Together

A simple command-line tool to concatenate text and code files, respecting .gitignore rules.

Why?

I often need to provide a complete project context to AI models. This tool simplifies the process of bundling all relevant files into a single text file, making it easy to upload or paste.

Example: Manual Exclusion

You can manually specify every file or folder to ignore. This is powerful but can be verbose.

tog \
    '/path/to/project/**' \
    --output=ai.txt \
    --ignore-folders=vendor \
    --ignore-folders=test_files \
    --ignore-folders=bin \
    --ignore-extensions=lock,bash \
    --ignore-files=LICENSE.md \
    --ignore-wild='*react*' \
    --ignore-wild='*test*'

Example: Using a .gitignore file (Recommended)

For a much cleaner command, you can add the same rules to a .gitignore file and use the --gitignore flag.

First, your .gitignore file would look like this:

# .gitignore
vendor/
test_files/
bin/
*.lock
*.bash
LICENSE.md

Then, the command becomes simple and reusable:

tog '/path/to/project/**' --output=ai.txt --gitignore

Example: Using Wildcard Patterns

You can use wildcard patterns to ignore files or folders that match specific patterns anywhere in their path:

# Ignore any file or folder containing 'react' in the name
tog '/path/to/project/**' --output=ai.txt --ignore-wild='*react*'

# Ignore multiple patterns
tog '/path/to/project/**' --output=ai.txt --ignore-wild='*test*' --ignore-wild='*spec*' --ignore-wild='*node_modules*'

# Combine with other ignore options
tog '/path/to/project/**' --output=ai.txt --ignore-wild='*react*' --ignore-extensions=log,tmp

# Common use cases with --ignore-wild
# Ignore all Node.js related files and folders
tog '/path/to/project/**' --output=ai.txt --ignore-wild='*node_modules*' --ignore-wild='*package-lock*'

# Ignore all test-related files
tog '/path/to/project/**' --output=ai.txt --ignore-wild='*test*' --ignore-wild='*spec*' --ignore-wild='*__tests__*'

# Ignore build artifacts and cache files
tog '/path/to/project/**' --output=ai.txt --ignore-wild='*build*' --ignore-wild='*dist*' --ignore-wild='*cache*' --ignore-wild='*.tmp*'

# Ignore framework-specific files (React, Vue, Angular)
tog '/path/to/project/**' --output=ai.txt --ignore-wild='*react*' --ignore-wild='*vue*' --ignore-wild='*angular*'

Example: Self-Update

Keep your tog binary up to date with the latest version from GitHub:

# Check for updates and install the latest version
tog --self-update

The self-update feature will:

• Check the latest release on GitHub
• Download the appropriate binary for your operating system (Linux, macOS, or Windows)
• Create a backup of the current version
• Replace the current binary atomically
• Clean up temporary files

Personal usage on this project

Since I do this a lot of times, I use a makefile on every project. The command below uses the project's own .gitignore to exclude development files.

⚡ make
dart ./main.dart . --output=ai.txt --gitignore
Skipping file ./.DS_Store due to encoding issues.
Adding file ./main.dart
Adding file ./README.md
Adding file ./pubspec.yaml
Adding file ./tests.dart

Output file: ai.txt

Installation

Quick Install (One-liner)

Install or update tog with a single command:

# Automatic installer (recommended)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/insign/together/main/install.sh | sh

Or using wget:

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/insign/together/main/install.sh | sh

Direct One-liners (no script)

Linux:

curl -L "https://github.com/insign/together/releases/latest/download/tog-linux-x86_64.gz" | gunzip > tog && chmod +x tog && sudo mv tog /usr/local/bin/

macOS:

curl -L "https://github.com/insign/together/releases/latest/download/tog-darwin-arm64.gz" | gunzip > tog && chmod +x tog && mv tog /usr/local/bin/

Windows (PowerShell):

iwr -Uri "https://github.com/insign/together/releases/latest/download/tog-windows-amd64" -OutFile "tog.exe"

