ChaReCo - Chat Repo Context

A GUI and command-line tool for creating bounded, searchable context from local folders and Git repositories. It produces a deterministic folder tree and selected text-file content for pasting into an LLM chat.

You can view a sample output from the Pandrator repository here.

Note

• This tool does not provide direct integration with LLMs.
• It's meant to support manual copying and pasting into chat interfaces.
• It is not an IDE replacement.
• Token counts use cl100k_base and remain estimates.
• Review generated context before sharing it with a third party.

Features

• Analyze public repositories, private GitHub repositories with a PAT, and local folders.
• Shallow-clone remote repositories and record a manifest with source, revision, and limits.
• Filter with comma- or space-separated extensions and glob patterns. Notebook files follow the same filters as other files.
• Prune ignored trees before scanning; skip symlinks, binaries, oversized files, and likely secret files by default.
• Convert included Jupyter notebooks to Markdown.
• Bound individual file size and total output size to protect the UI and clipboard.
• Search loaded content asynchronously with regex, case-sensitive, and whole-word modes. Results are highlighted in the file tree.
• Select files or folders recursively; copied selections retain relative paths and accurate line numbers.
• Refresh a local folder without losing selected files.
• Save the full analysis as a UTF-8 text file directly from the GUI.
• Use the GUI (chareco or python -m chareco) or the headless CLI (chareco-context).

How to Use

ChaReCo requires Python 3.10 or newer.

1. Install from PyPI (Recommended for Python users)

• Ensure Python 3.10+ is installed and accessible in your PATH.
• Open a terminal and run:

  python -m pip install --upgrade chareco

• Run the GUI:

  chareco

• Or produce context from a terminal:

  chareco-context --local /path/to/project --include .py,.md --output context.txt

2. Download the .exe (Windows)

• Head to the Releases page on GitHub.
• Download the latest .exe file.
• Run the executable. No installation is required.

3. Manual Setup from a Cloned Repository

• Ensure Git and Python 3.10+ are installed.
• Clone the repository:

  git clone https://github.com/lukaszliniewicz/ChaReCo.git

• Navigate into the directory:

  cd ChaReCo

• Install dependencies:

   python -m pip install -e .

• Run the application:

  python run.py

Using the GUI:

1. Launch ChaReCo.
2. Enter a Git repository URL (optionally a branch/tag; a PAT is sent only to exact https://github.com URLs and is never stored) or select a local folder path.
3. Configure analysis options:
   • Toggle directory structure, file concatenation.
   • Set filters for included/excluded file extensions.
   • Define comma- or space-separated glob patterns for excluded folders/files.
   • Set file/output limits. The defaults are 1 MiB per file and 20 MiB total.
4. Click Analyze.
5. Once analysis is complete:
   • View the generated structure and concatenated content.
   • Use the Search bar to find specific text within the loaded files (supports regex, case sensitivity, whole word). Search results will highlight matching files in the tree.
   • Select/deselect individual files or folders; copying preserves each file's relative path.
   • For local folders, use the Refresh button to reload the folder's contents. Your file selections will be preserved, allowing you to quickly copy the latest versions of your chosen files.
   • All copies the complete analysis; Visible copies the current view.
6. Review the generated text, then use it in your LLM chat conversation.

Using the CLI:

# Local folder
chareco-context --local ./my-project --include .py,.md --exclude-pattern "**/__pycache__" --output context.txt

# Private GitHub repository; the token stays in the environment, not shell history
export GITHUB_TOKEN=github_pat_...
chareco-context https://github.com/org/private-repo.git --branch main --pat-env GITHUB_TOKEN > context.txt

Run chareco-context --help for all options.

Building release artifacts

On Windows, install the build extra and create a single-file executable:

python -m pip install .[build]
python -m PyInstaller --noconfirm --clean --onefile --windowed --name ChaReCo --hidden-import jupytext run.py

The executable is written to dist/ChaReCo.exe.

On Fedora or another x86_64 Linux host, use the reproducible AppImage builder:

python3 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/python -m pip install --upgrade pip
.venv/bin/python -m pip install '.[build]'
./scripts/build_appimage.sh .venv/bin/python

The AppImage is written to dist/ChaReCo-<version>-x86_64.AppImage.

Use Cases and Examples

Many of the original use cases remain highly relevant, now enhanced by more precise filtering and in-app search.

1. Code Review and Refactoring

Example: You're working on a large JavaScript project and want to refactor the authentication system.

