How to Ignore Local Files in Git Without Modifying .gitignore

As developers, we often create temporary files or debug utilities during development.

But what if you don’t want these debug files:

• to show up in git status
• or accidentally be committed
• yet you don’t want to edit .gitignore — especially in a shared codebase

Use .git/info/exclude

Git has a local-only ignore file, specific to your repo clone located at .git/info/exclude

Anything you add there behaves just like .gitignore, but:

• It’s not version-controlled
• It won’t affect your teammates
• It’s perfect for one-off debug or temp files

Why I Use This

I had a helper function called useRenderCount() to count component renders while debugging a React app.

I didn’t want to commit it by accident or to pollute the shared .gitignore

Adding it to .git/info/exclude let me:

• keep the file locally
• use it freely
• never worry about it ending up in Git