Git Ignore Generator

This tool produces a .gitignore with rules for the common files that should never be committed: dependencies, environment files, build output, and OS junk. Describe a Python project and Python-specific rules are added on top.

A .gitignore tells Git which files and directories to exclude from version control. The generated file covers the universal culprits — node_modules, build folders, .env files, and .DS_Store — so your repository stays clean by default.

It is a starting set, not an exhaustive policy: every project has its own files to exclude. Review the output and add project-specific entries before committing.

The tool scans your description for stack keywords. The base set of universal rules is always included, and mentioning a recognized stack — like Python — appends that stack's conventions.

The rules are assembled locally by string building; no request is made to any server.

The output is shown as text you can copy into a file named .gitignore in your project root.

A .gitignore file uses one pattern per line: directory names with a trailing slash match directories, glob patterns like *.pyc match any file with that extension, and dotfiles like .env are matched by name. Patterns are relative to the file's location.

The universal rules in the generated file target the files every project accumulates: dependencies (node_modules/), environment secrets (.env), build output (dist/, build/), and OS junk (.DS_Store). Stack-specific rules add that stack's conventions, such as Python's bytecode caches.

Two practical notes. First, .gitignore only affects untracked files — a file already committed stays tracked even after being ignored. Second, .env entries are important but not a substitute for rotating secrets if a real secret was ever committed; the file only prevents future commits.