git-gimme

(っᵔ◡ᵔ)っ ⭐

Ever wanted to download a single file or single folder from a Github repo?

git gimme unjs/giget/templates
git gimme unjs/giget/README.md

Install

npm install -g git-gimme

Installed globally, git gimme works as a native git subcommand.

What's new

Version	Highlights
1.0.0	Download single files from GitHub without cloning entire repositories
0.2.0	Exported function renamed to gitGimme; giget is now a peer dep
0.1.0	Initial release — git gimme CLI, single-file + folder downloads

Full history in CHANGELOG.md.

Usage

git gimme <source> [dest] [--ignore='pattern,pattern']

A folder

Lands as ./templates:

git gimme unjs/giget/templates

A single file

Lands as ./README.md:

git gimme unjs/giget/README.md

If the path could be either, git-gimme tries folder first and falls back to file.

A pasted GitHub URL

Both /tree/ and /blob/ links work as they are:

git gimme https://github.com/unjs/giget/tree/main/templates
git gimme https://github.com/unjs/giget/blob/main/README.md

A branch, tag, or commit

git gimme 'unjs/giget/templates#v3.2.0'

Without a #ref, the repository's actual default branch is used.

Somewhere other than the current folder

git gimme unjs/giget/templates ./vendor/templates

Skipping files

git gimme unjs/giget ./giget --ignore='*.md,*.lock'

API

import { gitGimme } from "git-gimme";

const { dir, files } = await gitGimme("unjs/giget/templates", {
  dest: "./vendor/templates",
  ignore: "*.md",
});

console.log(`${files} file(s) in ${dir}`);

gitGimme(input, options?)

Option	Type	Default	Description
dest	string	repo or path's name	Where to write the file or folder.
ignore	string	—	Comma-separated globs to skip.

Returns { dir, files }: the resolved output path and how many files landed there.

How it works

Core downloading is done by giget — YAGNI 🧘‍♂️. Their page lists everything else that comes with it: private sources via --auth, GitLab / Bitbucket / Sourcehut, offline cache.

As giget is a peer dependency so if already installed, this package simply enhances the DX.

Development

bun install
bun run test
bun run typecheck
bun run build
bun run format

License

MIT © jayF0x