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Emil Sjöstedt
Emil Sjöstedt

Posted on AI-assisted

Why I built an offline C# tool to turn entire codebases into Obsidian notes and sharable docs

#csharp #documentation #software #tools

Whenever I finish a sprint, build an architectural spike, or need to hand over reference code to another engineer, I hit the exact same wall: how do I share or archive 15 related files across 4 directories without losing structure?

Zipping archives is clumsy, manually creating documentation takes forever, and copy-pasting code snippets into note apps usually breaks path hierarchy.

To fix this for my own projects, I built Context Packer — a lightweight, 100% offline desktop tool that aggregates multiple source files into structured, readable Markdown for Obsidian vaults and technical reference sheets.

The Problem with Documenting & Sharing Codebases

  1. Lost File Hierarchy: Sending a colleague five separate .cs or .cpp snippets strips away where they live relative to each other.
  2. Accidental Workstation Leaks: Manually copy-pasting paths often leaks private workstation directories (C:\Users\<my_user_name>\...) into shared team notes.
  3. Double Maintenance: Taking snippets into note apps usually requires tedious manual formatting and re-indexing.

Built for Note-Taking, Reference Docs & Prototyping

Context Packer lets you drag and drop files, directories, or entire solutions straight into a staging area and exports them into clean Markdown:

  • Obsidian-Native Vaults: Formats code sections with double-bracket wiki links ([[#File:...]]) so your code snippets instantly hook into Obsidian’s graph view and backlinks.
  • Team Handover & Archive: Generates clean, monolithic reference files with an ASCII directory tree at the top, making it easy to send a complete, readable architectural breakdown in a single text file.
  • LLM Brainstorming (Bonus Use Case): Because the output is structured Markdown, it doubles as the ideal prompt bundle when you need to brainstorm architecture, prototype an idea, or draft initial documentation using Claude or ChatGPT.
  • Workstation Privacy Sanitization: Automatically masks your local Windows usernames to [REDACTED] in filepaths and headers before exporting, keeping your environment confidential.

Architecture & Native Performance

I didn't want a heavy web wrapper running in the background while coding. The architecture is native C#:

  • Packer.Core (.NET 8 / .NET Standard 2.0): Recursive scanning, intelligent extension filtering (including presets for Unreal Engine, Visual Studio, C++, C#, and configs), and automatic chunking for payloads over 3 million characters.
  • Zero Telemetry & 100% Offline: The binary makes zero network calls. Your proprietary code stays strictly on your local disk.
  • Two Native Frontends: A standalone WinUI 3 desktop application for drag-and-drop from Windows File Explorer, and a Visual Studio 2022 extension docked directly beside Solution Explorer.

Try it out & What's Next

The precompiled binaries (WinUI App, VS Extension, and Headless DLL) are 100% free for both personal and commercial projects:

Next on the development roadmap is Extended Obsidian Templates (native callouts like [!note], [!warning], and YAML metadata frontmatter) and a Custom Secret Shield to catch accidental API keys.

If you maintain reference notes or tech wikis for your code, I’d love to hear what formatting templates you find most useful!

AI Disclosure: The underlying codebase, architecture, and logic are 100% handcrafted and tested in C# by Kadmium. Product copy and documentation phrasing were refined with AI assistance to keep technical descriptions clear and concise.

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