Generating a Gitignore for Any Project

The company Toptal runs a wonderful api for composing a .gitignore on the fly

By composing, I mean you give it a list of components that should be considered (Operating Systems, IDEs, Programming Languages), and it generates a .gitignore snippet for each and concatenates them into one.

The api has a web interface at https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore

Screenshot of https://gitignore.io/ web interface — gitignore.io web interface

But also an api at https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/ that can be interacted with from the command line:

curl -s https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/

Which returns

gitignore.io help:
  list    - lists the operating systems, programming languages and IDE input types
  :types: - creates .gitignore files for types of operating systems, programming languages or IDEs

In this byte we’ll use the api to create some .gitignore files for a project and then see how to call the api directly from git.

If you just want the main takeaways, go to the tl;dr at the end.

Ex: MacOS

If the project files will be editted on MacOS, let’s make sure to ignore the annoying files mac generates automatically

curl -s https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/macos

This returns

# Created by https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/macos
# Edit at https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore?templates=macos

### macOS ###
# General
.DS_Store
.AppleDouble
.LSOverride

# Icon must end with two \r
Icon


# Thumbnails
._*

# Files that might appear in the root of a volume
.DocumentRevisions-V100
.fseventsd
.Spotlight-V100
.TemporaryItems
.Trashes
.VolumeIcon.icns
.com.apple.timemachine.donotpresent

# Directories potentially created on remote AFP share
.AppleDB
.AppleDesktop
Network Trash Folder
Temporary Items
.apdisk

### macOS Patch ###
# iCloud generated files
*.icloud

# End of https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/macos

Pretty neat! But you probably won’t just be concerned with ignoring MacOS generated files. Let’s say we are building a website using the static site builder called hugo and we want to include this as well.

Ex: MacOS, Hugo

curl -s https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/macos,hugo

This returns

# Created by https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/macos,hugo
# Edit at https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore?templates=macos,hugo

### Hugo ###
# Generated files by hugo
/public/
/resources/_gen/
/assets/jsconfig.json
hugo_stats.json

# Executable may be added to repository
hugo.exe
hugo.darwin
hugo.linux

# Temporary lock file while building
/.hugo_build.lock

### macOS ###
# General
.DS_Store
.AppleDouble
.LSOverride

# Icon must end with two \r
Icon


# Thumbnails
._*

# Files that might appear in the root of a volume
.DocumentRevisions-V100
.fseventsd
.Spotlight-V100
.TemporaryItems
.Trashes
.VolumeIcon.icns
.com.apple.timemachine.donotpresent

# Directories potentially created on remote AFP share
.AppleDB
.AppleDesktop
Network Trash Folder
Temporary Items
.apdisk

### macOS Patch ###
# iCloud generated files
*.icloud

# End of https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/macos,hugo

Notice that the result is the composition of a MacOS snippet and a Hugo snippet!

Okay, next, let’s say our hugo site will be making use of some Nodejs modules, and include a section for Node

Ex: MacOS, Hugo, Node

curl -s https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/macos,hugo,node

This returns

# Created by https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/macos,hugo,node
# Edit at https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore?templates=macos,hugo,node

### Hugo ###
# Generated files by hugo
/public/
/resources/_gen/
/assets/jsconfig.json
hugo_stats.json

# Executable may be added to repository
hugo.exe
hugo.darwin
hugo.linux

# Temporary lock file while building
/.hugo_build.lock

### macOS ###
# General
.DS_Store
.AppleDouble
.LSOverride

# Icon must end with two \r
Icon


# Thumbnails
._*

# Files that might appear in the root of a volume
.DocumentRevisions-V100
.fseventsd
.Spotlight-V100
.TemporaryItems
.Trashes
.VolumeIcon.icns
.com.apple.timemachine.donotpresent

# Directories potentially created on remote AFP share
.AppleDB
.AppleDesktop
Network Trash Folder
Temporary Items
.apdisk

