Getting Started

Installation

pip install snib

Alternatively download the latest wheel here: Latest Release

Recommended Setup

1. Navigate to your project folder:

   cd /path/to/your/project
   

2. Create a Python virtual environment in your project folder:

   python -m venv venv
   

3. Activate the virtual environment:

   • Linux/macOS:

   source venv/bin/activate
   

   • Windows CMD:

   venv\Scripts\activate
   

4. Install snib as shown above.

Running Snib

After setting up a virtual environment and installing snib, you can run commands directly inside your project folder. Start by initializing your project:

snib init

This generates the default config and output folder:

Initialisation succesfull

[NOTE] /path/to/your/project/snibconfig.toml generated with defaults

[NOTE] Output folder created at /path/to/your/project/prompts

Now scan your project. For small to medium projects, --smart is usually enough:

snib scan --smart

On medium-sized projects you may see a warning like this:

Too many files included

[WARN] Included files exceed 100. This may lead to large prompts and higher costs.

In such cases, review your include/exclude rules. A good starting point is to check your project directory for files or folders that don’t need to be processed.

For example, if you have a folder called junk that also contains source code, the --smart option includes it by default. You should explicitly exclude it using the --exclude option:

snib scan --smart --exclude "junk"

Large or complex projects

Keep your scans lean by excluding irrelevant files.
Use --exclude / --include patterns or edit snibconfig.toml.
Presets can also help for common project types (see Presets).

If you try to include and exclude the same pattern, snib detects a pattern conflict:

snib scan --smart --exclude "junk" --include "junk"

Pattern conflicts

[WARN] Pattern conflicts detected (Exclude wins): {'junk'}

Snib resolves such conflicts by always letting the exclude win. This makes it possible to combine broad includes with specific excludes:

snib scan --smart --exclude "test.py"

Pattern conflicts

[WARN] Pattern conflicts detected (Exclude wins): {'*.py (conflicts with test.py)'}

Here --smart includes all *.py files, but the explicit exclude removes test.py. Thanks to the exclude wins rule, all Python files are included except test.py.

You can also guide the AI with a description and a task (see Tasks):

snib scan --smart --description "I want to change ..." --task refactor

After scanning, snib creates prompt files (prompt_1.txt, …) in the prompts folder.

Show Prompt Example

#[INFO]
Please do not give output until all prompt files are sent. Prompt file 1/4

#[DESCRIPTION]
I want to change ...

#[TASK]
Refactor: Suggest refactorings to make the code cleaner, more readable, and maintainable.

#[INCLUDE/EXCLUDE]
Include patterns: ['*.py']
Exclude patterns: ['venv', 'prompts', ..., 'snibconfig.toml']
Included files: files: 34, total size: 92.79 KB
Excluded files: files: 20181, total size: 339.37 MB

#[PROJECT TREE]
snib
├── src
│   └── snib
│       ├── __init__.py
│       ├── __main__.py
│       ├── ...
│       └── writer.py
└── tests
    ├── test_chunker.py
    ├── ...
    └── test_writer.py

#[FILE] tests\test_chunker.py
import pytest
from snib.chunker import Chunker

...

#[INFO]
Prompt file 4/4

...

For large models you might want to increase the chunk size:

snib scan --smart --description "..." --task refactor --chunk-size 100000

Choosing the right chunk size

See the Chunk Size Table below.

To reset everything (e.g. broken config), run:

snib clean 

Running outside the project path

If you don’t run snib from your project folder, use the --path option with every command (init, scan, clean).

Chunk Size

Model / LLM	Max Context (Tokens)	Recommended --chunk-size (Chars)	Notes
LLaMA 2 (7B/13B)	4,000	12,000 – 14,000	1 token ≈ 3–4 chars
Mistral 7B	8,000	28,000	Leave a safety margin
GPT-4 classic	8,000	28,000
GPT-4-32k	32,000	110,000
GPT-4o / GPT-5 (128k)	128,000	450,000 – 500,000	Very large models, massive chunks possible

Rule of Thumb

These are rough estimates to guide you when setting --chunk-size. Snib chunks by characters, not tokens, so chunk sizes vary by model. Always adjust based on your model's context limit and safety margin.

Advanced

• --no-default-excludes: Don’t exclude venv, prompts, or snibconfig.toml.
• --force: Runs commands without confirmation.

Use with caution

The --force option can overwrite existing files or create unwanted text files if your include/exclude rules are not set correctly.

Commands and Options

For a list of all commands and options take a look at CLI Usage.