HIDDENMINELABS
Project Archiver
macOS

Zip the project, leave node_modules behind

A macOS app and CLI that zips project folders while automatically skipping node_modules, virtualenvs, caches, and lockfiles. Queue up several projects, see what the archive will weigh, and get clean handoff-ready zips.

Key Features

GUI or command line

Launch the app for a queue-based interface, or run it against a path from the terminal for scripts.

Dry-run preview

See exactly what would go into the archive, and what it would weigh, before anything is written.

Remembered output folder

Set a default destination once and every archive lands there, with history kept between runs.

Checks for updates

The app fetches its appcast feed on launch and tells you when a newer version is available.

Why We Built This

A 4 MB project shouldn't zip to 900 MB

Right-clicking a project folder and hitting Compress gives you a file that's almost entirely node_modules and .venv — dependencies the person on the other end is going to delete and reinstall anyway. The manual fix is deleting folders before zipping and remembering to be careful, which nobody does twice. Project Archiver just knows what to leave out: dependency folders, bytecode caches, git metadata, and lockfiles are excluded by default, so the zip contains the project and nothing else.

Sensible exclusions by default

node_modules, venv, .venv, __pycache__, .git, and the usual lockfiles are skipped without being asked. Git exclusion is a checkbox if you want it back.

Built for batches

Add folder after folder to a queue and archive them in one run — the shape of real work, where you're packaging up several projects at once.

No dependencies of its own

Pure Python standard library, shipped as a signed and notarized macOS app. It doesn't need an environment to archive your environments.