Selection Markdown Exporter

A VS Code extension that exports selected files and folders to a single markdown file, perfect for AI analysis and documentation generation.

Features

• Multi-selection support: Export single files, multiple files, folders, or mixed selections
• Automatic timestamping: Output files automatically get timestamps to prevent overwrites
• Smart ignore system: Respects .gitignore and custom ignore patterns with strict priority order
• Binary file handling: Automatically detects and excludes binary files with placeholders
• Clean architecture: Well-organized codebase with proper separation of concerns
• Configurable: Extensive configuration options for all aspects of export
• Cross-platform: Works on macOS, Windows, and Linux

Usage

Context Menu (Recommended)

1. Select files/folders in the Explorer
2. Right-click and select "Export to Markdown"
3. The extension will export your selection to a markdown file

Command Palette

1. Open Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P)
2. Type "Export to Markdown"
3. Select the command to export the entire workspace

Selection Behavior

The extension handles different selection scenarios:

• Single folder: Exports the folder recursively
• Multiple folders: Exports all folders recursively
• Files only: Exports only the selected files
• Mixed selection: Exports the union of all selected items
• No selection: Exports the entire workspace root

Configuration

All settings are available under markdownExport.* in VS Code settings:

Output Settings

• markdownExport.outputFile: Base output file name (default: FULL_CODE.md)
  • Relative to workspace root
  • Example: docs/export.md
  • A timestamp is ALWAYS appended; this cannot be disabled.
  • Final naming rule:
    1. Extract base name without extension
    2. Extract extension
    3. Append _YYYY-MM-DD_HH-mm-ss
    4. Reassemble <basename>_<timestamp><extension>
  • Format: <basename>_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-mm-ss.<extension>
  • Examples:
    • FULL_CODE.md → FULL_CODE_2025-11-18_00-12-44.md
    • dump.md → dump_2025-11-18_00-12-44.md
    • code.txt → code_2025-11-18_00-12-44.txt

Ignore Settings

Priority Order (Strict)

1. .gitignore patterns (highest priority)
2. markdownExport.additionalIgnore (exact relative paths)
3. Output file itself (base and current timestamped version automatically ignored for the run)
4. markdownExport.binaryFiles (exact relative paths)
5. markdownExport.binaryFileExtensions (extension-based)

Settings

• markdownExport.additionalIgnore: Array of exact relative paths to ignore

  "markdownExport.additionalIgnore": [
    "node_modules",
    "dist",
    "build",
    ".env"
  ]
  

• markdownExport.binaryFiles: Array of exact file paths to treat as binary

  "markdownExport.binaryFiles": [
    "assets/logo.png",
    "data/database.sqlite"
  ]
  

• markdownExport.binaryFileExtensions: Array of file extensions to treat as binary

  "markdownExport.binaryFileExtensions": [
    "png", "jpg", "jpeg", "gif", "bmp", "webp",
    "mp4", "mov", "avi", "mkv", "webm",
    "pdf", "doc", "docx", "xls", "xlsx",
    "zip", "rar", "7z", "gz", "tar",
    "exe", "dll", "so", "dylib"
  ]
  

Default Binary Extensions

The extension includes these default binary extensions:

• Images: png, jpg, jpeg, gif, bmp, webp, tif, tiff, ico, avif, heic, heif
• Videos: mp4, mov, avi, mkv, webm, mpeg, mpg, 3gp, ogv
• Documents: pdf, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx
• Archives: zip, rar, 7z, gz, tar
• Executables: exe, dll, so, dylib

Output Format

The generated markdown file includes:

1. Index section: Links to all exported files
2. File sections: Each file with proper syntax highlighting
3. Binary placeholders: For binary files with descriptive message

Example Output

# Project Code Export

## Index

- [src/index.ts](#src-index-ts)
- [package.json](#package-json)
- [README.md](#readme-md)

---

## src/index.ts

```typescript
import * as vscode from 'vscode';
// ... code content

package.json

{
  "name": "my-project"
  // ... code content

assets/logo.png

This is a binary or unsupported file type. Content not included.

## Changelog

### v1.0.9
- Changed readme

### v1.0.8
- Timestamp bug fix in file generation
- Icon and banner for extension page

### v1.0.7
- Mandatory timestamp appended to every export file name (cannot be disabled)
- Dynamic ignore of the exact timestamped output file prevents self-inclusion

### v1.0.6
- Cleanup of duplicate scaffold and compiled JS sources

### v1.0.5
- Minor internal improvements

### v1.0.1
- Initial introduction of timestamp concept (now enforced by later versions)

### v1.0.0
- Initial release with core functionality
- Multi-selection support
- Configurable ignore system with strict priority order
- Binary file handling with comprehensive defaults
- Clean architecture implementation
- Proper .gitignore parsing using ignore npm package
- Fixed all critical bugs from previous versions