@kitschpatrol/snip

CLI tool for snippet management.

[!CAUTION] This tool is a work in progress, certain commands are not yet implemented and others might behave unpredictably. I don't recommend using it until a 1.0.0 release.

Overview

Snip helps you create, edit, manage, and synchronize code snippets from the command line. Synchronize to (and possibly eventually from) editors like VS Code.

Snip is a fork of Jared Hanstra's snipster. Snip includes both some additions and some regressions vs. the original.

Getting started

Dependencies

• Node.js 24.16.0 or newer (specifically ^24.16.0 || >=26.0.0)

Installation

Run it once without installing:

npx @kitschpatrol/snip

Or install it globally with Homebrew:

brew install kitschpatrol/tap/snip

Or install it globally with npm:

npm install --global @kitschpatrol/snip

Usage

TK

CLI

Command: snip

CLI tool for snippet management.

This section lists top-level commands for snip.

Usage:

snip [options] [command]

| Command | Argument | Description | | ------------------- | -------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | | add | [filename] | add a snippet | | cd | | launch a shell in the snippets directory | | list | | list all snippets | | setup | | set up snip | | sync-to-editors | [editors...] | sync snippets to editors | | sync-from-editors | [editors...] | sync snippets from editors (not yet implemented) |

| Option | Argument | Description | Default | | ------------------- | -------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------- | | --version-v | | output the version number | | | --config-c | <path> | path to configuration file | ~/.config/snip/config.json | | --library-l | <path> | path to library directory where snippets are stored | ~/.snip | | --debug-d | | extra logging for troubleshooting | false | | --help-h | | display help for command | |

See the sections below for more information on each subcommand.

Subcommand: snip add

add a snippet

Usage:

snip add [options] [filename]

| Positional Argument | Description | | ------------------- | --------------- | | filename | name of snippet |

| Option | Description | | ---------------- | ------------------------ | | --help-h | display help for command |

Subcommand: snip cd

launch a shell in the snippets directory

Usage:

snip cd [options]

| Option | Description | | ---------------- | ------------------------ | | --help-h | display help for command |

Subcommand: snip list

list all snippets

Usage:

snip list [options]

| Option | Description | | ---------------- | ------------------------ | | --help-h | display help for command |

Subcommand: snip setup

set up snip

Usage:

snip setup [options]

| Option | Description | | ---------------- | ------------------------ | | --help-h | display help for command |

Subcommand: snip sync-to-editors

sync snippets to editors

Usage:

snip sync-to-editors [options] [editors...]

| Positional Argument | Description | Default | | ------------------- | ------------------ | ------------ | | editors | editors to sync to | ["vscode"] |

| Option | Description | | ---------------- | ------------------------ | | --help-h | display help for command |

Subcommand: snip sync-from-editors

sync snippets from editors (not yet implemented)

Usage:

snip sync-from-editors [options] [editors...]

| Positional Argument | Description | Default | | ------------------- | ------------------ | ------------ | | editors | editors to sync to | ["vscode"] |

| Option | Description | | ---------------- | ------------------------ | | --help-h | display help for command |

Examples

Set up snip for the first time:

snip setup
# Enter a pathname for your snippets library (~/.snip):

Add a new snippet interactively — snip prompts for a prefix, description, and language, then opens your $EDITOR:

snip add
# Prefix (the trigger keyword for your snippet): cl
# A quick description of your snippet (optional): Print value to console
# Language (...): js+ts+jsx+tsx
# Opens your editor to write the snippet body...

Or pass a filename directly:

snip add "cl--Print value to console.js+ts+jsx+tsx"

List all snippets in your library:

snip list
# cl--Print value to console.js+ts+jsx+tsx
# html--HTML 5 boilerplate.html
# li--Lorem Ipsum.all

Sync your snippet library to VS Code:

snip sync-to-editors vscode

Jump into your snippets directory to edit files directly:

snip cd

Background

Snip is a fork of Jared Hanstra's snipster.

Modifications include:

• A monosyllabic name 😅.
• Migration from JavaScript → TypeScript + Zod.
• Migration from CommonJS → ES Modules.
• Migration from Yarn → PNPM.
• Added .ignore file support.
• Added $EDITOR support for creating new snippets.
• Added support for ~ in paths.
• Implemented a new automated language ID aggregation approach based on scraping plugin manifests from the VS Code marketplace.
• Added support for snippet descriptions — stored in the snippet file name itself.

The future

• [ ] Explore Amazon Q (née Fig) auto-complete generation and integration
• [ ] Additional editor adapters
• [ ] Sync-from-editor migration fixes
• [ ] Cosmiconfig

Maintainers

kitschpatrol

Acknowledgments

Jared Hanstra is the author of the original snipster project on which Snip is based.

Contributing

Issues are welcome and appreciated.

Please open an issue to discuss changes before submitting a pull request. Unsolicited PRs (especially AI-generated ones) are unlikely to be merged.

This repository uses @kitschpatrol/shared-config (via its ksc CLI) for linting and formatting, plus MDAT for readme placeholder expansion.

License

MIT © Eric Mika