> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mudstack.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Ignore Files & Folders

> How to ignore files and folders within a Mudstack workspace.

mudstack allows you and your team to ignore specific paths, folders, files by creating and editing the `.mudignore` file.

To use mudignore, create a text file in the root folder of a workspace and set the name to `.mudignore`. The extension for the file is `.mudignore` and the name is empty.

If there is no `.mudignore` file, we will return to the default list of files to ignore.

By default, here is what we ignore:

```
# folders to ignore
/.mudstack
.git
.godot
#
# files to ignore
.gitconfig
.gitignore
.place-holder
.DS_Store
*.lock
*.painter_lock
*.assbin
*.temp
*.tmp
*.blend1
*.pyc
```

## Patterns in mudignore

Each line is a rule

**Blank Line** matches nothing

**Comments** must start with #

Quote any rules that would include spaces `“folder name/file name.txt”`

`!` includes what should be excluded. If there is a rule `*.txt` , `!item.txt` will include any .txt files with the name “item”.

`/` is a separator for directories.

Leading separators like `/item` searches for “item” from the root folder. The results include both files and folders.

Separators after a term like `item/` searches for a folder “item”.

Build a folder path with separators like `/folder1/folder2/file`.

`*` matches every character except `/`.

`?` matches one character except `/`.

Range notation `[a-zA-Z]` will match one of the characters in a name.

`/**` matches everything inside a folder like `folder/**`.

`**/` matches zero or more directories. `a/**/b` matches `a/b`, `a/x/b`, `a/x/y/b` and so on.

Additional `*` are considered regular asterisks and will match according to the previous rules.

## Pushing and pulling mudignore

`.mudignore` works exactly like other files when you push or pull changes. It has it’s own version history, so all version actions are available to you.

## FAQ

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What happens to ignored files once they are in the cloud?">
    Nothing, they will still stay in the cloud, but when they are pulled down, they will not be managed by Mudstack.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What happens to files that get ignored locally?">
    For files that didn’t exist before a rule was set, the file will not appear in the search, nor will it be stored in Mudstack db.

    For files that were watched by Mudstack before being ignored, they will be flagged as ignored in the Mudstack db. Your data will still be stored locally if you undo this action. Note that they may appear as missing after updating the mudignore file. You may disable sync or send the file/folder to the trash to resolve the missing item.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What happens to files that are not ignored locally?">
    They will be watched by Mudstack and added to your local Mudstack db. Any files that existed before the initial ignore will have their metadata restored.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What are the differences between mudignore and gitignore?">
    * There may only be one mudignore file placed at the root of a workspace.
    * The `.mudstack` folder will always be ignored, regardless of whether you remove this rule from your `.mudignore` file.
    * When an ignore rule is defined as a folder (ending in /), then the regex should allow paths that do not end in a slash (e.g. a file)
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>