┌──────────────────────────────────┐
  │  unREADME                        │
  │  the README you never wrote.     │
  └──────────────────────────────────┘

Drop unreadme in any repo. It reads your source code and generates a professional README.md in seconds — powered by Claude.

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Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• An Anthropic API key — get one free at console.anthropic.com

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API key setup

unREADME needs your Anthropic API key to call Claude. Set it once and it works everywhere:

# Add to your shell profile (recommended — works in every directory)
echo 'export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_key_here' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

Alternatively, put it in a .env file inside the repo you're documenting:

echo 'ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_key_here' > .env

Never commit your API key. Make sure .env is in your .gitignore.

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Installation

# No install — run directly with npx
npx unreadme

# Or install globally
npm install -g unreadme

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Usage

# Generate README for the current directory
unreadme

# Generate README for a different repo
unreadme --dir ~/projects/my-app

# Preview the diff before writing
unreadme --preview

# Print to stdout only, don't write the file
unreadme --dry-run

# Skip if README.md already exists
unreadme --no-overwrite

# Change the writing style
unreadme --persona minimal      # shortest possible README
unreadme --persona opinionated  # confident, active voice
unreadme --persona standard     # default: professional and complete

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How it works

1. Scans your repo and picks the most informative files (respects a ~60k character token budget)
2. Reads git metadata — branch, recent commits, remote URL, detected language
3. Sends everything to Claude as structured context
4. Streams the generated README back and writes it to README.md

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Contributing

Issues and PRs welcome. Open an issue first for any significant changes.

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License

MIT