# Comment
*.log          # Ignore all .log files
/dist          # Ignore dist in root only (not subdirs)
dist/          # Ignore any directory named dist
build/         # Ignore any directory named build
!important.log # Don't ignore this specific file
**/logs        # Match "logs" at any depth
src/**/*.test.js  # Match test files under src/

Key rules:

• * matches anything except /
• ** matches any number of directories
• Trailing / means "directories only"
• Leading / means "root of repo only"
• ! negates a pattern (un-ignores)

Adding a file to .gitignore doesn't remove it if it's already tracked.

# Stop tracking a file (keep it locally)
git rm --cached secret.env
Stop tracking a whole folder
git rm -r —cached node_modules/
Then commit
git add .gitignore
git commit -m “Remove tracked files that should be ignored”

node_modules/
dist/
build/
.next/
.nuxt/
.output/
.cache/
coverage/
Environment
.env
.env.local
.env.*.local
Logs
npm-debug.log*
yarn-debug.log*
yarn-error.log*
pnpm-debug.log*
OS
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db
IDE
.vscode/
.idea/
*.swp
*.swo

# Virtual environments
venv/
.venv/
env/
.env/
Byte-compiled
pycache/
*.py[cod]
*$py.class
*.pyo
Distribution
dist/
build/
*.egg-info/
*.egg
Testing
.pytest_cache/
.coverage
htmlcov/
.tox/
.mypy_cache/
Jupyter
.ipynb_checkpoints/
Environment
.env
*.env
OS / IDE
.DS_Store
.idea/
.vscode/
*.swp

# Compiled
*.class
*.jar
*.war
*.ear
Maven
target/
Gradle
.gradle/
build/
!gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar
IDE
.idea/
*.iml
.project
.classpath
.settings/
bin/
OS
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db

# Build output
/target/
**/*.rs.bk
Cargo.lock — include for binaries, ignore for libraries
Cargo.lock
OS / IDE
.DS_Store
.idea/
.vscode/
*.swp

For libraries, uncomment the Cargo.lock line. For binaries and applications, keep it tracked.

# Binary output
/bin/
*.exe
*.exe~
*.dll
*.so
*.dylib
Test
*.test
*.out
coverage.txt
Vendor (if not committing)
vendor/
OS / IDE
.DS_Store
.idea/
.vscode/
*.swp

Go modules (go.mod and go.sum) should always be committed.

Always ignore these. No exceptions.

# Environment files
.env
.env.*
!.env.example
Secrets
*.pem
*.key
*.p12
*.pfx
*.keystore
AWS
.aws/credentials
Terraform
*.tfvars
.terraform/

Create a .env.example with placeholder values so other developers know what variables are needed.

# macOS
.DS_Store
.AppleDouble
.LSOverride
._*
Windows
Thumbs.db
ehthumbs.db
Desktop.ini
$RECYCLE.BIN/
Linux
*~
.directory

Pro tip: Add these to your global gitignore so you don’t need them in every repo:

git config --global core.excludesfile ~/.gitignore_global

# VS Code
.vscode/
!.vscode/settings.json
!.vscode/extensions.json
JetBrains (IntelliJ, WebStorm, PyCharm)
.idea/
*.iml
Vim
*.swp
*.swo
*~
.netrwhist
Emacs
~
##
.#*

Like OS files, these are better in your global gitignore.