Filtering by Project Type¶

Ready-made filter sets for common kinds of project. Pattern Filtering explains the rules behind them.

Note

--exclude-pattern and --include-pattern match a file's name, not its path. To filter by location, use --exclude (directory names) or --ignore-file (gitignore-style, path-aware).

Python¶

recursivist visualize \
  --exclude __pycache__ --exclude .pytest_cache --exclude .venv --exclude venv \
  --exclude-ext .pyc --exclude-ext .pyo \
  --exclude-pattern "test_*.py" \
  --ignore-file .gitignore

To show backend source without its tests using regular expressions instead:

recursivist visualize --include-pattern ".*\.py$" --exclude-pattern "test_.*\.py$" --regex

JavaScript / TypeScript¶

recursivist visualize \
  --exclude node_modules --exclude dist --exclude build --exclude coverage \
  --exclude-ext .map --exclude-ext .log \
  --exclude-pattern "*.test.js" --exclude-pattern "*.spec.ts" --exclude-pattern "*.min.js" \
  --ignore-file .gitignore

One regular expression covers the JavaScript and TypeScript test files, including .jsx and .tsx:

recursivist visualize --exclude-pattern ".*\.(spec|test)\.(js|ts)x?$" --regex

Java / Maven¶

recursivist visualize \
  --exclude target --exclude .idea \
  --exclude-ext .class --exclude-ext .jar \
  --exclude-pattern "*Test.java" \
  --ignore-file .gitignore

Documentation Only¶

recursivist visualize --include-pattern "*.md" --include-pattern "*.rst" --include-pattern "*.txt"

Without Generated and Minified Assets¶

recursivist visualize \
  --exclude dist --exclude build \
  --exclude-ext .map \
  --exclude-pattern "*.min.js" --exclude-pattern "*.bundle.js"

What Matters Most¶

Pair filters with a metric sort to surface the files worth looking at:

# Largest source files
recursivist visualize --exclude node_modules --exclude .git --sort-by-size

# Most recently changed files
recursivist visualize --exclude node_modules --exclude .git --exclude dist --sort-by-mtime

A Reusable Ignore File¶

When the same exclusions apply on every run, keep them in a gitignore-style file of their own instead of on the command line:

# .recursivist-ignore

# Dependencies and build output
node_modules/
venv/
dist/
build/

# Logs and caches
*.log
.cache/

# Editor files
.vscode/
.idea/
*.swp

recursivist visualize --ignore-file .recursivist-ignore

Commit a .recursivist.toml to the repository (or add a [tool.recursivist] table to pyproject.toml) so that everyone gets the same view without passing any options:

# .recursivist.toml
ignore-file = ".gitignore"
exclude = ["node_modules", ".git", "venv"]

See Configuration.