.gitignore Generator

About this tool

A .gitignore file tells Git which files and directories to exclude from version control. This generator lets you pick your exact tech stack and outputs a clean, commented .gitignore you can drop straight into your project root.

How .gitignore works

• Place the file in your repository root (or any subdirectory for path-specific rules).
• Each line is a pattern. Lines starting with # are comments.
• A leading / anchors the pattern to the directory containing the .gitignore.
• A trailing / matches only directories.
• Prefix a pattern with ! to un-ignore a previously ignored path.
• Already-tracked files are not affected — run git rm --cached <file> first if needed.

Tips

• Commit your .gitignore — it helps every contributor on the project.
• Never commit .env files or secrets. Use .env.example as a safe template.
• For machine-specific ignores that should not affect teammates, use .git/info/exclude or a global gitignore at ~/.gitignore_global.
• Use git check-ignore -v <file> to debug which rule is ignoring a file.