GitIgnore Assistant
A Visual Studio Code extension to easily add, remove, or clean entries in your .gitignore file.
Features
- Add or remove files and folders from the workspace
.gitignore using the Explorer or Command Palette.
- Clean the
.gitignore file by removing duplicates, empty lines, and optionally sorting entries.
- Ensure configured base entries are always present.
- Automatically create a
.gitignore if one does not exist, seeded with the configured base entries (defaults to .DS_Store).
- Detect existing entries to prevent duplicates.
Usage
- In the Explorer, right-click a file or folder.
- Choose
Add to .gitignore to append it to the .gitignore file.
- Choose
Remove from .gitignore to delete an existing entry.
- Choose
Clean .gitignore to remove duplicates, empty lines, and optionally sort entries.
- While editing the
.gitignore file, Clean .gitignore is also available in the editor context menu.
Commands can also be invoked from the Command Palette (⌘⇧P / Ctrl+Shift+P). When run from the palette, you'll be prompted to select one or more files or folders.
Requirements
This extension operates on the .gitignore file located at the root of the workspace. It does not manage .gitignore files in subfolders or handle global Git ignore files.
Extension Settings
Base Entries
Defines the list of entries that should always appear at the top of the workspace .gitignore. These entries are automatically ensured whenever files are added, removed, or the Clean command is run. You can remove the default .DS_Store entry or add your own (e.g. node_modules/, .env) to customize the behavior. Set this array to empty to disable base entries entirely.
Show Notifications
When enabled, the extension will show notifications when files or folders are added or removed from .gitignore, show a summary of the Clean command, as well as warnings if an operation cannot be completed. When disabled, extension logs can still be found in the Output Panel under GitIgnore Assistant.
Sort When Cleaning
Controls whether Clean command sorts entries alphabetically (true by default). Set to false to keep the existing order while still removing duplicates and empty lines.
