The Ultimate .gitignore File for Your Django Project

Adding a .gitignore file to any project is considered a good practice to maintain a clean and organized repository. It helps protect sensitive information, improves collaboration among developers, and ensures that version control system focuses on the essential elements of the project. In this post we will go through the ultimate .gitignore file that you need for your django project and explain each part of it with the reasons for ignoring specific types of files.

What is a .gitignore file?

A .gitignore file is a configuration file used by the version control system Git to specify files and directories that should be ignored when tracking changes in a Git repository. The purpose of this file is to exclude certain files and patterns from being considered for version control.

Why should you always add a .gitignore file to your Django project?

By using a .gitignore file, developers can keep their Git repositories clean and focused on the essential source code and configuration files while excluding unnecessary or generated files. Adding a .gitignore file to a Django project is considered a best practice for several reasons:

• Avoiding Unnecessary Files in Version Control: Django projects generate various files and directories during development, such as log files, compiled Python files, database files, and media files. These files are specific to each developer’s environment and don’t need to be versioned. By using a .gitignore file, you can specify patterns for Git to ignore, preventing these files from being included in the version control system. This helps keep the repository clean and avoids unnecessary bloat.
• Protecting Sensitive Information: Some files generated by development tools or IDEs may contain sensitive information, such as API keys, database passwords, or environment-specific configurations. Including such files in version control can expose sensitive information to unauthorized users. A .gitignore file allows you to exclude these files from being tracked, helping to protect sensitive data.
• Improving Collaboration: When multiple developers are working on a Django project, each may have their own development environment and tools. Excluding environment-specific files from version control ensures that the project remains consistent across different developers’ setups. It reduces the likelihood of conflicts and ensures that everyone can work with a clean and standardized codebase.
• Focusing on Essential Source Code: Version control systems are primarily designed to track changes in the source code and important project files. Including generated files, compiled binaries, or temporary files in version control is unnecessary and can lead to confusion. A .gitignore file helps maintain focus on the essential source code and configuration files required for the project.
• Facilitating Continuous Integration and Deployment: Continuous integration (CI) and deployment pipelines often rely on version control to trigger automated builds and deployments. Including unnecessary files in version control can slow down these processes and result in larger artifacts. A .gitignore file helps streamline CI/CD workflows by excluding files that are not essential for the build and deployment process.
• Preventing Overhead in Version Control History: Including numerous generated or temporary files in version control can lead to a cluttered and unnecessarily large version history. This can make it challenging to review the history for meaningful changes. A .gitignore file helps in maintaining a concise and relevant version history by excluding files that don’t contribute to the understanding of the project’s evolution.

In summary, adding a .gitignore file to a Django project is a good practice to maintain a clean and organized version control repository. It helps protect sensitive information, improves collaboration among developers, and ensures that version control focuses on the essential elements of the project.

The ultimate .gitignore file for your djnago project

The .gitignore file used in this post is written by Stan Triepels . I used the .gitignore file from his blog as I found it to be the most useful one and added proper details for future references.

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# Django #
*.log
*.pot
*.pyc
__pycache__
db.sqlite3
media

# Backup files # 
*.bak 

# If you are using PyCharm # 
# User-specific stuff
.idea/**/workspace.xml
.idea/**/tasks.xml
.idea/**/usage.statistics.xml
.idea/**/dictionaries
.idea/**/shelf

# AWS User-specific
.idea/**/aws.xml

# Generated files
.idea/**/contentModel.xml

# Sensitive or high-churn files
.idea/**/dataSources/
.idea/**/dataSources.ids
.idea/**/dataSources.local.xml
.idea/**/sqlDataSources.xml
.idea/**/dynamic.xml
.idea/**/uiDesigner.xml
.idea/**/dbnavigator.xml

# Gradle
.idea/**/gradle.xml
.idea/**/libraries

# File-based project format
*.iws

# IntelliJ
out/

# JIRA plugin
atlassian-ide-plugin.xml

# Python # 
*.py[cod] 
*$py.class 

# Distribution / packaging 
.Python build/ 
develop-eggs/ 
dist/ 
downloads/ 
eggs/ 
.eggs/ 
lib/ 
lib64/ 
parts/ 
sdist/ 
var/ 
wheels/ 
*.whl
*.egg-info/ 
.installed.cfg 
*.egg 
*.manifest 
*.spec 

