codebase-snapshot
codebase-snapshot vs code2prompt
code2prompt is a Rust CLI that renders a codebase through a Handlebars template into a prompt. The
templating is the feature — it decides the shape of what you get. This tool decides the size and
the freshness of what you get, and leaves the shape to a manifest. They are close to opposites,
which makes choosing between them straightforward.
Written by the author of
codebase-snapshot. code2prompt is a separate project; the summary reflects its commonly documented behaviour at the time of writing rather than a benchmark.
The short version
code2prompt — you write a template, it renders your repository into it. Output shape is entirely yours.
codebase-snapshot — output shape is fixed and predictable: budgeted Markdown parts, plus a JSON manifest with hashes. You tune what goes in, not what the page looks like.
If the prompt format is the thing you care about: use code2prompt.
Side by side
| codebase-snapshot | code2prompt | |
|---|---|---|
| Output shape | Fixed: parts + manifest.json + reports |
Yours — Handlebars template |
| Custom prompt scaffolding | No — that is out of scope | Yes, the core feature |
| Hard size ceiling | Yes — maxPartBytes |
Not to this project's knowledge |
| Staleness check | validate exits non-zero on drift |
Not a feature |
| Reproducible output | Byte-identical parts, with a fingerprint | Template-driven; no determinism guarantee |
| Distribution | Node.js, npm | Single Rust binary, no runtime |
| Machine index | manifest.json with hashes and skip reasons |
Template output only |
| Language awareness | 25 presets, AST/structural/heuristic summaries | Template access to file contents |
| Secret handling | 30 defaults, value-span masking, audit table | Ignore rules |
Where code2prompt is the better choice
- You need a specific prompt structure — a system preamble, per-file headers, a task framing. Templates are the right abstraction and this tool has no answer to them.
- You want a single binary with no runtime. Rust means no Node install on the target machine.
- You are generating prompts, not context artifacts. If the output is a prompt, you want a templating engine.
Where this is the better choice
- You need the output to fit a budget.
maxPartBytesis a ceiling: an oversized file is truncated with an omission marker naming the budget rather than silently blowing the limit. - You need to detect staleness.
validatecompares every file hash plus a digest of the generation settings, so a changed budget counts as drift. Prompt generators generally have no concept of a snapshot that can expire. - You need reproducibility. Frozen output means the artifact can be diffed in review or cached by hash — not just regenerated and hoped over.
- You need to explain exclusions.
manifest.skipped[]names a reason for every path left out;explain <path>answers for one. - You need an agent to run it unaided.
describe --format jsonis the whole contract as data.
Both at once
Legitimate and common: generate the parts with this tool, then reference those parts from a template you render yourself. The two are not competing for the same slot — one produces a payload, the other produces a prompt that might contain it.
Honest summary
If your problem is "my prompt is not structured the way I want", code2prompt solves it and this tool does not. If your problem is "my context does not fit, and I cannot tell whether it is still accurate", that is this tool's entire reason to exist.