### macOS Patch ###
# iCloud generated files
*.icloud

### Node ###
# Logs
logs
*.log
npm-debug.log*
yarn-debug.log*
yarn-error.log*
lerna-debug.log*
.pnpm-debug.log*

# Diagnostic reports (https://nodejs.org/api/report.html)
report.[0-9]*.[0-9]*.[0-9]*.[0-9]*.json

# Runtime data
pids
*.pid
*.seed
*.pid.lock

# Directory for instrumented libs generated by jscoverage/JSCover
lib-cov

# Coverage directory used by tools like istanbul
coverage
*.lcov

# nyc test coverage
.nyc_output

# Grunt intermediate storage (https://gruntjs.com/creating-plugins#storing-task-files)
.grunt

# Bower dependency directory (https://bower.io/)
bower_components

# node-waf configuration
.lock-wscript

# Compiled binary addons (https://nodejs.org/api/addons.html)
build/Release

# Dependency directories
node_modules/
jspm_packages/

# Snowpack dependency directory (https://snowpack.dev/)
web_modules/

# TypeScript cache
*.tsbuildinfo

# Optional npm cache directory
.npm

# Optional eslint cache
.eslintcache

# Optional stylelint cache
.stylelintcache

# Microbundle cache
.rpt2_cache/
.rts2_cache_cjs/
.rts2_cache_es/
.rts2_cache_umd/

# Optional REPL history
.node_repl_history

# Output of 'npm pack'
*.tgz

# Yarn Integrity file
.yarn-integrity

# dotenv environment variable files
.env
.env.development.local
.env.test.local
.env.production.local
.env.local

# parcel-bundler cache (https://parceljs.org/)
.cache
.parcel-cache

# Next.js build output
.next
out

# Nuxt.js build / generate output
.nuxt
dist

# Gatsby files
.cache/
# Comment in the public line in if your project uses Gatsby and not Next.js
# https://nextjs.org/blog/next-9-1#public-directory-support
# public

# vuepress build output
.vuepress/dist

# vuepress v2.x temp and cache directory
.temp

# Docusaurus cache and generated files
.docusaurus

# Serverless directories
.serverless/

# FuseBox cache
.fusebox/

# DynamoDB Local files
.dynamodb/

# TernJS port file
.tern-port

# Stores VSCode versions used for testing VSCode extensions
.vscode-test

# yarn v2
.yarn/cache
.yarn/unplugged
.yarn/build-state.yml
.yarn/install-state.gz
.pnp.*

### Node Patch ###
# Serverless Webpack directories
.webpack/

# Optional stylelint cache

# SvelteKit build / generate output
.svelte-kit

# End of https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/macos,hugo,node

A file with a section for MacOS, Hugo, and Node!

Oh, let’s add Go, too, since it’s possible to add go modules to a Hugo site:

Ex: MacOS, Hugo, Node, Go

# Created by https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/macos,hugo,go
# Edit at https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore?templates=macos,hugo,go

### Go ###
# If you prefer the allow list template instead of the deny list, see community template:
# https://github.com/github/gitignore/blob/main/community/Golang/Go.AllowList.gitignore
#
# Binaries for programs and plugins
*.exe
*.exe~
*.dll
*.so
*.dylib

# Test binary, built with `go test -c`
*.test

# Output of the go coverage tool, specifically when used with LiteIDE
*.out

# Dependency directories (remove the comment below to include it)
# vendor/

# Go workspace file
go.work

### Hugo ###
# Generated files by hugo
/public/
/resources/_gen/
/assets/jsconfig.json
hugo_stats.json

# Executable may be added to repository
hugo.exe
hugo.darwin
hugo.linux

# Temporary lock file while building
/.hugo_build.lock

### macOS ###
# General
.DS_Store
.AppleDouble
.LSOverride

# Icon must end with two \r
Icon


# Thumbnails
._*

# Files that might appear in the root of a volume
.DocumentRevisions-V100
.fseventsd
.Spotlight-V100
.TemporaryItems
.Trashes
.VolumeIcon.icns
.com.apple.timemachine.donotpresent

# Directories potentially created on remote AFP share
.AppleDB
.AppleDesktop
Network Trash Folder
Temporary Items
.apdisk

### macOS Patch ###
# iCloud generated files
*.icloud

# End of https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/macos,hugo,go

That’s our completed file for an example project being programmed on a MacOS and using Hugo, Node, and Go!

