@crashbytes/dendro

dendro 🌳

dendro (δένδρο) - from the Greek word for "tree"

A beautiful, fast directory tree visualization CLI with intuitive file type icons.

🔗 GitHub Repository | 📦 npm Package

Why "dendro"?

The name dendro comes from the Greek word δένδρο (pronounced "DEN-droh"), meaning "tree". It's:

• Memorable - Short, unique, and easy to remember
• Meaningful - Directly relates to tree structures and hierarchies
• Professional - Used in scientific contexts (dendrology, dendrochronology)
• Global - Recognizable across languages due to its Greek root
• Concise - Just 6 letters, quick to type

When you visualize directory structures, you're essentially mapping a tree—and that's exactly what dendro does, with style.

Features

• 🌳 Beautiful tree visualization with Unicode box-drawing characters
• 🎨 Smart file type icons for instant visual recognition
• ⚡ Lightning fast - optimized directory traversal
• 🎯 Flexible filtering with regex pattern support
• 📊 Built-in statistics (file counts, directory counts)
• 🔧 Both CLI and programmatic API
• 🎭 Smart defaults (auto-excludes node_modules, .git, etc.)

Installation

Via npm (Recommended)

npm install -g @crashbytes/dendro

Via npx (No Installation)

npx @crashbytes/dendro

From Source (GitHub)

git clone https://github.com/CrashBytes/dendron.git
cd dendron
npm install
npm link

Quick Start

# Visualize current directory
dendro

# Visualize specific directory
dendro /path/to/project

# Limit depth to 3 levels
dendro ~/projects -d 3

# Show all files including hidden
dendro -a

# Show help
dendro --help

Usage

Command Line Options

Usage: dendro [path] [options]

Arguments:
  path                       Directory path to display (default: ".")

Options:
  -V, --version              Output version number
  -d, --max-depth <number>   Maximum depth to traverse
  -a, --all                  Show hidden files and directories
  --no-icons                 Disable file type icons
  -p, --show-paths           Show full paths
  -e, --exclude <patterns>   Patterns to exclude (regex)
  --no-stats                 Hide statistics summary
  -h, --help                 Display help

Examples

# Show only 2 levels deep
dendro -d 2

# Show all files including hidden ones
dendro -a

# Exclude specific patterns (node_modules, test directories)
dendro -e "node_modules" "test" "__pycache__"

# Show full file paths
dendro -p

# Plain text output (no icons)
dendro --no-icons

# Combine options
dendro ~/my-project -d 3 -a -e "*.log" "dist"

File Type Icons

dendro automatically detects and displays appropriate icons for common file types:

Icon	File Types
📁	Directories
📜	JavaScript (.js, .jsx, .mjs, .cjs)
📘	TypeScript (.ts, .tsx)
📋	JSON (.json)
📝	Markdown (.md, .mdx)
🎨	Stylesheets (.css, .scss, .sass, .less)
🌐	HTML (.html, .htm)
🖼️	Images (.png, .jpg, .gif, .svg, .webp)
🎬	Videos (.mp4, .avi, .mov, .mkv)
🎵	Audio (.mp3, .wav, .ogg, .m4a)
📕	PDFs (.pdf)
🗜️	Archives (.zip, .tar, .gz, .rar, .7z)
🗄️	Databases (.db, .sqlite, .sql)
⚙️	Config files (.yaml, .yml, .toml, .ini)
🔒	Lock files (package-lock.json, yarn.lock)
📦	Git files (.gitignore, .gitattributes)
📄	Other text files

Programmatic API

Use dendro in your Node.js projects:

const { buildTree, renderTree, getTreeStats } = require('@crashbytes/dendro');

// Build a tree structure
const tree = buildTree('/path/to/directory', {
  maxDepth: 3,
  showHidden: false,
  excludePatterns: [/node_modules/, /\.git/]
});

// Render as text
const output = renderTree(tree, {
  showIcons: true,
  showPaths: false
});

console.log(output);

// Get statistics
const stats = getTreeStats(tree);
console.log(`${stats.directories} directories, ${stats.files} files`);

API Reference

buildTree(dirPath, options)

Builds a tree data structure from a directory.

