AI-ready project zips for VS Code, Cursor, ChatGPT, Claude, and LLM coding agents.
Export2AI turns a workspace or selected folder into a clean .zip archive for AI handoff. It skips generated noise, protects local Git metadata and credential-like files, keeps useful repository context, and shows an offline token estimate before you upload the archive.
Start here: Quick Start · Features · Safe Exports · Token Estimates · Settings · Troubleshooting
| Manual AI handoff | Export2AI handoff |
|---|---|
| Manually pick files and hope the zip is useful | Right-click a folder and export it |
Upload node_modules, caches, build output, or old context zips |
Built-in safe excludes are on by default |
Lose .github/, .gitignore, docs, tests, or AGENTS.md |
Repository-control and validation files stay readable |
Risk leaking .git/, .env, keys, auth files, or local history |
Git internals and credential-like paths are blocked |
| Guess whether the archive fits an LLM context window | Offline token estimate appears before and after export |
Use it for: ChatGPT project uploads, Claude code review context, Cursor workspace handoff, AI codebase analysis, and reproducible source archives for coding agents.
- Install Export2AI from Open VSX, or download a
.vsixfrom Releases. - Open a project in VS Code or Cursor.
- Right-click a folder in the Explorer.
- Choose Export2AI → Zip Folder.
- Upload the generated
*-context-*.zipto ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, or another AI tool.
Example output in the workspace root:
my-project-gpt-5.5-context-2026-06-02-201700.zip
Full walkthrough: Quick Start.
| Feature | What you get |
|---|---|
| 📁 Zip folder/workspace | Clean AI-ready source archive in the workspace root |
| 🌳 Copy project structure | Folder tree only, copied as plaintext, Markdown, or XML |
| 📄 Copy one file | Exact UTF-8 text from one file, no zip needed |
| 🔢 Token estimate | Offline estimate in status bar and zip notification |
| 🛡️ Git metadata soft-delete | Keeps repo-control files, omits unsafe local .git/ internals |
| ⚙️ Editable safe excludes | Command Palette checklist for built-in excludes |
| 📂 Open last zip | Reveals the most recent zip in the OS file manager |
Command details: Features & Workflow.
Export2AI is built for AI context sharing, not for publishing secrets or backing up a local checkout.
| Included for context | Excluded or replaced for safety/noise |
|---|---|
source text, .github/, .gitignore, .gitattributes, .gitmodules, AGENTS.md, README.md, docs/, tests/, tools/, pyproject.toml |
.git/, node_modules/, dist/, build/, out/, caches, .env*, local auth files, private keys, binary/oversized/invalid UTF-8 placeholders, previous context zips |
Normal source files are not excluded only because their filename mentions token, credential, secret, or key. Actual credential/key material still wins over these includes.
Default Git marker:
_EXPORT2AI_PLACEHOLDERS/git/EXPORT2AI_SOFT_DELETE_PLACEHOLDER.txt
Details: Safe Exports and Git Metadata Soft-Delete.
Export2AI counts locally. Nothing is sent to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, or any other API.
| Model family | Examples | Display |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI / ChatGPT modern | gpt-5.5, gpt-5.5-pro, gpt-5.4, gpt-5, gpt-4.1, gpt-4o, o3-mini, o4-mini |
exact, no ~ |
| OpenAI legacy | gpt-4, gpt-3.5-turbo |
exact, no ~ |
| Claude | claude-opus-4-8, claude-opus-4-7, claude-sonnet-4-6, claude-haiku-4-5 |
approximate, ~ |
| Other/unknown | gemini-*, grok-*, deepseek-*, mistral-* |
approximate, ~ |
Default target model:
"export2ai.llmModel": "gpt-5.5"More: Token Estimates & AI Model Support.
Open settings from Export2AI → Settings, the Command Palette, or by clicking the status bar token estimate.
| Setting | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
export2ai.llmModel |
gpt-5.5 |
Target model for estimates, menu rows, zip names, manifest |
export2ai.enableTokenCounting |
true |
Status bar and notification estimates |
export2ai.softDeleteGitMetadata |
true |
Keep repo-control files; omit local .git/ internals |
export2ai.useBuiltInExcludePatterns |
true |
Use Export2AI's safe default excludes |
export2ai.excludePatterns |
[] |
Extra glob excludes |
export2ai.excludePaths |
[] |
Hard-exclude specific paths |
export2ai.removeComments |
false |
Optional language-aware comment stripping |
export2ai.compressCode |
false |
Optional whitespace compaction |
export2ai.includeManifest |
true |
Adds _EXPORT2AI_MANIFEST.txt |
Full reference: Settings & Configuration and docs/configuration.md.
| Guide | Best for |
|---|---|
| GitHub Wiki | human-friendly documentation hub |
| Comment Stripping & Compression | context-size tradeoffs |
| Developer Guide | source map and architecture |
| Build, Test & Release | local build and VSIX packaging |
| Agent Chokepoints | performance traps for AI coding agents |
| Technical docs | repository-maintained documentation index |
npm install
npm run compile
npm run package
npm run test:criticalVSIX output: build/export2ai-x.y.z.vsix