yank - grab and format code

yank is a fast and friendly CLI to collect, format, and copy source code from your projects.

Get Started

Install yank globally using npm:

npm install -g yank-cli

How to Use yank

Basic Commands

Quickly grab code from files or directories and either print it to your terminal or copy your clipboard.

# Copy a directory's code to your clipboard
yank src --clip # or -c

# View files in a pager (like less)
yank config *.json | less

# Pick files interactively
yank --preview # or -p

Run yank without specifying path to all files in your project, skipping anything listed in .gitignore.

# Grab the entire project
yank

yank displays summary statistics (file count, lines, size, and token count) after processing.

Options

Customize how yank works with these options:

| Option | Shortcut | What it Does | Default | |--------|----------|--------------|---------| | --clip | -c | Copies output to your clipboard instead of printing it. | Off | | --include | -i | Specify file patterns to include (e.g., src/*.ts). Ignored if you list paths directly. | All files (**/*) | | --exclude | -x | Skip specific file patterns (adds to defaults like node_modules). | None | | --name-template | -H | Customize the header for each file. | --- {filePath} --- | | --code-template | -B | Set the format for code blocks. | {language}<br>{content}<br> |

| --config | -C | Use a custom config file. | Auto-detected | | --lang-map | | Override file language detection (e.g., '{"LICENSE":"text"}'). | None | | --max-size | | Skip files larger than this size (in bytes). | No limit (0) | | --debug | | Show detailed logs for troubleshooting. | Off | | --preview | -p | Interactively select files before processing. | Off | | --help | -h | Display help info. | | | --version | -v | Show the version number. | |

Set Up a Config File

Customize yank by adding a config file to your project. It automatically finds files like yank.toml, yank.yaml, yank.json, yank.config.js, or a yank section in package.json. You can add any number of custom configs to more easily select different parts of your codebase using the --config|-c flag.

Example yank.toml

# Always copy to clipboard
clip = true

# Only include these files
include = ["src/**/*.ts", "README.md", "package.json"]

# Skip test files
exclude = ["**/*.spec.ts", "**/*.test.ts"]

# Custom formatting
fileTemplate = "## {filePath}"
codeTemplate = """
```
{content}
```
"""

# Treat LICENSE as plain text
languageOverrides = { LICENSE = "text" }

Config Options

Your config file can include these settings:

| Field | Type | What it Does | Example | |-------|------|--------------|---------| | clip | Boolean | Copy output to clipboard instead of printing. | true | | include | Array of strings | File patterns to include. | ["src/**/*.ts", "README.md"] | | exclude | Array of strings | File patterns to skip. | ["**/*.test.ts"] | | fileTemplate | String | File header format (must include {filePath}). | "## {filePath}" | | codeTemplate | String | Code block format (must include {content}). | "{language}\n{content}\n" |

| debug | Boolean | Enable detailed logs. | false | | languageOverrides | Object | Override language detection for files. | {"LICENSE": "text"} | | maxSize | Number | Skip files larger than this (in bytes, 0 = no limit). | 1048576 (1MB) |

How yank Detects Languages

yank automatically figures out the programming language for syntax highlighting based on:

1. File Extensions: Recognizes .js, .py, .ts, etc.
2. File Names: Knows special files like Dockerfile or Makefile.
3. Shebang Lines: Checks the first line for things like #!/bin/bash.

Supported File Types

• Web: .js, .ts, .html, .css, .json, .md, .yaml, etc.
• Backend: .py, .go, .java, .php, .cs, .cpp, etc.
• Shell/Config: .sh, .bash, .dockerfile, .tf, etc.
• Data: .sql, .graphql
• Other: .r, .dart, .hs, .clj, etc.

Override Language Detection

If yank gets the language wrong, you can override it:

# On the command line
yank --lang-map '{"LICENSE":"text","Makefile":"makefile"}'

# In yank.toml
languageOverrides = { LICENSE = "text", Makefile = "makefile" }

Counting Tokens for AI

yank always includes an approximate token count (within 10-20% accuracy) in the summary stats. This helps you estimate AI model costs or ensure your code fits within token limits.

Skipping Binary Files

yank automatically skips binary files (like .jpg, .zip, .pdf) to keep your output clean and fast. You can override this with specific include patterns, but they’ll be treated as text if readable.

Handling .gitignore

yank respects .gitignore files in your project, including nested ones. For example:

# Root .gitignore
*.log

# src/.gitignore
!*.log  # Re-include logs in src/

• root.log is skipped.
• src/server.log is included because of the negation (!).

Troubleshooting Tips

• No files found? Check your include patterns or .gitignore rules. Use --debug for details.
• Wrong files skipped? Look at parent .gitignore files or use --debug to trace exclusions.
• Permission issues? Run with appropriate permissions or check --debug logs.
• Bad glob patterns? Fix syntax errors like unclosed [] or {}.
• Need help? Run yank --help.