Yank is a terminal-based utility written in Go for interactively selecting files within a directory (and its subdirectories) and copying their contents, along with metadata, to the system clipboard. It features persistent selections per directory and fuzzy filtering for quickly finding files.

• Interactive TUI: Select files easily using a terminal interface powered by Bubble Tea.
• Recursive Scanning: Finds files in the target directory and all subdirectories.
• Fuzzy Filtering: Quickly search and filter the file list using fuzzysearch.
• Multi-File Selection: Select multiple files for copying.
• Hidden File Toggling: Show or hide files and directories starting with a dot (.). Selected hidden files always remain visible.
• Persistence: Remembers your last selection for each scanned directory in a hidden .yank file within that directory.
• Rich Clipboard Content: Copies not just the file content, but also metadata (relative path, modification time, size) in a structured header format.
• Intelligent Exclusions: Automatically ignores .git directories and the root .yank persistence file.
• Cross-Platform Clipboard: Works on macOS (pbcopy), Linux (xclip or xsel), and Windows (clip.exe).

• Go: Version 1.21 or higher.
• Linux: Requires either xclip or xsel to be installed for clipboard functionality.
  • Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt update && sudo apt install xclip
  • Fedora: sudo dnf install xclip
  • Arch: sudo pacman -S xclip

go install github.com/lian/yank@latest

This will download the source code, compile it, and place the yank binary in your $GOPATH/bin or $HOME/go/bin directory (ensure this is in your system's PATH).

# Replace with the actual repo URL if different
git clone https://github.com/lian/yank.git
cd yank
go build -o yank .
# Optionally, move the 'yank' binary to a directory in your PATH
# sudo mv ./yank /usr/local/bin/

Run yank in the directory you want to scan, or provide a path using the -dir flag:

# Scan the current directory
yank

# Scan a specific directory
yank -dir /path/to/your/project

# Show help message
yank -h
# or
yank --help

Once the TUI is running:

Normal Mode:

Filter Mode (after pressing /):

When you confirm your selection, the content of each selected file is copied to the clipboard, preceded by a header containing metadata:

--- FILENAME: relative/path/to/your/file.txt | Modified: 2025-05-02 17:18:10 | Size: 47004 bytes ---
(Content of file.txt goes here...)


--- FILENAME: another/subdir/code.go | Modified: 2025-05-01 10:30:00 | Size: 1024 bytes ---
(Content of code.go goes here...)

Yank saves the relative paths of your selected files in a hidden file named .yank within the root of the directory you scanned.

• When you start yank in a directory containing a .yank file, your previous selection is automatically loaded and checked against the currently available files.

• When you confirm a selection (y/enter), the .yank file is updated with the current selection.

• If you confirm with no files selected (or clear the selection and then confirm), the .yank file is removed.

• Runtime:

  • Linux: xclip or xsel for clipboard access.

• Go Modules:

  • github.com/charmbracelet/bubbletea (TUI Framework)

  • github.com/charmbracelet/bubbles (TUI Components like list, key)

  • github.com/charmbracelet/lipgloss (TUI Styling)

  • github.com/lithammer/fuzzysearch (Fuzzy Searching)

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

• The wonderful TUI libraries provided by Charm.

• The efficient fuzzy searching library by lithammer