Map. Clean. Document. Repeat.
Because folder structure is documentation — and now, it’s automated.
🧠 Why I Built folder_tree
Every time I opened an old project folder, I saw the same mess:
Too many files, deeply nested modules, ignored clutter, and no clear overview.
So I wrote folder_tree — a CLI that visualizes, filters, and documents any folder tree in seconds.
It’s minimal, scriptable, and designed to run in CI/CD or your local terminal.
Because sometimes you just need to see the shape of things.
⚙️ What It Does
✅ Outputs your folder tree in Markdown
✅ Excludes noise automatically (.terraform/, node_modules/, .DS_Store/, etc.)
✅ Respects .treeignore files and presets
✅ Optionally includes hidden files like .env, .git
✅ Counts total files/folders + disk usage
✅ Templated, versioned, and Homebrew-installable
🚀 Quickstart
brew tap raymonepping/folder-tree-cli
brew install raymonepping/folder-tree-cli/folder-tree-cli
folder_tree --preset terraform --output markdown
Need hidden files or disk size?
folder_tree --hidden --compute --output markdown
Set a custom config (optional):
export FOLDER_TREE_HOME=/opt/homebrew/opt/folder-tree-cli/share/folder-tree-cli
✨ Example Output
📂 Target: my_project
🛡️ Excludes from: .treeignore
./
├── bin/
│ └── folder_tree*
├── tpl/
│ └── folder_tree_md.tpl
├── README.md
└── FOLDER_TREE.md
5 directories, 10 files
📦 Total: 107.6 KB
💡 Use Cases
- 🧱 Document structure in your README.md
- 🚀 Auto-generate folder views for GitHub projects
- 📁 Catch bloated or outdated folders at a glance
🧬 Under the Hood
- Modular template system (tpl/)
- .treeignore and --preset for dynamic filtering
- Markdown or terminal output (--output markdown)
- Git-tracked file mode (--git)
- Supports --compute, --history, --verbose, --bump-version
🔚 Final Thoughts
You don’t need another pretty tree diagram.
You need a clean, structured snapshot of your project — ready for docs, reviews, or CI logs.
And now you’ve got one.
📦 Grab it from GitHub (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/raymonepping/homebrew-folder-tree-cli/refs/heads/main/bin/folder_tree)
🧠 Built for clarity. Documented by default.
🕊️ Quote to remember:
“Structure isn’t boring — it’s your first line of clarity.”
Want to read more about folder_tree?
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