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[Feature Request] `.copilotignore` support

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#963 0 comments 2 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Assessment

Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Newbie friendliness
35/100
Issue type
Feature
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Quiet
Tech stack
git
Domain
ai-infra-agents, devtools

Research direction

No implementation files, tests, or entry points are named. Start by tracing how the SDK supplies project files as agent context and permits file edits, then compare the requested behavior with .gitignore semantics. Done means a documented ignore-file format excludes matching files from context and protects them from agent modification, with coverage for both behaviors.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Note: I'm not 100% sure this is the right repo for this request — please feel free to redirect if needed.

Summary

It would be useful to have a way to tell the agent which files and folders it should ignore — both as a knowledge source and as targets for modification. Something similar to how .gitignore works, maybe called .copilotignore.

Motivation

In a typical project, there are often files that exist for process/tooling reasons, archived versions, duplicates, or backups that aren't relevant to the active codebase. Right now, the agent picks these up as context, which can lead to:

  • Confusion from stale or duplicate content influencing suggestions
  • Unintended edits to files that should be left alone
  • Noise in context that dilutes the quality of responses
Proposed Solution

A .copilotignore file (or similar) at the project root that follows the same syntax as .gitignore. Any file or folder listed would be:

  1. Excluded from being indexed or used as context by the agent
  2. Protected from being modified by the agent
Why This Matters

This would give developers more control over what the agent "sees" and touches, making it more predictable and easier to use in messy real-world projects.

Happy to discuss or provide more context if helpful. Thanks!

Dominant language
Java
Stars
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Forks
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Avg merge
1d 9h
Merged PRs (30d)
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