macOS System Files (.DS_Store) .gitignore Template
macOS Finder creates invisible `.DS_Store` metadata files in almost every folder you open. Committing these pollutes repositories and generates useless merge conflicts across teams.
| 1 | # General macOS files |
| 2 | .DS_Store |
| 3 | .AppleDouble |
| 4 | .LSOverride |
| 5 | |
| 6 | # Icon metadata |
| 7 | Icon |
| 8 | |
| 9 | # Thumbnails and Spotlight |
| 10 | ._* |
| 11 | .Spotlight-V100 |
| 12 | .Trashes |
| 13 | |
| 14 | # Files that might appear in the root of a volume |
| 15 | .DocumentRevisions-V100 |
| 16 | .fseventsd |
| 17 | .TemporaryItems |
| 18 | .VolumeIcon.icns |
| 19 | .com.apple.timemachine.donotpresent |
Key Rules & Why They Are Ignored
.DS_StoreDesktop Services Store file containing Finder view settings, icon positions, and window dimensions.
._*AppleDouble companion file created on non-HFS/APFS filesystems (USB drives, network shares).
Already Committed Ignored Files? Purge from Git Cache
Adding a pattern to .gitignore does NOT delete files that were already tracked in previous commits. Run this command to remove them from tracking without deleting your local copies:
git rm -r --cached . && git add . && git commit -m "Untrack ignored files"Frequently Asked Questions About macOS System .gitignore
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know regarding specifications, syntax, and security best practices.
It is best practice to add `.DS_Store` to your global gitignore (`git config --global core.excludesfile ~/.gitignore_global`), but adding it to project gitignores protects Windows and Linux teammates.