Extras

Use gitignore.io domain instead

The domain https://gitignore.io runs a redirect service to https://toptal.com/developers/gitignore so the api can be accessed in a more memorable way. Just add —location/-L to the curl command to follow redirects.

curl -sI https://gitignore.io/api/
HTTP/2 301
date: Fri, 17 May 2024 19:16:12 GMT
content-type: text/html
content-length: 167
location: https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/
cache-control: max-age=3600
expires: Fri, 17 May 2024 20:16:12 GMT
report-to: {"endpoints":[{"url":"https:\/\/a.nel.cloudflare.com\/report\/v4?s=tzKCJeyC%2BLfrxWTB7jvZj8yccPwq8WgO%2Fdqo43LBqGPH9wO%2BI7Qe0213z9SM1aI4BGOOhhnHtwoJa1Cbh9wRLUyRGlf4%2FzOGPjTNJWS6mH4i4Lz1fVV%2FVxNR%2BCl8SxU%3D"}],"group":"cf-nel","max_age":604800}
nel: {"success_fraction":0,"report_to":"cf-nel","max_age":604800}
server: cloudflare
cf-ray: 8855f0cb4c3544dd-ATL
alt-svc: h3=":443"; ma=86400

So, for instance, a Python .gitignore can be generated by running

curl -sL https://gitignore.io/api/python

And returns

# Created by https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/python
# Edit at https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore?templates=python

### Python ###
# Byte-compiled / optimized / DLL files
__pycache__/
*.py[cod]
*$py.class

# C extensions
*.so

# Distribution / packaging
.Python
build/
develop-eggs/
dist/
downloads/
eggs/
.eggs/
lib/
lib64/
parts/
sdist/
var/
wheels/
share/python-wheels/
*.egg-info/
.installed.cfg
*.egg
MANIFEST

# PyInstaller
#  Usually these files are written by a python script from a template
#  before PyInstaller builds the exe, so as to inject date/other infos into it.
*.manifest
*.spec

# Installer logs
pip-log.txt
pip-delete-this-directory.txt

# Unit test / coverage reports
htmlcov/
.tox/
.nox/
.coverage
.coverage.*
.cache
nosetests.xml
coverage.xml
*.cover
*.py,cover
.hypothesis/
.pytest_cache/
cover/

# Translations
*.mo
*.pot

# Django stuff:
*.log
local_settings.py
db.sqlite3
db.sqlite3-journal

# Flask stuff:
instance/
.webassets-cache

# Scrapy stuff:
.scrapy

# Sphinx documentation
docs/_build/

# PyBuilder
.pybuilder/
target/

# Jupyter Notebook
.ipynb_checkpoints

# IPython
profile_default/
ipython_config.py

# pyenv
#   For a library or package, you might want to ignore these files since the code is
#   intended to run in multiple environments; otherwise, check them in:
# .python-version

# pipenv
#   According to pypa/pipenv#598, it is recommended to include Pipfile.lock in version control.
#   However, in case of collaboration, if having platform-specific dependencies or dependencies
#   having no cross-platform support, pipenv may install dependencies that don't work, or not
#   install all needed dependencies.
#Pipfile.lock

# poetry
#   Similar to Pipfile.lock, it is generally recommended to include poetry.lock in version control.
#   This is especially recommended for binary packages to ensure reproducibility, and is more
#   commonly ignored for libraries.
#   https://python-poetry.org/docs/basic-usage/#commit-your-poetrylock-file-to-version-control
#poetry.lock

