gitignore generator

A .gitignore file tells Git which files and directories to exclude from version control. Common examples include build output folders (dist/, build/), dependency directories (node_modules/, vendor/), IDE configuration files (.idea/, .vscode/), and OS-generated files (.DS_Store on macOS, Thumbs.db on Windows). Keeping these out of your repo reduces noise and prevents accidental commits of private local config.

No. The gitignore generator runs entirely in your browser. All 40+ templates are bundled into the page. Selecting technologies and generating output is pure client-side JavaScript — nothing is sent to a server.

Yes, that is the main feature. Select any combination of languages, frameworks, IDEs, and OS targets. The generator merges all selected templates, removes duplicate lines, and adds a section header for each so you can see where each rule comes from.

Place the .gitignore file in the root of your repository. Git applies its rules recursively to all files in the repo. You can also place .gitignore files in subdirectories — those files apply rules only within that subtree.

Adding a file to .gitignore does not untrack it if Git is already tracking it. First run: git rm --cached <file>, then add the pattern to .gitignore and commit. After that, Git will stop tracking changes to that file.

.gitignore tells Git to exclude files. .gitkeep is a convention (not a Git feature) used to track an otherwise empty directory — since Git does not track empty directories, a .gitkeep placeholder file forces the directory to be committed. They serve opposite purposes.