A fast, clean, and reliable VS Code extension to generate and manage .gitignore files directly from GitHub's official templates repository.
🚀 Features
Official GitHub Templates — Pulls directly from github/gitignore (over 300+ templates across Language, Global/OS/Editor, and Community categories). No third-party unstable APIs.
Section-Based Management — Each template is wrapped in its own clear section header (e.g. ### Unity ###, ### macOS ###).
Interactive Section Toggling — Re-running the generator on an existing .gitignore pre-checks existing sections. Uncheck to remove a template, check to add new ones.
Top Custom Rules Preservation — Your custom rules always live at the top of the file and are never modified or overwritten.
Safe Boundary Markers — Unique outer boundary markers ensure Clean GitIgnore Generator never conflicts with existing comments or other tools.
Built-in Caching — Templates and tree indexes are cached locally with configurable refresh intervals for snappy offline & online performance.
Cross-Platform & Line Ending Aware — Properly parses and respects both CRLF (\r\n) and LF (\n).
📖 How It Works
File Structure
Generated .gitignore files look like this:
# Any custom rules you add outside our section are completely preserved!
.env.local
my-scratch/
*.secret
# ===== vscode-clean-gitignore-generator: DO NOT EDIT BELOW THIS LINE =====
### Unity ###
/[Ll]ibrary/
/[Tt]emp/
/[Oo]bj/
/[Bb]uild/
/[Bb]uilds/
/[Ll]ogs/
/[Uu]ser[Ss]ettings/
*.log
### macOS ###
# General
.DS_Store
.AppleDouble
.LSOverride
# ===== vscode-clean-gitignore-generator: END =====
[!NOTE]
Anything outside our boundary markers is completely preserved and never touched by Clean GitIgnore Generator.
🕹️ Usage
1. Command Palette
Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P).
Type Generate .gitignore and press Enter.
Select the desired templates from the searchable multi-select picker.
Press Enter to generate.
If no folder is open in VS Code, the extension opens a new untitled document with the generated content.
2. Explorer Context Menu
Right-click any folder in the VS Code file explorer and click Generate .gitignore to create or update .gitignore in that folder.
Right-click any file and click Generate .gitignore to create or update .gitignore in that file's parent directory.
3. Updating & Removing Sections
Whenever you run Generate .gitignore on an existing file:
Templates already present in your file will be pre-checked and marked (already in .gitignore).
Uncheck any template to remove its section.
Check new templates to add them.
Your custom rules at the top are untouched!
⚙️ Configuration
Setting
Default
Description
cleanGitignore.autoSelectDefaults
true
Automatically pre-select VisualStudioCode and the current operating system template on fresh .gitignore files.
cleanGitignore.cacheTTLHours
24
How many hours to cache the template catalog before refreshing from GitHub.
cleanGitignore.githubToken
null
Optional GitHub Personal Access Token for increased API rate limits (fallback if VS Code authentication is not used).
[!TIP]
Authentication Flexibility:
The extension works out of the box with zero setup. You can either sign in with 1 click using VS Code's built-in GitHub accounts or supply a custom Personal Access Token via cleanGitignore.githubToken.
🛠️ Commands
Clean GitIgnore: Generate .gitignore (cleanGitignore.generate): Generates or updates .gitignore.
Clean GitIgnore: Refresh Template Cache (cleanGitignore.refreshCache): Forces an immediate refresh of the template cache.
Clean GitIgnore: Sign in with GitHub (cleanGitignore.signIn): Signs in using VS Code's native GitHub account for elevated API rate limits.
