Overview

ghgrab helps you pull individual files, folders, or release artifacts from supported Git forges without cloning an entire repository.

What it does well

• Browse repositories in a full-screen terminal UI.

• Open a repository directly from a GitHub, GitLab, Codeberg, Gitea, or Forgejo URL.

• Search for repositories from the home screen.

• Preview text and source files before downloading.

• Select multiple files or folders and download them in one run.

• Download GitHub release assets with OS and architecture-aware matching.

• Expose machine-readable commands for scripts and agent workflows.

Platform support

• Repository browsing and file or folder downloads: GitHub, GitLab, Codeberg, Gitea, Forgejo, and compatible self-hosted instances.

• TUI quick repository search from the home screen: GitHub only.

• Release downloads with ghgrab release / ghgrab rel: GitHub only.

• GitHub LFS detection and download resolution: GitHub only.

Why use it

The usual alternative is git clone, followed by manually deleting everything you do not need. ghgrab is built for the opposite workflow: identify the exact paths you want, then fetch only those assets.

That is useful when you want to:

• inspect examples from a large repository,

• grab one directory into an existing project,

• download a binary release quickly,

• automate file retrieval from CI or agent tooling.

Distribution options

ghgrab is published through several packaging channels:

• Cargo

• npm

• pipx / pip

• Nix

• AUR

The Python package acts as a lightweight launcher that downloads the platform binary when needed. The Rust crate builds the native application directly.