• Use ChaReCo to analyze the repository.
• Use include/exclude patterns (e.g., include *.js,*.ts, exclude folders node_modules/*,dist/*) to focus on source code.
• Generate the folder structure to give the LLM an overview.
• Select files related to authentication (e.g., auth.js, login.js, userModel.js) in the tree view.
• Ask the LLM: "Based on this structure and these files, how can I refactor the authentication system to be more secure and efficient?"

2. Implementing New Features

Example: You need to add a new API endpoint to your Flask application.

• Provide the full concatenated output of your Flask app to the LLM, filtering out test directories or virtual environments using glob patterns (e.g., **/tests/*, venv/*).
• Ask: "Given this existing Flask application, how would you implement a new endpoint for user profile updates?"

3. Debugging

Example: Your React application has a state management bug, and you suspect it's related to a specific prop.

• Use ChaReCo to load your React components.
• Utilize the search feature to find all occurrences of the problematic prop or state variable. This helps identify relevant files quickly.
• Select these files and provide their content to the LLM.
• Ask: "I'm experiencing issues with state updates related to [propName] in these components. Can you identify potential causes and suggest fixes?"

4. Code Style and Best Practices

Example: Ensuring consistent coding style across a Python project.

• Select a variety of Python files from different parts of your project. Use glob patterns to exclude auto-generated files or virtual environments.
• Ask the LLM: "Review these files and suggest changes to make the coding style more consistent with PEP 8. Also, point out any Python best practices we're not following."

5. Documentation Generation

Example: Creating documentation for a complex module containing Python files and Jupyter Notebooks.

• Use ChaReCo to copy the contents of a specific module. It will automatically convert .ipynb files to Markdown.
• Ask the LLM: "Based on this code (including the converted notebooks), can you generate comprehensive documentation including function descriptions, parameters, return values, and usage examples?"

6. Learning and Understanding Code

Example: You've joined a new project and need to understand the codebase quickly.

• Generate the folder structure of the entire project.
• Use the search feature to find key terms, entry points (e.g., main, app.run), or specific API calls to understand data flow.
• Ask the LLM: "I want to understand how this project works. Based on this structure and the content of main.py and core_module/, can you explain the main workflow?"

7. Migrating Between Technologies

Example: Moving from jQuery to vanilla JavaScript.

• Copy your jQuery-heavy JavaScript files.
• Ask the LLM: "How would you rewrite these jQuery functions using modern vanilla JavaScript? Please provide examples for each conversion."

8. Security Auditing

Example: Checking for common security vulnerabilities in a Node.js application.

• Provide the package.json, main server files, and any authentication/authorization modules to the LLM.
• Use the search feature to look for known vulnerable functions or patterns (e.g., eval(, dangerouslySetInnerHTML).
• Ask: "Can you review these files for potential security vulnerabilities? Focus on areas like input validation, authentication, dependency issues, and usage of potentially unsafe functions I've highlighted."

9. Performance Optimization

Example: Optimizing database queries in a Django application.

• Copy your Django models.py and views.py related to database operations.
• Ask the LLM: "Analyze these Django models and views. Can you suggest ways to optimize the database queries for better performance, perhaps by identifying N+1 query problems or suggesting better indexing?"

10. API Design

Example: Designing a RESTful API for an existing application.

• Share the current codebase structure and any existing API-related files.
• Ask: "Based on this application structure, how would you design a comprehensive RESTful API? Include suggestions for endpoints, HTTP methods, and data formats."

11. Navigating and Querying Codebases

Example: You need to find all instances of a deprecated function or understand where a specific configuration variable is used across a large project.

• Load the entire repository or relevant sub-directory into ChaReCo.
• Use the search feature with the function name or variable. Employ regex for more complex queries (e.g., config\.get\(['"]API_KEY['"]\)).
• The tool will highlight all matching files, allowing you to quickly gather the context of these occurrences for the LLM or your own understanding.

12. Streamlining Multi-Model Development Workflows

Example: You are using a CLI-based coding assistant like Aider with a faster, cheaper model for initial development. However, you occasionally need guidance from a more powerful model (like Claude Opus or GPT-4) via its chat interface.

• Analyze your local project folder in ChaReCo and select the key files you are working on.
• Use your CLI tool to make changes to the code.
• Instead of manually finding and re-selecting the modified files in ChaReCo, simply click the Refresh button. ChaReCo will reload the folder content while keeping your file selections intact.
• Click "Copy Files" to get the latest version of your selected files.
• Paste this updated context into the chat interface of the powerful model and ask for high-level feedback, refactoring ideas, or architectural guidance that you can then implement with your CLI assistant. This workflow saves time and avoids the tedious process of re-selecting files.

License

MIT License