Ignore Files

Use .protoignore to exclude files and directories from proto’s file tools.

How it works

Create a .protoignore file in your project root. Files matching the rules are excluded from tools that support it (e.g. read_many_files, glob searches). They remain visible to git and other tools.

Changes take effect on the next session start.

Syntax

.protoignore follows .gitignore conventions:

Blank lines and # comments are ignored
Standard glob patterns (*, ?, [])
Trailing / matches directories only
Leading / anchors the pattern to the file’s location
! negates a pattern

Examples


# Exclude a directory
/archive/

# Exclude a specific file
apikeys.txt

# Exclude all markdown files
*.md

# Exclude all markdown except README.md
*.md
!README.md

# Exclude node_modules everywhere
node_modules/

# Exclude build artifacts
/dist/
/build/
*.min.js

Common use cases

Exclude node_modules/, dist/, and other generated directories to keep proto focused on source files
Exclude large binary or data files that aren’t useful in context
Exclude files with sensitive content (secrets files, local config overrides)