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

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

# Jupyter Notebook 
.ipynb_checkpoints 

# pyenv 
.python-version 

# celery 
celerybeat-schedule.* 

# SageMath parsed files 
*.sage.py 

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

# mkdocs documentation 
/site 

# mypy 
.mypy_cache/ 

# Sublime Text # 
*.tmlanguage.cache 
*.tmPreferences.cache 
*.stTheme.cache 
*.sublime-workspace 
*.sublime-project 

# sftp configuration file 
sftp-config.json 

# Package control specific files Package 
Control.last-run 
Control.ca-list 
Control.ca-bundle 
Control.system-ca-bundle 
GitHub.sublime-settings 

# Visual Studio Code # 
.vscode/* 
!.vscode/settings.json 
!.vscode/tasks.json 
!.vscode/launch.json 
!.vscode/extensions.json 
.history

What does each part of the file mean?

Let’s dig deeper into the reasons for ignoring specific types of files in the .gitignore file:

• Django Files:
  • *.log: Log files are often generated during development and can be specific to a developer’s environment. Including them in version control could lead to conflicts and unnecessary changes.
  • *.pot: Portable Object Template files are used for translations and are generated during the localization process. These files are specific to the development environment and don’t need to be versioned.
  • *.pyc and __pycache__: Compiled Python files and cache directories are generated locally and can be regenerated when needed. Including them in version control is unnecessary and can lead to conflicts.
  • db.sqlite3: The SQLite database file is often created and modified during development. Including the database file in version control is not recommended, as it may lead to inconsistencies and conflicts.
  • media: Media files, such as user-uploaded content, are typically not stored in version control, as they can be large and are specific to each environment.
• Backup Files:
  • *.bak: Backup files are temporary and don’t provide value for version control. Including them can lead to unnecessary repository bloat.
• PyCharm Files:
  • .idea/: PyCharm IDE settings and configurations are specific to each developer’s environment. Including these files could lead to conflicts and may expose sensitive or user-specific information.
• Gradle Files:
  • Files under .idea/ related to Gradle configurations are specific to the local environment and project setup. They don’t need to be versioned.
• IntelliJ Files:
  • *.iws: The IntelliJ project file contains project-specific settings and is not intended for version control.
  • out/: Compiled output is generated locally and can be regenerated as needed. Including compiled output in version control is unnecessary.
• JIRA Plugin:
  • atlassian-ide-plugin.xml: This file contains configuration settings for the JIRA plugin and is specific to the local environment.
• Python Files:
  • *.py[cod]: Compiled Python files are generated locally and can be regenerated. Including them in version control is unnecessary.
  • *$py.class: Jython compiled files are specific to Jython and don’t need to be versioned.
• Distribution/Packaging Files:
  • Various files and directories related to distribution, packaging, and installation contain temporary or environment-specific information that doesn’t belong in version control.
• Installer Logs:
  • pip-log.txt and pip-delete-this-directory.txt: These files are temporary and specific to the local environment.
• Unit Test/Coverage Reports:
  • Files and directories related to unit testing and coverage reports contain temporary or generated information that is not needed in version control.
• Jupyter Notebook:
  • .ipynb_checkpoints: Checkpoint files generated by Jupyter Notebook are temporary and don’t need to be versioned.
• Various Tool-Specific Files:
  • Files and directories related to tools like pyenv, celery, SageMath, and other environments contain information specific to the local setup and are not intended for version control.
• Sublime Text, sftp, Package Control, Visual Studio Code:
  • Files and directories related to specific editors and configurations are often specific to each developer’s environment and don’t need to be versioned.

In summary, the .gitignore file is designed to exclude files and directories that are either specific to the local development environment, generated during the development process, or temporary in nature.

Why migration files are not ignored?

In Django projects, migration files are not typically ignored in the .gitignore file because they play a crucial role in managing database schema changes. Migration files are generated by Django’s migration framework to capture and apply changes to the database schema over time. While migration files are crucial, it’s essential to note that they are part of the version-controlled codebase. Developers typically create migrations during development, and these files are committed to the version control system to ensure that everyone working on the project has a consistent and up-to-date database schema.