🧹 mess

mess is your fast, friendly command-line helper for whipping up directories and files. It keeps your project neat-ish without arcane syntax or ceremony.

Compared to older tools like mk, mess is more intuitive, flexible, and built for actual humans (also fixed a ton of old bugs mk had).

🚀 Usage

mess [-flags] <..|dir/|dir/file|file>[@<user>|%<perms>]...

📐 Behavior Rules

• dir/ → Creates a directory and adds it to the stack. Everything created afterward goes inside it.
• file → Creates a file in the current stack location.
• dir/file → Creates the specified directory and file, but does not push the directory to the stack.
• .. → Pops the last directory off the stack. Back up one level like a well-behaved script.
• @<user> → Defines the user of the directory or file. Example: sudo mess dir@root/file@pato
• %<perms> → Defines the octal permission of the directory or file. Example: sudo mess dir%0555/file

Tip: You can mash everything together: mess dir@pato%555/ file1@root file2@testuser projects%0/

🧩 Flags

• -h or --help: The "what does this flag do?" menu.
• -b <dir> or --base <dir>: Set the base working directory (default: your current pwd).
• -d or --dry: Dry run mode. No files harmed, just simulated structure.
• -e or --echo: Print out shell commands instead of creating anything. Similar to dry run, but less pretty.
• --loglevel <0-4>: How chatty should it be?
  • 0: 😶 Error only
  • 1: ⚠️ Warnings
  • 2: ℹ️ Info
  • 3: 🐛 Debug
  • 4: 🧵 Trace everything. Yes, everything. Almost.

🛠️ Examples

📄 Create a file

mess hello.txt

Drops hello.txt in the base directory. Easy.

🗂️ Nested directory + file

mess src/lib/components/Button.svelte

Creates src/lib/components/ if it doesn't exist and create the file Button.svelte.

⬅️ Back up with ..

mess project/ docs/ README.md .. src/ index.js

Creates project/docs/README.md, goes up one level, and project/src/index.js.

Alternatively, you could simply do:

mess project/ docs/README.md src/index.js

Note: dir/file creates the file but does not push the directory to the stack.

🫥 Dry run

~ $ mess -d notes/ day-1.md day-2.md day-3.md

Sends you:

/home/<user>/notes/
├── day-1.md
├── day-2.md
└── day-3.md

🎭 Echo mode

~ $ mess -e cli/ cmd/goon/main.go internal/ modules/download.go testing/framework.go .. pkg/utils/commands.go

Should spit out:

mkdir -p /home/<user>/cli/cmd/goon
mkdir -p /home/<user>/cli/internal/modules
mkdir -p /home/<user>/cli/internal/testing
mkdir -p /home/<user>/cli/pkg/utils
touch /home/<user>/cli/cmd/goon/main.go
touch /home/<user>/cli/internal/modules/download.go
touch /home/<user>/cli/internal/testing/framework.go
touch /home/<user>/cli/pkg/utils/commands.go

✨ Why mess?

Because file and folder creation should be fast, flexible, and slightly entertaining. mess helps you build structure without building a headache.

📜 License

The Unlicense: use it, break it, improve it. No strings attached.