zipit creates intentional ZIP archives from directory trees by excluding dependencies, caches, build output, and other files you do not want to hand off.
Any directory tree → intentional archive.
The direct installer verifies the release checksum, installs zipit to ~/.local/bin/zipit, and configures PATH for future Bash, Zsh, or Fish shells when needed:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/poizdev/zipit/main/install.sh | shRun the direct installer from PowerShell:
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/poizdev/zipit/main/install.ps1 | iexIt verifies the release checksum, installs to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Zipit\bin\zipit.exe, and adds that directory to the user PATH when needed. Open a new terminal after installation.
With the Go version declared in go.mod installed:
go install github.com/poizdev/zipit/cmd/zipit@latestThe Go binary directory must already be in PATH.
Archive the current directory to a ZIP beside it:
zipit .Archive another directory, preview a selection, or exclude dependencies for one run:
zipit ./project
zipit . --dry-run
zipit . -x node_modules/Modern workspaces accumulate material that rarely belongs in a handoff: dependencies, repository metadata, virtual environments, caches, build output, logs, editor state, and generated files. General-purpose ZIP tools archive the paths they are given. zipit adds an intentional selection policy before archive creation.
zipit is not a different compression algorithm. It is a path-selection engine feeding a safe streaming ZIP writer. It does not decide what your project is; it helps you decide what your archive is.
zipit unions exclusions from three sources:
- the global user config
.zipitignoreat the source root- repeated
-xor--excludeflags
A basename pattern such as node_modules/ or *.log matches at any depth. A trailing / marks a directory rule and prunes that entire subtree. Patterns containing / are normally relative to the selected source root, and ** provides recursive glob matching.
Rules are case-sensitive and exclusion-only. There is no ! negation or precedence-based unexclude behavior. See Exclusion rules and configuration for exact semantics, global configuration, workspace initialization, and dry-run behavior.
# Choose the output path
zipit ./project -o project.zip
# Combine exclusions
zipit ./workspace -x node_modules/ -x .git/ -x "*.log"
# Safely replace an existing output
zipit ./project -o project.zip --force
# Create a workspace .zipitignore interactively
zipit init
# Inspect global exclusions
zipit config list
# Check for a newer stable release
zipit update --checkExisting output is never replaced unless --force (or -f) is given. zipit version prints build and platform details; zipit version --short prints only the version. Shell completion scripts are available through zipit completion --help.
Update is discovery-only: zipit reports available releases but never replaces its own binary. Normal archive commands do not contact GitHub; any implicit update notice uses previously cached discovery data.
In one real multi-project workspace, configured exclusions reduced an archive from approximately 35,614 entries and 325 MB to 1,291 entries and 21.8 MB. The selected archive contained 1,286 regular files and 5 preserved symlinks, representing 60.8 MB of selected input.
That is about 96.4% fewer archive entries and a 93.3% smaller final archive for this workspace and configuration. The reduction came primarily from excluding dependency, cache, build, and editor artifacts—not from compressing the same input more efficiently. Results vary by directory and rules.
Release archives are built for:
- Linux amd64 and arm64
- macOS amd64 and arm64
- Windows amd64 and arm64
CI executes the same generic Linux binary in representative distro environments. The amd64 smoke matrix covers Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch Linux, Alpine, and Nix; the arm64 matrix covers Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Alpine, and Nix. This is runtime compatibility coverage, not native AUR or Nix packaging.
Bug reports and focused contributions are welcome. Read CONTRIBUTING.md for development commands, repository structure, and portability expectations.
Zipit is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.
Copyright © 2026 poizdev.