dump-dir

Dumps the contents of a directory to your terminal — git-aware, filter-configurable, and bat-powered when available.

Install

cargo install --path .

Usage

# Dump the current directory (respects .gitignore)
dump-dir

# Dump a specific path
dump-dir src/

# Dump multiple paths
dump-dir src/ tests/

# Override skip rules inline
dump-dir --skip-extensions snap,lock,new
dump-dir --skip-patterns '.*test.*\.rs$'

# Disable all filtering
dump-dir --no-filter

# Show a summary at the end
dump-dir --summary

# Use a custom config file
dump-dir --config /path/to/myconfig.toml

Configuration

dump-dir uses layered configuration — later layers override earlier ones:

Layer	Path	Notes
1. Defaults	(built-in)	Always applied as the base
2. Global	~/.config/dump-dir/config.toml	User-wide settings
3. Local	./dump.toml	Per-project settings
4. CLI flags	--skip-extensions, etc.	One-off overrides

Config file format

# ~/.config/dump-dir/config.toml  OR  ./dump.toml

# Extensions to skip (no leading dot)
skip_extensions = ["snap", "lock", "new", "gitignore", "orig", "bak", "swp"]

# Regex patterns matched against full file path (case-insensitive)
skip_patterns = [".*test.*\\.rs$"]

# Exact filenames to skip (case-insensitive)
skip_filenames = ["license", "readme", "changelog", "makefile", "dockerfile"]

# Any path component matching these causes the file to be skipped
skip_path_components = [".github", ".git", "node_modules", ".direnv"]

# Skip binary files (detected via MIME sniffing + null byte check)
skip_binary = true

# Skip hidden files/dirs (any path component starting with '.')
skip_hidden = true

Note: Arrays replace rather than merge across layers. If you define skip_extensions in your local dump.toml, it fully replaces the global list — so include everything you want.

Output

When bat (or batcat) is on your PATH, files are printed with syntax highlighting and line numbers. Otherwise, plain cat output is used.

Headers are printed in bold blue between each file.

How it works

• Inside a git repo: uses the ignore crate, which natively reads .gitignore, .ignore, and global git excludes.
• Outside a git repo: standard recursive directory walk.
• Binary detection: sniffs the first 8KB of each file using infer + null byte scanning.