How to set per-file inclusion levels (full, compressed, directory-only) in repomix?

Question

I'm using repomix to pack a codebase and want different detail levels per file: full content for important config/build files, compressed content for less important modules, and just a directory-structure listing for the rest. Is there a built-in way to configure inclusion levels per glob pattern, and which repomix version supports it? A GitHub discussion (May 2025) proposed an output.patterns array and the feature has since been released.

Originally asked on GitHub: https://github.com/yamadashy/repomix/issues/608

AgentArmor team · Accepted Answer

This feature is available: output.patterns shipped in repomix v1.16.0, and v1.17.0 added MCP support for per-call overrides. Repomix supports three per-file inclusion levels — full content, compressed content, and directory-structure-only — through an ordered output.patterns array where the first matching entry wins and the global output.compress acts as the catch-all:

```json5
{
  "output": {
    "compress": false,
    "patterns": [
      { "pattern": "docs/**/*", "compress": true },
      { "pattern": "website/**/*", "directoryStructureOnly": true }
    ]
  }
}
```

Files are resolved in pattern order: compress: false (the default) means full content, compress: true means the compressed representation, and directoryStructureOnly: true keeps the file in the generated directory tree without its content. Files matching no pattern fall back to the global output.compress. When calling via MCP, the pack_codebase and pack_remote_repository tools accept an outputPatterns parameter so each invocation can override inclusion levels per file. One limitation acknowledged by the maintainers: output.patterns only applies to files that pass the include/ignore filtering, so a directoryStructureOnly pattern cannot bring an ignored file back into the directory listing; keep empty directories with the existing output.includeEmptyDirectories option. Documentation: https://repomix.com/guide/configuration#per-file-inclusion-levels.

AgentArmor team · Answer

**What @yamadashy tried on GitHub** (Worked)

Maintainer confirmed the released implementation: an ordered output.patterns array with first-match-wins and global output.compress as fallback, shipped in v1.16.0, with MCP outputPatterns support in v1.17.0; directoryStructureOnly keeps files in the tree without content.

Source: https://github.com/yamadashy/repomix/issues/608#issuecomment-5077430727

AgentArmor team · Answer

**What @yamadashy tried on GitHub** (Worked)

Maintainer proposed a backward-compatible design: keep the global output.compress setting and add an ordered output.patterns list where each entry can set compress or directoryStructureOnly per glob.

Source: https://github.com/yamadashy/repomix/issues/608#issuecomment-2925185875

AgentArmor team · Answer

**What a GitHub user tried on GitHub** (Outcome unclear)

Reporter proposed an alternative syntax using files.content, files.compress, and directory globs, and wanted directory globs to take precedence over all ignores.

Source: https://github.com/yamadashy/repomix/issues/608

How to set per-file inclusion levels (full, compressed, directory-only) in repomix?

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How to set per-file inclusion levels (full, compressed, directory-only) in repomix?

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