Parameters:

• dirPath (string) - Path to directory
• options (object)
  • maxDepth (number) - Maximum depth to traverse (default: Infinity)
  • showHidden (boolean) - Include hidden files (default: false)
  • excludePatterns (RegExp[]) - Patterns to exclude (default: [])

Returns: Tree object with structure:

{
  name: string,
  type: 'file' | 'directory',
  icon: string,
  path: string,
  children?: TreeNode[]
}

renderTree(tree, options)

Renders a tree structure as formatted text.

Parameters:

• tree (object) - Tree structure from buildTree
• options (object)
  • showIcons (boolean) - Display file type icons (default: true)
  • showPaths (boolean) - Display full paths (default: false)
  • prefix (string) - Internal use for recursion
  • isLast (boolean) - Internal use for recursion

Returns: Formatted string representation

getTreeStats(tree)

Calculates statistics for a tree.

Returns: Object with { files: number, directories: number }

Default Exclusions

By default (without -a flag), dendro excludes:

• Hidden files/directories (starting with .)
• node_modules
• .git
• .DS_Store
• dist
• build
• coverage

Override with -a or use -e to add custom exclusions.

Advanced Usage

Custom Filtering

const { buildTree, renderTree } = require('@crashbytes/dendro');

// Build tree
const tree = buildTree('.', { maxDepth: 3 });

// Filter to show only JavaScript files
function filterJS(node) {
  if (node.type === 'file') {
    return /\.(js|jsx|ts|tsx)$/.test(node.name) ? node : null;
  }
  
  if (node.children) {
    const filtered = node.children.map(filterJS).filter(Boolean);
    return filtered.length > 0 ? { ...node, children: filtered } : null;
  }
  
  return null;
}

const jsOnly = filterJS(tree);
console.log(renderTree(jsOnly));

Integration with Build Tools

// In your build script
const { buildTree, getTreeStats } = require('@crashbytes/dendro');

const tree = buildTree('./dist');
const stats = getTreeStats(tree);

console.log(`Build output: ${stats.files} files in ${stats.directories} directories`);

Examples

See the /examples directory for more usage examples:

• basic-usage.js - Simple tree visualization
• advanced-usage.js - Custom filtering and statistics

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Here's how you can help:

• Fork the repository on GitHub
• Clone your fork

  git clone https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/dendron.git
  cd dendron
  npm install
  

• Create a feature branch

  git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature
  

• Make your changes and test them

  npm test
  node bin/cli.js
  

• Commit your changes

  git commit -m "Add amazing feature"
  

• Push to your fork

  git push origin feature/amazing-feature
  

• Open a Pull Request on GitHub

Areas for Contribution

• 🎨 Add more file type icons
• ⚡ Performance optimizations
• 📝 Documentation improvements
• 🐛 Bug fixes
• ✨ New features

Bug Reports & Feature Requests

Found a bug or have a feature request? Please open an issue on GitHub Issues.

When reporting bugs, please include:

• Your OS and Node.js version
• Steps to reproduce
• Expected vs actual behavior
• Screenshots if applicable

Development

Running Tests

npm test

Local Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/CrashBytes/dendron.git
cd dendron

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Link for local testing
npm link

# Make changes and test
dendro ~/test-directory

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for version history.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Author

CrashBytes

• Website: crashbytes.com
• GitHub: @CrashBytes
• Twitter: @crashbytes

Acknowledgments

Built with ❤️ for developers who love beautiful CLIs.

Special thanks to all contributors who help make dendro better!

Support

If you find dendro useful, please:

• ⭐ Star the project on GitHub
• 🐦 Share it on social media
• 📝 Write a blog post about it
• 💬 Tell your developer friends

dendro - Because every great project starts with understanding its structure 🌳