What to gitignore from the .idea folder?

user_21728 0
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Intellij Idea 9/10, what folders to check into (or not check into) source control?

I started using WebStorm for web development and am not sure what to add and what to exclude from our Git repository. Clearly some files inside the .idea folder are meant to be version controlled like the external library settings (jsLibraryMappings.xml) but others will probably change very often and are developer-specific (e.g., workspace.xml).

What is the recommended .gitignore pattern for WebStorm / IntelliJ IDEA?

P.S. There are already questions about this but usually focus only on whether to include the whole .idea folder or whether to fully exclude it. I think some of the files inside the .idea folder should be version controlled while others shouldn't and I'm trying to find out which ones.

webstorm gitignore intellij-idea git
10 Answers

For a couple of years I was a supporter of using a specific .gitignore for IntelliJ with this suggested configuration.

Not anymore.

IntelliJ is updated quite frequently, internal config file specs change more often than I would like and JetBrains flagship excels at auto-configuring itself based on maven/gradle/etc build files.

So my suggestion would be to leave all editor config files out of project and have users configure editor to their liking. Things like code styling can and should be configured at build level; say using Google Code Style or CheckStyle directly on Maven/Gradle/sbt/etc.

This ensures consistency and leaves editor files out of source code that, in my personal opinion, is where they should be.

user_679450

Github uses the following .gitignore for their programs

https://github.com/github/gitignore/blob/master/Global/JetBrains.gitignore

# Covers JetBrains IDEs: IntelliJ, RubyMine, PhpStorm, AppCode, PyCharm, CLion, Android Studio and WebStorm
# Reference: https://intellij-support.jetbrains.com/hc/en-us/articles/206544839

# User-specific stuff
.idea/**/workspace.xml
.idea/**/tasks.xml
.idea/**/usage.statistics.xml
.idea/**/dictionaries
.idea/**/shelf

# 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

# Gradle and Maven with auto-import
# When using Gradle or Maven with auto-import, you should exclude module files,
# since they will be recreated, and may cause churn.  Uncomment if using
# auto-import.
# .idea/modules.xml
# .idea/*.iml
# .idea/modules

# CMake
cmake-build-*/

# Mongo Explorer plugin
.idea/**/mongoSettings.xml

# File-based project format
*.iws

# IntelliJ
out/

# mpeltonen/sbt-idea plugin
.idea_modules/

# JIRA plugin
atlassian-ide-plugin.xml

# Cursive Clojure plugin
.idea/replstate.xml

# Crashlytics plugin (for Android Studio and IntelliJ)
com_crashlytics_export_strings.xml
crashlytics.properties
crashlytics-build.properties
fabric.properties

# Editor-based Rest Client
.idea/httpRequests

# Android studio 3.1+ serialized cache file
.idea/caches/build_file_checksums.ser
user_24249750

As stated in the support page, starting with version 2019.1, IntelliJ is capable of adding everything that needs sharing to Version Control automatically.

This is great since the IDE will add just the necessary files to Git in two steps:

  1. Open the project with IntelliJ and wait a moment until the following pop to shows up in the bottom-right corner
  2. Select "Always Add"

IntelliJ menu pop-up says "Project configurations files can be added to Git"

Alternatively you can select "View Files" and then add them manually.

user_15053480

in my case /**/.idea/* works well

user_144906650

While maintaining the proper .gitignore file is helpful, I found this alternate approach is way cleaner and easier to use.

  • Create dummy folder my_project and inside that git clone my_real_project the actual project repo.
  • Now while opening the project in IDE (Intellij/Pycharm) open the folder my_project and mark my_project/my_real_project as the VCS root.
  • You can see my_project/.idea wouldn't pollute your git repo because it happily lives outside the git repo which is what you want. This way your .gitignore files stays clean as well.

This approach works better due to the below reasons.

1 - .gitignore file stays clean and we don't have to insert lines related to JetBrains products, that file is better used for binaries and libraries and autogen contents.

2 - Intellij keeps updating their projects and the files inside .idea keep changing every significant release from JB. What this means is we have to keep updating our .gitignore accordingly which is not an ideal use of time.

3 - Intellij has the flawed pattern here, most editors Atom, VS Code, Eclipse... nobody stores their IDE contents right inside project root. JB shouldn't be an exception either. It's the onus of Jetbrains to keep those files tracked outside project root. They have to refrain from polluting VCS root. This approach does just that. The .idea folder is kept outside the PROJECT_ROOT

Hope this helps.

user_9684420
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