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git-ripper
Advanced tools
CLI tool that lets you download specific folders from GitHub repositories without cloning the entire repo.
Download specific folders from GitHub repositories without cloning the entire codebase
Installation • Usage • Features • Examples • Configuration • Troubleshooting • Contributing • License
Have you ever needed just a single component from a massive repository? Or wanted to reference a specific configuration directory without downloading gigabytes of code? Git-ripper solves this problem by letting you extract and download only the folders you need, saving bandwidth, time, and disk space.
Git-ripper requires Node.js >=16.0.0 due to its use of modern JavaScript features and built-in Node.js modules.
npm install -g git-ripper
This installs Git-ripper as a global command-line tool accessible from anywhere in your terminal.
npx git-ripper <github-folder-url>
Run Git-ripper directly without installation using npx
.
git-ripper https://github.com/username/repository/tree/branch/folder
git-ripper https://github.com/username/repository/tree/branch/folder -o ./my-output-folder
git-ripper https://github.com/username/repository/tree/branch/folder --zip
git-ripper https://github.com/username/repository/tree/branch/folder --zip="my-archive.zip"
Option | Description | Default |
---|---|---|
-o, --output <directory> | Specify output directory | Current directory |
--zip [filename] | Create ZIP archive of downloaded content | - |
--no-resume | Disable resume functionality | - |
--force-restart | Ignore existing checkpoints and restart | - |
--list-checkpoints | List all saved download checkpoints | - |
-V, --version | Show version number | - |
-h, --help | Show help | - |
# Download React DOM package
git-ripper https://github.com/facebook/react/tree/main/packages/react-dom
# Extract VS Code build configuration
git-ripper https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/tree/main/build -o ./vscode-build-config
# Get Node.js documentation
git-ripper https://github.com/nodejs/node/tree/main/doc -o ./node-docs
# Extract Tailwind components
git-ripper https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/tree/master/src/components -o ./tailwind-components
# Download React DOM package and create a ZIP archive
git-ripper https://github.com/facebook/react/tree/main/packages/react-dom --zip
# Extract VS Code build configuration with custom archive name
git-ripper https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/tree/main/build --zip="vscode-build.zip"
Git-ripper now supports resuming interrupted downloads, making it perfect for large folders or unstable network connections.
# Start a download
git-ripper https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/tree/main/src/vs/workbench
# If interrupted (Ctrl+C, network issues, etc.), simply run the same command again
git-ripper https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/tree/main/src/vs/workbench
# It will automatically resume from where it left off
# Ignore any existing progress and start fresh
git-ripper https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/tree/main/src/vs/workbench --force-restart
# Use traditional behavior without resume functionality
git-ripper https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/tree/main/src/vs/workbench --no-resume
# List all saved download progress
git-ripper --list-checkpoints
# Output shows:
# 1. ID: a1b2c3d4
# URL: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/tree/main/src/vs/workbench
# Progress: 45/120 files
# Last Updated: 2025-06-04T10:30:00Z
Git-ripper operates in five stages:
The resume functionality uses checkpoint files stored in .git_ripper_checkpoints/
to track download progress, file integrity hashes, and metadata for each download session.
Git-ripper works out of the box without configuration. For rate-limited GitHub API usage, authentication support is under development.
Error: Request failed with status code 403
Solution: GitHub limits unauthenticated API requests. Wait a few minutes and try again.
Error: Invalid GitHub URL format
Solution: Ensure your URL follows the pattern: https://github.com/owner/repo/tree/branch/folder
Error: Path not found in repository
Solution: Verify the folder path exists in the specified branch and repository.
If you encounter problems with resume functionality:
# Clear all checkpoints and start fresh
git-ripper https://github.com/owner/repo/tree/branch/folder --force-restart
# Or disable resume entirely
git-ripper https://github.com/owner/repo/tree/branch/folder --no-resume
If files appear corrupted after resume:
# Force restart will re-download everything
git-ripper https://github.com/owner/repo/tree/branch/folder --force-restart
The resume feature automatically detects and re-downloads corrupted files, but --force-restart
ensures a completely clean download.
Contributions make the open-source community an amazing place to learn, inspire, and create. Any contributions to Git-ripper are greatly appreciated.
git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature
)git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature'
)git push origin feature/amazing-feature
)See the open issues for a list of proposed features and known issues.
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
Made with ❤️ by sairajB
If you find this tool useful, consider sponsoring its development
FAQs
CLI tool that lets you download specific folders from GitHub repositories without cloning the entire repo.
The npm package git-ripper receives a total of 72 weekly downloads. As such, git-ripper popularity was classified as not popular.
We found that git-ripper demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
Did you know?
Socket for GitHub automatically highlights issues in each pull request and monitors the health of all your open source dependencies. Discover the contents of your packages and block harmful activity before you install or update your dependencies.
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