.gitignore Generator

How to Use the .gitignore Generator

The .gitignore Generator creates comprehensive .gitignore files tailored to your project's tech stack. Select one or more technologies, frameworks, or IDEs, and get a merged, deduplicated .gitignore file with all the right patterns — ready to copy into your repository.

Step-by-Step

Select your technologies — Click on technology cards to add templates for languages (Node.js, Python, Java, Go, Rust), frameworks (React, Next.js, Django), and IDEs (VS Code, JetBrains, Vim).

Review the preview — The generated .gitignore file updates in real time as you add or remove technologies.

Customize patterns — Add custom ignore patterns in the manual input area, and they'll be merged into the final output.

Review the result — The output is organized into sections with comments indicating which template each pattern came from.

Copy or download — Click copy to grab the contents for pasting, or download as a .gitignore file directly.

Features

50+ Templates — Pre-built templates for popular languages, frameworks, build tools, and IDEs maintained with up-to-date patterns.

Multi-Stack Support — Select multiple technologies and the tool intelligently merges their patterns, removing duplicates and organizing by category.

IDE-Specific Patterns — Include patterns for VS Code (.vscode/), JetBrains (.idea/), Vim (.swp), and other editors to keep editor files out of your repo.

OS-Specific Patterns — Add patterns for macOS (.DS_Store), Windows (Thumbs.db), and Linux temporary files with one click.

Custom Patterns — Add your own project-specific patterns that get merged cleanly into the generated file.

Comments and Organization — The output includes section headers and comments so you can understand and maintain the .gitignore file later.

Common Use Cases

New Project Setup — Generate a complete .gitignore when initializing a new repository, covering your language, framework, and IDE in one step.

Monorepo Configuration — Create a comprehensive .gitignore for monorepos that span multiple languages and build systems.

Team Standardization — Generate consistent .gitignore files across all team repositories to prevent accidental commits of build artifacts and secrets.

Learning — Explore what files different ecosystems generate and understand why certain patterns are necessary (e.g., node_modules/, __pycache__/, .env).

Migration — Update your .gitignore when adding a new technology to an existing project.

Why Use This Tool

A good .gitignore file is essential for every Git repository, but writing one from scratch means hunting through documentation and GitHub's gitignore repository. This tool gives you battle-tested patterns for over 50 technologies, merged intelligently with proper deduplication and organization. It prevents common mistakes like accidentally committing node_modules/, .env files, or IDE config folders. Generate once, copy, and start your project on the right foot.