Auto-detect URLs and treat as --remote for CLI

[primeinc]

Description

It's easy to forget --remote when running commands like:

repomix https://github.com/PowerShell/ConsoleGuiTools

Currently this errors out treating it as a local path. Auto-detecting remote URLs would be more intuitive.

Proposed implementation:

Based on my understanding of the codebase, we could add auto-detection in src/cli/cliRun.ts using the existing isValidRemoteValue() function from src/core/git/gitRemoteParse.ts.

Pseudocode:

if --remote flag is set:
    use runRemoteAction with the flag value
else if single directory argument provided:
    check if path exists locally
    if NOT local path AND isValidRemoteValue(argument):
        auto-detect as remote, use runRemoteAction
    else:
        treat as local directory
else:
    use runDefaultAction for multiple directories

Precedence would be:

1. Explicit --remote flag (highest priority)
2. Local path exists → use local
3. Valid remote URL/shorthand → auto-detect and clone
4. Otherwise → proceed with default local handling

This would allow intuitive commands like repomix owner/repo while respecting existing local folders with the same name.

[github-actions]

Related Issues

I found a similar issue that might be helpful:

• Add URL parsing for branch/commit information #311 - Add URL parsing for branch/commit information - This closed issue implemented URL parsing support for various repository formats including owner/repo, https://github.com/owner/repo, and URLs with branch/commit info. The existing isValidRemoteValue() function mentioned in your proposal was likely implemented as part of this work, which could serve as the foundation for auto-detection.

This may provide useful context on the existing URL parsing infrastructure that your proposed implementation could build upon.

[yamadashy]

Hi @primeinc !
Thanks for the suggestion! Great idea 👍

For now, I'll implement auto-detection for explicit URL formats only (https://..., git@...).

The shorthand format (owner/repo) needs more consideration - a typo like src/utils → src/uitls could match the pattern and trigger an unintended clone. It's probably minor, but I'd like to be cautious.

Let's keep this issue open for further discussion on shorthand support.

[Aboudjem]

ran into this the other day - typed a full github URL as the first arg and got confused when it tried to resolve it as a local path. looking at the code, isValidRemoteValue() in gitRemoteParse.ts already does URL detection, so wiring that into cliRun.ts before the local path resolution should be pretty clean. happy to put up a PR for this if nobody's working on it

[yamadashy]

Thanks for the interest, @Aboudjem!

The explicit URL auto-detection (repomix https://github.com/...) has already been shipped in v1.12.0.

The remaining piece is the owner/repo shorthand format (e.g., repomix owner/repo without --remote). I'd like to take some time to think through the right approach here — there are some tricky edge cases around ambiguity with local directory paths (e.g., a typo like src/uitls could match the owner/repo pattern and trigger an unintended clone attempt).

I'll follow up on this issue once I've settled on a direction. Feel free to share any thoughts or ideas in the meantime!