git-ignore-cli

A CLI tool to manage .gitignore files. Quickly add patterns or generate complete templates from gitignore.io.

Installation

cargo install --path .

Or build from source:

cargo build --release

The binary will be available at target/release/git-ignore.

Usage

Add a pattern to .gitignore

git-ignore node_modules
git-ignore "*.log"
git-ignore .env

Patterns are appended to the existing .gitignore file (or created if it doesn't exist). Duplicate patterns are detected and skipped.

Create a .gitignore from presets

A preset is a language or tool name, such as go, rust or java:

git-ignore new rust

Combine as many as you like, space- or comma-separated:

git-ignore new go rust java
git-ignore new rust,visualstudiocode,macos

If there is no .gitignore yet, the preset is written as-is. If one already exists, the presets are merged into it: your file is kept, and only patterns it doesn't already have are appended under a # Added by git-ignore heading. Template sections left with nothing new to add are skipped entirely, so a second run of the same preset changes nothing.

To replace an existing .gitignore instead of merging, pass -f:

git-ignore new rust -f

-n/--new is a deprecated alias for new and behaves identically, including the merge default: git-ignore -n rust merges, git-ignore -n rust -f overwrites.

List available templates

git-ignore -l

Verify a .gitignore

git-ignore verify

Checks the .gitignore in the current directory and reports:

• Duplicate patterns – a line that repeats an earlier one and has no effect. Repeats that follow an opposite (negated) pattern are not reported, since they still change the result.
• Patterns that match nothing – no file or directory under the current directory (excluding .git) matches the pattern.

Exits with status 1 if any problems are found, so it can be used in CI.

Shell Completions

Generate completions for your shell:

# Bash
git-ignore completions bash >> ~/.bashrc

# Zsh
git-ignore completions zsh >> ~/.zshrc

# Fish
git-ignore completions fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/git-ignore.fish

For preset name completion after new (and the -n flag), first update the local cache:

git-ignore update-cache

Then regenerate your shell completions.

Commands

Command	Description
git-ignore <pattern>	Add a pattern to .gitignore
git-ignore new <preset>...	Merge preset(s) into .gitignore
git-ignore new <preset> -f	Overwrite .gitignore with preset(s)
git-ignore -l	List available templates
git-ignore completions <shell>	Generate shell completions
git-ignore update-cache	Update local template cache
git-ignore verify	Check .gitignore for duplicate and unmatched patterns

License

MIT