tree2folder

Create files and folders from a simple ASCII tree diagram.

Demo

Watch how easy it is to create folder structures from ASCII diagrams using tree2folder!

Usage

You can use tree2folder in two ways:

Using npx (no installation required)

To run tree2folder without installing:

npx tree2folder <file-name> [<directory>]

• <file-name>: Path to the text file containing the directory tree diagram.
• [<directory>]: (Optional) Target directory where the structure will be created. Defaults to the current working directory.

Global Installation

Install globally using npm:

npm install -g tree2folder

After installation, you can use it directly:

tree2folder <file-name> [<directory>]

Examples

1. Basic example (create structure in current directory)

Create diagram.txt with this content:

project
├─ bin/
│  └─ start.sh
├─ src/
│  ├─ index.js
│  └─ helpers.js
└─ README.md

Or

project
    bin/
        start.sh
    src/
        index.js
        helpers.js
    README.md

Then run:

npx tree2folder diagram.txt

Result: a project folder containing the described files and folders.

2. Create into a specific directory

npx tree2folder diagram.txt ./output-folder

This creates the tree inside ./output-folder (it will be created if it doesn't exist).

Supported input

✅ ASCII-tree structure:

project
├─ bin/
│  └─ start.sh
├─ src/
│  ├─ index.js
│  └─ helpers.js
└─ README.md

✅ Indentation-based structure:

project
    bin/
        start.sh
    src/
        index.js
        helpers.js
    README.md

Behavior & tips

• Lines ending with / are treated as directories. Indentation (spaces) defines nesting.
• Tree characters like ├─, └─, and │ are ignored, so you can paste output from tree or similar utilities and it will still work.
• Files are created empty by default. If a path already exists, behavior depends on the CLI implementation (it may skip, warn, or overwrite). Test in a temporary folder if you are unsure.

Contributing

Contributions that improve examples, parser robustness, and helpful CLI flags are welcome.

Small ways to contribute:

• Add examples that show edge cases (spaces in names, many indent levels).
• Add a --dry-run flag to preview what will be created without making changes.
• Add --force to overwrite existing files and a --yes flag to skip prompts.
• Improve the README with platform-specific tips or CI-compatible examples.

License

MIT — see the LICENSE file.