Manual Installation

1. Download the binary for your OS from the releases page.
2. Make it executable: chmod +x /path/to/downloaded/tog
3. (Optional) Move it to a directory in your PATH: mv /path/to/downloaded/tog /usr/local/bin/

Updates

Keep your tog installation up to date:

Automatic Update

# Update to the latest version
tog --self-update

Reinstall with Script

# Reinstall/update using the installation script
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/insign/together/main/install.sh | sh

The --self-update command will:

• Check for the latest version on GitHub
• Download the appropriate binary for your OS
• Create a backup of your current version
• Replace the binary atomically
• Clean up temporary files

Troubleshooting

Installation Issues

Permission Denied

If you get permission errors when installing:

# Try installing to user directory
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
curl -L "https://github.com/insign/together/releases/latest/download/tog-linux-x86_64.gz" | gunzip > ~/.local/bin/tog
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/tog

# Add to PATH
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Command Not Found

If tog command is not found after installation:

1. Check if the installation directory is in your PATH: echo $PATH
2. Add the directory to your PATH:

   # For bash users
   echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc
   
   # For zsh users
   echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc && source ~/.zshrc

Self-Update Issues

If tog --self-update fails:

• Ensure you have write permissions to the tog binary location
• Try running with sudo if installed system-wide: sudo tog --self-update
• As alternative, reinstall using the installation script

Usage Issues

Glob Patterns Not Working

Always wrap glob patterns in single quotes:

# ✓ Correct
tog 'src/**/*.dart' --output=files.txt

# ✗ Wrong (shell will expand the pattern)
tog src/**/*.dart --output=files.txt

Large File Processing

For very large projects:

• Use --ignore-wild to exclude unnecessary files: --ignore-wild='*node_modules*'
• Use --gitignore to respect .gitignore rules
• Consider using more specific glob patterns instead of **/*

Usage

Run it from your terminal: tog '<path1>' '<path2>' ... [options]

Important Note on Glob Patterns: Always wrap glob patterns (paths containing * or **) in single quotes (e.g., 'src/**/*.dart'). This prevents your shell (like Bash or ZSH) from expanding the pattern itself, ensuring that tog receives it correctly and can search recursively as intended.

<path>                 Specifies paths to process. Use single quotes for glob patterns (e.g., 'src/**') to ensure correct expansion.
--output               Specifies the output file name
                       (defaults to "output.txt")
--ignore-extensions    Specifies file extensions to ignore (comma separated)
--ignore-folders       Specifies folders to globally ignore (can be used multiple times)
--ignore-files         Specifies files to globally ignore (can be used multiple times)
--ignore-wild          Specifies wildcard patterns to ignore files/folders (can be used multiple times, e.g., *react*)
--gitignore            Ignores files and directories based on the .gitignore file
                       in the current directory.
-h, --help             Show this help message.
--self-update          Download and install the latest version from GitHub.

Glob Pattern Examples

The ** pattern is powerful. It matches directories recursively. Using it correctly is key to leveraging tog.

• 'src/*.dart': Match all Dart files directly inside the src directory.
• 'lib/docs/file.txt': Process a single, specific file (quotes are optional but good practice).
• 'assets/**': The key pattern. Match everything inside assets, including files in assets itself and in all subdirectories, recursively. This is the most common way to process an entire folder.
• '**/*.dart': Match all files ending with .dart in the current directory and all subdirectories.
• 'api/app/Http/Controllers/**': Match all files and folders inside Controllers, recursively.
• 'api/app/Http/Controllers/**/*.php': Match only files ending with .php inside Controllers and its subdirectories.

Using Dart

Run

dart run main.dart 'path/to/folder/**' 'specific/file.txt'

Compile

make will compile the binary for your OS to ~/bin/tog.

tog 'path/to/any/folder/**' 'specific/file.txt'