Keep Untracked Files Handy with a Global .gitignore Pattern

I often find myself in a situation where I have a file that I want to keep around, but don’t want to commit to the repository. Things like notes (todo.txt) or examples (bug_repro.py) or maybe an uncompressed version of an image (banner_xxl.jpg). They could live somewhere outside the source tree, but I like to keep them close to the code they relate to so I don’t forget about them.

Instead of cluttering every repo’s .gitignore with one-off rules, I adopted the prefix _#_ for any file or directory I want Git to ignore. This way I can just add the pattern to the global .gitignore rules (at $HOME/.config/git/ignore by default on macOS):

_#_*

Simple, but it keeps my workflow clean and my untracked files where I can find them.