AI Context Builder
Generate lightweight project context for any AI chat — Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and more.
Stop copying files manually. AI Context Builder scans your project and produces a ready-to-paste context file in seconds.
✨ Features
- 🗂️ 3 detail levels — from file tree to full contents, choose what fits your AI chat limit
- 🔢 Token estimation — see how many tokens your context uses and which AI models it fits
- 📋 Copy to clipboard — one click to copy directly into any AI chat
- 🧹 Smart filtering — uses
.ai-context-ignore (like .gitignore) to exclude noise
- 💻 Works across Windows, macOS, and Linux
- 📑 Output saved to
.ai-context/ folder in your project root
📊 Detail Levels
| Level |
Content |
Best for |
| Level 1 – Tree |
File and folder names only |
Orientation, "what files exist?" |
| Level 2 – Signatures ⭐ |
Tree + function/class names |
Most AI debugging sessions |
| Level 3 – Full contents |
Complete file contents |
Deep code review, complex bugs |
📂 Output files
After generating, files are saved to .ai-context/ in your project root:
.ai-context/context-level1-tree.txt — file tree only.ai-context/context-level2-signatures.txt — tree + signatures.ai-context/context-level3-contents.txt — full file contents
🚀 Usage
Option 1 — Keyboard shortcut (fastest):
- Open any project in VS Code
- Press
Ctrl+Alt+G (Mac: Cmd+Alt+G)
- Select detail level from the picker
- Click Copy to clipboard in the notification
- Paste into your AI chat
Option 2 — Command Palette:
- Press
Ctrl+Shift+P
- Type
AI Context
- Select
AI Context: Generate (choose level)
Option 3 — Right-click in Explorer:
- Right-click any folder in the Explorer panel
- Select
AI Context: Generate
Option 4 — Copy without regenerating:
- Press
Ctrl+Alt+C (Mac: Cmd+Alt+C) to copy an existing context file directly to clipboard
⚙️ Ignore rules
- The extension uses
.ai-context-ignore (similar to .gitignore)
- Default template is created automatically on first run — never overwrites existing file
- Edit
.vscode/.ai-context-ignore to fine-tune what AI sees about your project
- Supports: Node.js, Python, PHP/WordPress, iOS/Swift, Android, .NET, Go, Rust, Ruby, Docker and more
🔧 Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
aiContextBuilder.pythonPath |
"" |
Path to Python interpreter. Leave empty for auto-detect. |
aiContextBuilder.defaultLevel |
"ask" |
Default level. ask shows a picker each time. |
📋 Requirements
- Python 3.8+ installed and accessible as
python3 or python
- If Python is in a non-standard location, set it in Settings →
AI Context Builder: Python Path
🔒 Privacy
All processing is done locally on your machine. No code or file contents are sent anywhere.
🛠 Development
Compile
npm run compile
Watch mode
npm run watch
Package
vsce package
Publish
vsce publish
📄 License
MIT © Dariusz Wit — linis.it
