{"id":9844,"date":"2026-09-03T12:05:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T17:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/krisbunda.com\/blog\/?p=9844"},"modified":"2026-09-03T12:17:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T17:17:06","slug":"auto-update-your-readmes-ascii-directory-tree-with-github-actions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/krisbunda.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/03\/auto-update-your-readmes-ascii-directory-tree-with-github-actions\/","title":{"rendered":"Auto-Update Your README’s ASCII Directory Tree with GitHub Actions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How many GitHub repos have outdated directory tree art? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I’ve seen lots of outdated READMEs. Projects with ASCII art visualizations reflecting a bygone era of an app’s file system. Perhaps developers are sentimental types, always longing for simpler times? But if information is important enough to feature on the main README, shouldn’t it be accurate? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The future is now!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

We basically live in The Future, sans flying cars (turns out: we can barely handle ground driving). We can automate tasks now. And make every commit push or PR merge regenerate a repo’s directory tree art. One way to do it is with a GitHub Actions workflow, and the way I do it requires just 2 little files. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a GitHub Actions workflow? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It’s a YAML file. For this example, it’s a simple file (update-tree.yml<\/code>) that calls a shell script file (generate-tree.ps1<\/code>), which generates and updates the directory tree in the repo’s README.md<\/code> file. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To create a workflow: <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Either write your YAML file and place it in your repo’s .github\/workflows<\/code> folder, <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Or push the “New workflow” button on the Actions tab and write your YAML file in a GitHub text editor, which will then be saved to the .github\/workflows<\/code> folder. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \"GitHub
    GitHub Actions workflow YAML file creation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    YAML file<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    This is a simple workflow that permits writing to the README and calling the shell script to create and update the dir tree. Note the triggers section that sets conditions for when the job is to run: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • on commit from a non-bot user, <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • on Pull Request merge, <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • or manually when the ‘Run workflow’ btn is clicked in GitHub.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      YAML<\/span>