.gitignore & .dockerignore Generator

Ignore files for your stack, in one click.

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Every project

Operating systems

Editors

Languages

Infrastructure as code

Explain with comments

# Generated by OhSudo — https://ohsudo.com/tools/gitignore-generator/
 
# Secrets (.env, private keys)
# Commit a .env.example with the variable names, never the real values.
.env
.env.*
!.env.example
*.pem
 
# Logs and temp files
*.log
logs/
*.tmp
 
# macOS
.DS_Store
._*
.AppleDouble
.LSOverride
 
# Windows
Thumbs.db
ehthumbs.db
[Dd]esktop.ini
$RECYCLE.BIN/
 
# VS Code
# Shared project settings stay in git; personal ones don’t.
.vscode/*
!.vscode/settings.json
!.vscode/tasks.json
!.vscode/launch.json
!.vscode/extensions.json
.history/
 
# Node.js
node_modules/
dist/
build/
coverage/
.npm/
.eslintcache
*.tsbuildinfo
npm-debug.log*
yarn-debug.log*
yarn-error.log*
pnpm-debug.log*

Use it

$ git check-ignore -v node_modules/express/index.js

$ git rm -r --cached node_modules

$ git status --ignored

Both files go in the root of the repo (.dockerignore: next to the Dockerfile, in the build context). Files git already tracks stay tracked until you git rm --cached them.

The address bar updates as you go, so you can bookmark or share the result.

How to use it

Click what your project uses: languages, the editors and operating systems on your team, Terraform or Ansible.
Switch between the .gitignore and .dockerignore tabs — they are generated together, for the same stack.
Save both in the root of the repo. The link keeps your choice, so you can share it with the team.

What you get

Secrets left out of both: .env files and private keys — while .env.example stays in git.
The exceptions that matter: the Gradle wrapper jar, shared .vscode/settings.json, Rails’ log/.keep, Terraform’s .terraform.lock.hcl stay in git, even though the patterns around them are ignored.
A .dockerignore written for Docker’s rules, not git’s. In .gitignore, node_modules/ matches in every folder; in .dockerignore, every pattern starts at the root of the build context, so “anywhere” needs **/node_modules. Copying one file into the other quietly misses nested folders.
A smaller, safer build context: no .git folder, no local node_modules or virtualenvs overwriting what the image installs, no .env baked into a layer.

Every stack is checked automatically: the .gitignore with git check-ignore, and the .dockerignore with a real docker build, for each stack alone and all of them together.

Common commands

git check-ignore -v path/to/file        # which line ignores this file (no output = not ignored)
git status --ignored                    # see what is being ignored
git rm -r --cached node_modules         # stop tracking a folder git already tracks, keep it on disk
git ls-files -ci --exclude-standard     # tracked files that your .gitignore says should be ignored
docker build --progress=plain -t myapp . 2>&1 | grep "transferring context"   # build context size

Warning

Ignoring a file doesn’t remove it from history. If a .env or a key was ever committed, it is still in every clone. Rotate the secret first, then remove the file with git rm --cached — and, if needed, from history with a tool like git filter-repo.

FAQ

I added a pattern, but git still shows the file. Why?

.gitignore only affects files git doesn’t track yet. A file that was committed stays tracked. Run git rm --cached <file> (or -r for a folder), commit, and from then on it’s ignored. git check-ignore -v <file> tells you which line matches, if any. The other causes — patterns that don’t match, a .gitignore saved as UTF-16 — are in .gitignore not working.

Why does my image still contain node_modules from my laptop?

Probably because your .dockerignore has node_modules but the folder is nested (packages/api/node_modules), or the file sits next to a Dockerfile that isn’t at the root of the build context. Docker reads .dockerignore from the root of the context — the folder you pass to docker build. Use **/node_modules, as generated here.

Should I commit lock files?

Yes for applications: package-lock.json, poetry.lock, Cargo.lock, composer.lock, Gemfile.lock, go.sum and .terraform.lock.hcl make builds repeatable, so none of them are ignored here.

Should Terraform state be in git?

No. State files can hold passwords and keys in plain text, and two people working from two copies will overwrite each other. Keep state in a remote backend with locking — and if the lock gets stuck, see Error acquiring the state lock.

Terraform says “Inconsistent dependency lock file”

Commit .terraform.lock.hcl, and see what to run for each case.

Git refuses to merge unrelated histories

It often happens when a new repository got its own README or .gitignore on GitHub. See refusing to merge unrelated histories.

Where can I find the other Git commands?

In the Git Cheat Sheet, including how to undo almost anything.

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