Guides

Ignoring Files with .ditsignore

Control which files Dits tracks by specifying patterns in a .ditsignore file. Keep your repository clean by excluding build artifacts, temporary files, and sensitive data.

Similar to .gitignore

If you're familiar with Git, .ditsignore uses the same pattern syntax as .gitignore. You can often use your existing .gitignore as a starting point.

Creating a .ditsignore File

Create a file named .ditsignore in your repository root:

# Create .ditsignore
touch .ditsignore

# Or copy from your existing .gitignore
cp .gitignore .ditsignore

Pattern Syntax

Basic Patterns

# Ignore specific file
secret.key

# Ignore by extension
*.log
*.tmp
*.cache

# Ignore directory
node_modules/
build/
dist/

# Ignore files in any directory
**/debug.log

Negation Patterns

# Ignore all .log files
*.log

# But track important.log
!important.log

# Ignore build/ but keep build/readme
build/
!build/readme.md

Pattern Reference

Pattern	Description	Example Matches
*.ext	All files with extension	file.ext, dir/file.ext
dir/	Directory and contents	dir/, dir/sub/
**/file	File in any directory	file, a/file, a/b/file
dir/**/file	File in dir or subdirs	dir/file, dir/a/b/file
!pattern	Negate (don't ignore)	Track despite earlier rule
[abc]	Character class	a, b, or c
?	Single character wildcard	file?.txt matches file1.txt

Common Templates

Node.js / JavaScript

# Dependencies
node_modules/
package-lock.json

# Build output
dist/
build/
.next/

# Environment
.env
.env.local
.env.*.local

# IDE
.vscode/
.idea/

# OS files
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db

Video Production

# Render outputs (re-generate from project)
renders/
exports/
*.mp4
*.mov

# Cache files
*.peak
*.pkf
Media Cache/

# Proxies (managed by Dits proxy system)
proxies/

# Keep project files
!*.prproj
!*.aep
!*.drp

Game Development

# Build outputs
Build/
Builds/
*.exe
*.app

# Cache
Library/
Temp/
obj/

# IDE
.vs/
*.csproj.user

# Keep assets
!Assets/**/*.fbx
!Assets/**/*.png

Checking Ignored Files

# Check if a file is ignored
$ dits check-ignore myfile.log
myfile.log

# See which rule ignores a file
$ dits check-ignore -v myfile.log
.ditsignore:5:*.log    myfile.log

# List all ignored files
$ dits status --ignored

Global Ignore File

Create a global ignore file for patterns that apply to all your repositories:

# Set global ignore file
dits config --global core.excludesfile ~/.ditsignore_global

# Add common patterns
echo ".DS_Store" >> ~/.ditsignore_global
echo "Thumbs.db" >> ~/.ditsignore_global
echo "*.swp" >> ~/.ditsignore_global

Already Tracked Files

Adding a path to .ditsignore does not remove an entry that is already tracked. The current CLI has no dedicated untrack-while-preserving-the-worktree command. Treat ignore rules as a pre-staging filter, check dits status, and evaluate any tracked-file removal workflow only on backed-up data.