CLI reference

lmpack pack [path] [options]

path is the directory to pack, . by default. lmpack.json is read from that directory. Relative --out and --report paths are resolved from the current directory.

lmpack without a command prints help. lmpack --version prints the version.

Options

Option	Default	Meaning
-i, --include <glob>	everything	Only pack files matching the glob. Repeatable.
-e, --exclude <glob>	none	Skip files matching the glob. Repeatable.
-b, --budget <tokens>	no limit	Token budget: 120000, 120k, 1.5m.
-p, --profile <name>	none	Use a profile from lmpack.json.
-f, --format <format>	md	Pack format: md or xml.
-o, --out <file>	stdout	Write the pack to a file. Parent directories are created.
--git-diff <ref>	off	Only files changed relative to a git ref, plus files in the same directories.
--no-neighbors	neighbors on	With --git-diff: changed files only.
-t, --tokenizer <name>	o200k	o200k, cl100k, p50k, r50k. See Tokenizers.
--max-file-size <size>	256kb	Skip larger files: 262144, 256kb, 1mb.
--allow-secrets	off	Turn off the secret filter.
-n, --dry-run	off	Print the report only; do not write the pack.
-r, --report <file>	stderr	Write the report to a file.
-h, --help		Show help.

Units: k is 1,000 and m is 1,000,000 for tokens; kb is 1,024 bytes and mb is 1,024 × 1,024 for sizes.

Where output goes

Situation	Pack	Report
default	stdout	stderr
--out pack.md	pack.md	stderr
--report r.txt	stdout or --out	r.txt
--dry-run	not written	stdout
--dry-run --report r.txt	not written	r.txt

--dry-run suppresses only the pack. An explicit --report is still written.

The files named by --out and --report are never packed themselves, even when they sit inside the pack root.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Pack written; everything selected fit.
1	Error: bad flag or config, missing profile, path is not a directory, git ref not found.
2	Pack written, but some files were dropped to fit --budget. Also returned with --dry-run.

Globs

--include, --exclude and the globs in lmpack.json use the same rules:

• A glob without a slash matches the file name at any depth: *.ts matches index.ts and src/deep/util.ts.
• A glob with a slash matches the path from the pack root: src/**, docs/*.md, **/*.snap.
• Dotfiles match like any other file.
• Paths always use forward slashes, on Windows too.

--exclude wins over --include. With both empty, every file that survives .gitignore and the automatic checks is packed.

Precedence

Command-line flags override the selected profile, which overrides the top level of lmpack.json, which overrides the defaults. --include and --exclude given on the command line replace the lists from the config; they are not merged. See Configuration.

Selection order

For every file under path:

1. .gitignore, .lmpackignore and built-in ignores. Ignored directories are not entered and appear in the report as one line.
2. Symlinks are reported and not followed.
3. --include, --exclude, then lock files (unless --include matched them).
4. --git-diff, if given.
5. Secret filter by file name.
6. Size limit, then content checks: empty, binary, non-UTF-8, long lines.
7. Secret filter by content.
8. Token count, then the budget.

Files dropped in steps 1–2 and 5–8 are listed in the report with a reason. Files not selected by globs or git are only counted in a summary line.