🧠 chatpack

Pack only what matters. Zip your code context for smarter AI coding with ChatGPT or any LLM.

📚 Table of Contents

• 🧠 chatpack
  • 📚 Table of Contents
  • ✨ What is chatpack?
  • 📦 Installation
  • 🛠️ Usage
    • 1. Zip your current project
    • 2. Create a context file and ignore rules
    • 3. Add global ignore (optional)
  • 📁 .chatpackignore
  • 🧰 Development
    • Project Structure
    • Run CLI Locally (without publishing)
    • Development Tips
  • 🧪 Testing & Coverage
    • Tooling
  • 🧪 Roadmap
  • 📝 License
  • 💡 Author

✨ What is chatpack?

chatpack is a CLI tool that helps developers package only the relevant parts of their codebase — skipping node_modules, dist, test artifacts, etc. — into a zip file. This helps you share context more effectively with ChatGPT, Claude, or other AI coding assistants.

You can also generate a CHATPACK.md file to describe your project and guide AI interaction.

📦 Installation

npm install -g chatpack

🛠️ Usage

1. Zip your current project

chatpack zip

Creates your-folder-context.zip in the current directory, respecting .chatpackignore if present.

2. Create a context file and ignore rules

chatpack create

Creates both CHATPACK.md and .chatpackignore in your current directory (if they do not already exist). These help LLMs understand your project and avoid zipping unnecessary files.

Options:

chatpack create --only-md       # Create only CHATPACK.md
chatpack create --only-ignore   # Create only .chatpackignore
chatpack create --file NAME.md  # Custom file name instead of CHATPACK.md

3. Add global ignore (optional)

To avoid accidentally committing CHATPACK.md, zip files, etc.:

chatpack ignore --global

Adds patterns like **/CHATPACK.md, **/*.zip, **/.chatpackignore to your global .gitignore.

📁 .chatpackignore

You can exclude specific files/folders from the zip by creating a .chatpackignore file in your project root.

Example:

node_modules/
dist/
coverage/
.env*
*.log

🧰 Development

Project Structure

src/
├── bin/         # CLI entry point
├── lib/         # Core logic: zip, create, ignore
├── __tests__/   # Unit tests
├── scripts/     # Build helpers (e.g. postbuild)
templates/       # Default content for CHATPACK.md

Run CLI Locally (without publishing)

After building:

npm run build
npm link

Then use chatpack from anywhere in your terminal.

To unlink:

npm unlink

Development Tips

• Modify files in src/, then run npm run build to regenerate dist/.
• You can test the built CLI with node dist/bin/chatpack.js before linking.

🧪 Testing & Coverage

Run tests with coverage:

npm test

Test output includes a coverage summary. The /coverage folder is automatically excluded from version control.

Tooling

• ESLint with Airbnb rules: npm run lint
• Husky pre-commit hook to run linter automatically
• Jest for testing and code coverage

🧪 Roadmap

• [x] Basic zip support
• [x] Context file generator
• [x] Global ignore support
• [ ] Interactive templates
• [ ] Integration with VS Code extension

📝 License

MIT

💡 Author

Developed by Atthaphon Urairat