macOS .gitignore Template Explained

macOS.gitignore blocks metadata files that Finder and the macOS file system create without the user noticing. They have nothing to do with project contents, so this template is recommended for your personal global gitignore (core.excludesFile) rather than the repository.

In practice, not every teammate sets up a global config, so accidentally committed .DS_Store files are common. That is why many teams also put it in the project .gitignore.

Rules explained

Pattern	What it ignores and why
.DS_Store.localized	Finder metadata.DS_Store is the view settings file (icon positions, sorting) Finder creates in each folder. It appears just by opening a folder and contains a list of file names, which can unintentionally reveal information.
._*.AppleDouble.LSOverride	Resource forks (AppleDouble)Companion ._filename files created to hold extended attributes when files are copied to non-HFS+/APFS volumes (FAT, network shares).
.VolumeIcon.icns	Custom iconsThe volume icon file. A folder's custom icon is stored as an Icon file whose name ends with a carriage return (CR), which the template catches with a bracket pattern of the form Icon[\r].
.Spotlight-V100.fseventsd.Trashes.TemporaryItems.DocumentRevisions-V100	System indexes and TrashThe Spotlight index, file system event log, Trash and document version store created at the root of external disks or volumes.
.com.apple.timemachine.donotpresent.com.apple.timemachine.supportedBackups.backupdb.MobileBackups	Time MachineMarker files and backup folders created on Time Machine backup disks.
.AppleDB.AppleDesktopNetwork Trash FolderTemporary Items.apdisk	AFP shared foldersDatabases and folders that AFP (Apple Filing Protocol) file servers create on shared volumes. Even though the names contain spaces, the gitignore patterns can be written as-is.
__MACOSX/	Unzip by-productsThe resource fork folder that appears when a zip created on macOS is extracted with another tool.

Practical notes

• Global setup: run git config --global core.excludesFile ~/.gitignore_global and put this template in that file. If you do not set it, git uses the default path ~/.config/git/ignore.
• Remove already committed .DS_Store files with git rm --cached. The “Every tracked file matched by .gitignore” mode in the Untrack tab handles them all at once.
• The ._* rule does not block every file starting with an underscore. It applies only to names starting with ._ (dot plus underscore).

Original template

# General.DS_Store.localized__MACOSX/.AppleDouble.LSOverrideIcon[
]# Resource forks._*# Files and directories that might appear in the root of a volume.DocumentRevisions-V100.fseventsd.Spotlight-V100.TemporaryItems.Trashes.VolumeIcon.icns.com.apple.timemachine.donotpresent.com.apple.timemachine.supported.PKInstallSandboxManager.PKInstallSandboxManager-SystemSoftware.hotfiles.btree.vol.file.disk_label*lost+found.HFS+ Private Directory Data[
]# Directories potentially created on remote AFP share.AppleDB.AppleDesktopNetwork Trash FolderTemporary Items.apdisk# Mac OS 6 to 9Desktop DBDesktop DFTheFindByContentFolderTheVolumeSettingsFolder.FBCIndex.FBCSemaphoreFile.FBCLockFolder# Quota system.quota.group.quota.user.quota.ops.group.quota.ops.user# TimeMachineBackups.backupdb.MobileBackups.MobileBackups.trashMobileBackups.trashtmbootpicker.efi

Often used together

More template explanations