How to download just a folder within a repo

[nigellh]

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As a part of recording what open source information is used in a product we have to provide the following information (See SBOM White House edict )

• Name
• Version
• License
• Copyright
• Technology
• Download location of source

Many open source packages can come from within a section of a repo. For example:

https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/tree/v4.1.0/src/NuGet

In this directory there are the following separate Nugets

Microsoft.NETCore.Compilers
Microsoft.Net.Compilers.Toolset
Microsoft.Net.Compilers

There can be many, many packages in a single archive. Particularly, when the archive provides the package code for a number of different technologies.

The download location for the first three is https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/archive/refs/tags/v4.1.0.zip

But we do not need all of them for an individual package. Just the one. I cannot see a way of choosing a folder in Github as the download location.

I can point to the folder -

Permalink - https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/tree/818313426323d979747781a17c78860c833776da/src/NuGet/Microsoft.NETCore.Compilers which is specific to this version.
General - src/NuGet/Microsoft.NETCore.Compilers which I guess would be the path within the main archive for this version

What we really could do with is the equivalent of the Green button that gives the link we use for that download.

Is there the equivalent specific to Github.

I know there are open source packages that do this sort of thing such as https://download-directory.github.io/, but we cannot rely on this to always be available and why we would prefer this function directly from Github.

Fingers crossed! N.

[gabrielceravoloo]

Unfortunately, GitHub doesn’t provide native support for downloading just a single folder from a repository. The green “Code → Download ZIP” button always downloads the entire repository.

However, there are a few reliable alternative solutions you can use:

---

✅ Option 1 – Use download-directory.github.io

This is a community-built tool created by GitHub users that allows you to download any subfolder via URL.
For example, to download your folder, simply paste the following link:

https://download-directory.github.io/?url=https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/tree/v4.1.0/src/NuGet/Microsoft.NETCore.Compilers

This will generate a ZIP file containing only that directory.

---

🧰 Option 2 – Use Git Sparse Checkout

If you prefer doing this from the command line:

git clone --filter=blob:none --no-checkout https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn.git
cd roslyn
git sparse-checkout init --cone
git sparse-checkout set src/NuGet/Microsoft.NETCore.Compilers
git checkout v4.1.0

This will fetch and extract only the required folder, without downloading the rest of the repository.

---

📦 Option 3 – Use the GitHub API

For automated or scripted pipelines, you can use the GitHub Contents API to retrieve the contents of a folder programmatically:

GET https://api.github.com/repos/dotnet/roslyn/contents/src/NuGet/Microsoft.NETCore.Compilers?ref=v4.1.0

---

⚠️ Note: download-directory.github.io is not an official GitHub service, but it’s widely used by developers for quick, one-off folder downloads.
For enterprise or automated use, sparse checkout or the API methods are more reliable and robust.

[Ash456rt]

Best Official Method: Use the full repo ZIP and note the subfolder path in your SBOM comments.

Direct Download (Unofficial): Use a service like https://download-directory.github.io/ by pasting the folder's URL, but this is not reliable for long-term SBOM use.

For Automated Pipelines: Use git with sparse checkout to clone only the specific subdirectory you need.

[nigellh]

Hi @gabrielceravoloo

Thanks for the quick response and I have already reviewed these. This is not just a solution for us, it could be for anyone who has access to an SBOM and want to know what is in the product. They want to go directly to or download the individual package.

• Option 1 relies on a third party platform that might not always be there. If it was down then the link world not work. We could create an internal instance, but then it would not work for anyone else.
• Option 2 is not an option as it requires git to be installed and people who need access to this might not have an understanding of it
• Option three again relies on someone to know how to do something like this.

Most packages are at the 'top' level and the green button is perfect and that is the type of solution that would be great at the folder level.

@Ash456rt

Thanks for the response. I have looked at this, but not always practical. The SBOM Schema does not allow for this as it just has a single field and is expecting a URL that downloads it directly. Then there are some parent downloads that are huge. Dotnet for example, is a couple of hundred megs I believe when all that is wanted is probably less than 100k of code.

