Skip to main content

Gitignore Templates

The gitignore subcommand provides functionality for managing .gitignore templates. Gitignore templates help you quickly set up language and framework-specific ignore patterns to keep your repositories clean and focused.

The available templates are indexed from https://github.com/github/gitignore/, ensuring up-to-date and comprehensive coverage for a wide range of languages, frameworks, and tools.

Usage​

gh-templates gitignore <COMMAND>

Available Commands​

CommandDescription
addAdd one or more gitignore templates to the repository
listList available gitignore templates
previewPreview a specific gitignore template

Examples​

List Available Templates​

gh-templates gitignore list

Preview a Template​

gh-templates gitignore preview rust

Add Single Template​

gh-templates gitignore add python

Add Multiple Templates​

gh-templates gitignore add rust node python

Template Categories​

Gitignore templates are available for: All templates available in github/gitignore can be used, including those in nested directories such as Global and community. You can reference templates by their name, or for community templates, use either the community-<template> or community/<template> format.

For example:

  • community-openssl or community/OpenSSL (for community/OpenSSL.gitignore)
  • Global/macOS (for Global/macOS.gitignore)

This allows you to access a wide range of language, framework, tool, operating system, and community-contributed gitignore templates.

Output Location​

By default, gitignore files are saved to the repository root as .gitignore. This is the standard location where Git expects to find ignore patterns.

You can customize the output location by using the --dir flag:

gh-templates gitignore add python --dir subfolder/

This saves the .gitignore file to the specified directory instead of the repository root.

Combining Templates​

You can combine multiple gitignore templates:

gh-templates gitignore add rust docker vscode

This creates a comprehensive .gitignore file with patterns for Rust development using Docker and VSCode.

Template Structure​

Gitignore templates typically include:

  • File patterns: Specific files to ignore
  • Directory patterns: Entire directories to exclude
  • Extension patterns: Files with specific extensions
  • Comments: Explanations for ignore patterns

Next Steps​