--- title: .gitignore everything by default | daily.dev description: A practical approach to Git version control that reverses the typical .gitignore strategy by ignoring everything by default and explicitly allowing only... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/v4gs0c5in twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: .gitignore everything by default | daily.dev og:description: A practical approach to Git version control that reverses the typical .gitignore strategy by ignoring everything by default and explicitly allowing only... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/v4gs0c5in og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/v4gs0C5in.png og:image:alt: Post cover image og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # .gitignore everything by default **[packagemain.tech](https://daily.dev/sources/packagemain)** · [@alexpliutau](https://daily.dev/alexpliutau) · 79 upvotes · 32 comments ## Summary A practical approach to Git version control that reverses the typical .gitignore strategy by ignoring everything by default and explicitly allowing only necessary files. This prevents accidental commits of system files, build artifacts, and IDE configurations by using wildcard patterns to block all files initially, then selectively permitting specific file types like source code and configuration files. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@paulvasile** · 32 upvotes > or instead do "git add file_you_actually_want_to_commit" instead of "git add .". Problem solved **@perisicnikola37** · 3 upvotes > Better approach would be to make automatic creation of your custom `.gitignore` file whenever you execute `git init` command. **@pavlom** · 2 upvotes > Suppressing "untracked" files by default takes away part of control: > * What is this? > * Why does this appear here? > * Do we really need those intermediate artifacts to be produced? (simple piping stuff from one application to another can save a lot of space in some scenarios) > * Why application logs started to appear in different folder? > * Shall I generate all those filed manually or include them into build process? Or it is better to generate them once and then put into some "artifactory storage" for future reuse, etc... **@andrehhtn** · 2 upvotes > I always start a repo with a .gitignore picked from: https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore > > You just need to select what you'll use in the project (tech stack, ide, OS) them the file will contain almost everything that you need by default **@lukas69** · 2 upvotes > .gitignore everything by default means, that you don't know your code, project, specyfication, you blindly staging and commit changes. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Don’t just attend KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon, Merge Forward your experience\!](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-just-attend-kubecon-cloudnativecon-merge-forward-your-experience--l0rpp73x8) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Announcing H2 2026 KCDs](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-h2-2026-kcds-m96goajm1) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Two months of Open Community Groups](https://daily.dev/posts/two-months-of-open-community-groups-asf52zhbs) · CNCF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Unveils Schedule for KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Europe 2026](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-unveils-schedule-for-kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe-2026-ikhcoa5cb) · CNCF · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Debuts KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Japan 2026 Schedule](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-debuts-kubecon-cloudnativecon-japan-2026-schedule-xp5pyudub) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#devops](https://daily.dev/tags/devops), [#golang](https://daily.dev/tags/golang), [#git](https://daily.dev/tags/git), [#version-control](https://daily.dev/tags/version-control) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/v4gs0c5in) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https://daily.dev/posts/v4gs0c5in","headline":".gitignore everything by default","text":"Shared: .gitignore everything by default","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/v4gs0c5in","datePublished":"2025-09-04T15:45:18.664Z","dateModified":"2025-09-04T15:45:18.674Z","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Pliutau","url":"https://daily.dev/alexpliutau","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocLXExzpASLVyFJkZE0dfR0CaUsC2qf8cbhPT71UvOuY1tYMh30epA=s96-c","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":3400}},"image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--1KxV4ohY--/f_auto/v1722860400/public/Placeholder%2007","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":79},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":32}],"sharedContent":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/gWHRF1qGt"},"comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"or instead do “git add file_you_actually_want_to_commit” instead of “git add .”. Problem solved","datePublished":"2025-09-11T07:34:47.300Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/v4gs0C5in#c-vpBnx8x7J","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Paul Vasile","url":"https://daily.dev/paulvasile","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocLb1NRaUyJcnimfMzKBMkQvvObhEegoAuRKlUIqttoRHlw=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":32}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Better approach would be to make automatic creation of your custom .gitignore file whenever you execute git init command.","datePublished":"2025-09-18T12:44:52.875Z","dateModified":"2025-09-18T12:45:01.505Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/v4gs0C5in#c-Qox8wXVN1","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Nikola Perišić","url":"https://daily.dev/perisicnikola37","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/79047182?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Suppressing “untracked” files by default takes away part of control:\n\nWhat is this?\nWhy does this appear here?\nDo we really need those intermediate artifacts to be produced? (simple piping stuff from one application to another can save a lot of space in some scenarios)\nWhy application logs started to appear in different folder?\nShall I generate all those filed manually or include them into build process? Or it is better to generate them once and then put into some “artifactory storage” for future reuse, etc…","datePublished":"2025-09-21T13:22:39.810Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/v4gs0C5in#c-CqWaYCwLP","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Pavlo M","url":"https://daily.dev/pavlom","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocIUVj8gNTLSbuSF73m0AUNHcpl_WUDVafgs220buVSjzPr7VLaq=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I always start a repo with a .gitignore picked from: https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore\nYou just need to select what you’ll use in the project (tech stack, ide, OS) them the file will contain almost everything that you need by default","datePublished":"2025-09-20T14:23:23.746Z","dateModified":"2025-09-20T14:23:48.824Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/v4gs0C5in#c-4nXZ621dn","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Andre Lages","url":"https://daily.dev/andrehhtn","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--O0TOmw4y--/f_auto/v1715772965/public/noProfile"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":".gitignore everything by default means, that you don’t know your code, project, specyfication, you blindly staging and commit changes.","datePublished":"2025-09-25T10:04:07.594Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/v4gs0C5in#c-TEcIrPmvE","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Lukas","url":"https://daily.dev/lukas69","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/AAcHTtftSxVnyGf7ntgZ6uISDux4IEu9xDO7znbDL98c=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}}],"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://daily.dev/squads/packagemain","name":"packagemain.tech"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"packagemain.tech","item":"https://daily.dev/squads/packagemain"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":".gitignore everything by default"}]} ```