Still investigation, but I appreciate both your inputs

[Aqib121201]

yeah, github doesn’t have a built in way to download just one folder. the code THEN download zip button always grabs the whole repo at that tag or commit.
if you want something official that works without third party tools or git installed, there’s really no direct download URL per folder. the only option github provides that’s close is the contents API, but that returns JSON with base64 encoded files, not a ready zip.
the only semi reliable workaround inside github itself is to link users to the folder permalink like
https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/tree/v4.1.0/src/NuGet/Microsoft.NETCore.Compilers
that at least points them to the right code version and lets them browse or manually download single files.
if you absolutely need a direct download link for automation or SBOM, you’ll have to host your own zip of that folder somewhere, maybe generated by a CI job that extracts and uploads just that directory. that’s the only way to give a stable, direct URL that behaves like the green button but at folder level.

[nigellh]

I may have a sort of solution.

Just checking the SBOM specification, I have just realised that it states it needs to be a URL. It does not state that the URL needs to be an archive link. We had just believed that it did. That solves part of the issue.

The second part is that we do need to process just that section of code. We have tools that automatically will download it if it is an archive link as I have above, but that is too large a set of code.

My thought is that we could modify our tools to use one of the open source solutions so that when we do need to process a subset of code, we can combine our tools with the open source solution to get just that 'chunk' of code.

Yes it would be nice if Github allowed the download just a section of code, but by checking the SBOM specification, I believe I have a workaround. Now for our tools team to implement it!

Fingers Crossed.

[gabrielceravoloo]

You could create a straightforward internal script with the GitHub API just to grab the folder you need. It's pretty user-friendly, so even if someone isn't very technical, they can still run it easily. That way, you get a stable URL for your SBOM and keep everything under control. Hope that helps!

[vishwaswami24]

Use an Online Tool
This is the quickest and simplest method, perfect for a one-time download.

Tool: Use a website like DownGit or GitZip (which has a browser extension).

How:

Go to the folder you want on GitHub in your browser.

Copy the URL from your browser's address bar.

Paste the URL into the tool's text box and press Enter or click Download.

It will process the folder and download it for you as a ZIP file.

[Kunal241207]

• Problem

GitHub’s “Download ZIP” button downloads the entire repository.

There’s no GitHub feature to download just one folder.

Third-party tools (like download-directory.github.io) exist, but are not official or reliable for compliance.

• SBOM-friendly solution

Use the GitHub permalink to the specific folder.
→ Example:
https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/tree/v4.1.0/src/NuGet/Microsoft.NETCore.Compilers

Add the full source archive (ZIP) link for that version.
→ Example:
https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/archive/refs/tags/v4.1.0.zip

Specify the path of your component inside that archive.
→ Example:
src/NuGet/Microsoft.NETCore.Compilers/

Record these three together in your SBOM.
→ This clearly shows where the code is and how to get it.

• Example SBOM entry

Name: Microsoft.NETCore.Compilers

Version: 4.1.0

License: MIT

Copyright: .NET Foundation

Technology: .NET Compiler SDK

Download location:
https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/tree/v4.1.0/src/NuGet/Microsoft.NETCore.Compilers

Source archive:
https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/archive/refs/tags/v4.1.0.zip

Path inside archive:
src/NuGet/Microsoft.NETCore.Compilers/

• Why this works

Fully traceable and verifiable.

Meets SBOM compliance (SPDX, CycloneDX, NTIA).

Doesn’t rely on external tools.

Anyone can reproduce the source easily.

• Optional (for automation)
  Use GitHub API to confirm folder contents:
  curl https://api.github.com/repos/dotnet/roslyn/contents/src/NuGet/Microsoft.NETCore.Compilers?ref=v4.1.0

--> In short:

Use: permalink + ZIP link + folder path → SBOM-compliant and reliable.