ts (3.8 KB)
│   └── 🔷 main.ts (0.5 KB)
├── 📋 package.json (1.2 KB)
└── 📝 README.md (2.0 KB)

## 📄 `src/auth/login.service.ts` · 112 lines · 4.2 KB

```typescript
import { Injectable } from '@nestjs/common';
// ... full file content ...

Context built by LLM Context Copy (VS Code extension)

---

## ⚙️ Configuration

Open Settings with `Ctrl+,` and search for **LLM Context Copy** to see all options:

| Setting | Type | Default | Description |
|---------|------|---------|-------------|
| `excludePatterns` | `string[]` | `["node_modules", ".git", "dist", ...]` | File/folder names and glob patterns to hide from the tree |
| `maxFileSizeKb` | `number` | `150` | Files larger than this (in KB) show a placeholder instead of their content |
| `maxTreeDepth` | `number` | `10` | How many folder levels deep the tree goes |
| `includeFileStats` | `boolean` | `true` | Show file size and line count in the tree and file header |
| `outputFormat` | `string` | `"markdown"` | Output format: `"markdown"` \| `"xml"` \| `"plain"` |
| `includeGitInfo` | `boolean` | `true` | Include current git branch name in the context header |
| `respectGitignore` | `boolean` | `true` | Parse `.gitignore` and exclude matching paths from the tree |
| `showTokenEstimate` | `boolean` | `true` | Show a notification with token count after every copy |

### Tip — XML format for Claude system prompts

If you use Claude's system prompt or API, switch the output format to XML:

```jsonc
// settings.json
{
  "llmContextCopy.outputFormat": "xml"
}

The output will use <llm-context>, <project-structure>, and <file> tags — ideal for structured prompt engineering.

💡 Prompting tips

After pasting your context, these prompts tend to work well:

• "I'm getting a NullPointerException in the focus file. Here's the full project context:"
• "Refactor the focus file to match the patterns you see in the rest of this project"
• "Write unit tests for the focus file. Follow the conventions you see in the project structure"
• "Based on the project structure, where should I add a new service for X?"
• "Find any bugs or security issues in the focus file, given this project context"

🔒 Privacy

LLM Context Copy is 100% local. It:

• Reads files from your workspace on your machine
• Writes only to your system clipboard
• Makes no network requests
• Sends no telemetry
• Has no runtime dependencies or external services

Your code never leaves your machine until you paste it yourself.

🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/my-feature
3. Make your changes in src/extension.ts
4. Run npm run bundle to rebuild
5. Press F5 in VS Code to test in the Extension Development Host
6. Submit a pull request

📄 License

MIT © Aayush Nayak Jain