# pdm
#   Similar to Pipfile.lock, it is generally recommended to include pdm.lock in version control.
#pdm.lock
#   pdm stores project-wide configurations in .pdm.toml, but it is recommended to not include it
#   in version control.
#   https://pdm.fming.dev/#use-with-ide
.pdm.toml

# PEP 582; used by e.g. github.com/David-OConnor/pyflow and github.com/pdm-project/pdm
__pypackages__/

# Celery stuff
celerybeat-schedule
celerybeat.pid

# SageMath parsed files
*.sage.py

# Environments
.env
.venv
env/
venv/
ENV/
env.bak/
venv.bak/

# Spyder project settings
.spyderproject
.spyproject

# Rope project settings
.ropeproject

# mkdocs documentation
/site

# mypy
.mypy_cache/
.dmypy.json
dmypy.json

# Pyre type checker
.pyre/

# pytype static type analyzer
.pytype/

# Cython debug symbols
cython_debug/

# PyCharm
#  JetBrains specific template is maintained in a separate JetBrains.gitignore that can
#  be found at https://github.com/github/gitignore/blob/main/Global/JetBrains.gitignore
#  and can be added to the global gitignore or merged into this file.  For a more nuclear
#  option (not recommended) you can uncomment the following to ignore the entire idea folder.
#.idea/

### Python Patch ###
# Poetry local configuration file - https://python-poetry.org/docs/configuration/#local-configuration
poetry.toml

# ruff
.ruff_cache/

# LSP config files
pyrightconfig.json

# End of https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/python

Shell function, Git Alias

Finally, as another extra the api can be added as a shell function or git alias, as described in their documentation: https://docs.gitignore.io/install/command-line

Let’s add a git alias:

git config --global alias.ignore \
'!gi() { curl -sL https://gitignore.io/api/$@ ;}; gi'

And use it to generate a Rust .gitignore

git ignore rust,macos

Which results in

# Created by https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/rust,macos
# Edit at https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore?templates=rust,macos

### macOS ###
# General
.DS_Store
.AppleDouble
.LSOverride

# Icon must end with two \r
Icon


# Thumbnails
._*

# Files that might appear in the root of a volume
.DocumentRevisions-V100
.fseventsd
.Spotlight-V100
.TemporaryItems
.Trashes
.VolumeIcon.icns
.com.apple.timemachine.donotpresent

# Directories potentially created on remote AFP share
.AppleDB
.AppleDesktop
Network Trash Folder
Temporary Items
.apdisk

### macOS Patch ###
# iCloud generated files
*.icloud

### Rust ###
# Generated by Cargo
# will have compiled files and executables
debug/
target/

# Remove Cargo.lock from gitignore if creating an executable, leave it for libraries
# More information here https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/guide/cargo-toml-vs-cargo-lock.html
Cargo.lock

# These are backup files generated by rustfmt
**/*.rs.bk

# MSVC Windows builds of rustc generate these, which store debugging information
*.pdb

# End of https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/api/rust,macos

Pretty slick, right!?

tl;dr

https://gitignore.io can generate a gitignore for any project
To generate a .gitignore for a hugo site with node integrations that will be editted on MacOS, run:

curl -sL https://gitignore.io/api/macos,node,hugo > .gitignore

Add a git alias:

git config --global alias.ignore \
'!gi() { curl -sL https://gitignore.io/api/$@ ;}; gi'

And generate the same .gitignore by running:

git ignore macos,node,hugo > .gitignore

Generating a Gitignore for Any Project

Ex: MacOS#

Ex: MacOS, Hugo#

Ex: MacOS, Hugo, Node#

Ex: MacOS, Hugo, Node, Go#

Extras#

Use gitignore.io domain instead#

Shell function, Git Alias#

tl;dr#

Ex: MacOS

Ex: MacOS, Hugo

Ex: MacOS, Hugo, Node

Ex: MacOS, Hugo, Node, Go

Extras

Use gitignore.io domain instead

Shell function, Git Alias

tl;dr