Support .gitignore #2443

Activity

1. nedtwigg

   added

   enhancement

   on Mar 12, 2025
2. tommy-mitchell commented on Sep 29, 2026

   

   tommy-mitchell

   on Sep 29, 2026

   More actions

   There are workarounds for this

   To document one: I was able to parse the patterns from .gitignore using gradle-node-plugin and gitignore-to-glob-cli and apply them to the targetExclude option:

   plugins {
     id "com.github.node-gradle.node"
   }
   
   def inputFile = rootProject.file(".gitignore")
   def outputFile = layout.buildDirectory.file("gitignore.txt")
   
   task gitignore(type: NpxTask) {
     command = "gitignore-to-glob-cli"
     args = ["--input", inputFile.absolutePath]
   
     inputs.file(inputFile)
     outputs.file(outputFile)
   
     execOverrides {
       standardOutput = new FileOutputStream(outputFile.get().asFile)
     }
   }
   
   def excludePatterns = providers.provider {
     def patterns = outputFile.get().asFile.readLines()
     rootProject.fileTree(rootProject.projectDir) {
       include(patterns)
     }
   }
   
   spotless {
     format "foo", {
       target "foo.bar"
       targetExclude excludePatterns
     }
   }
   
   tasks.named("spotlessFoo").configure {
     dependsOn gitignore
   }
3. Pankraz76 commented on Nov 8, 2026

   

   Pankraz76

   on Nov 8, 2026

   More actions

   Thanks @ivandimitrov8080 for the suggestion, and @tommy-mitchell for sharing the workaround. It made the use case very concrete!

   I've opened a draft PR that adds this: #3176

   It's opt-in and works in both plugins, globally or per format:

   • Gradle: spotless { respectGitignore() }
   • Maven: <respectGitignore>true</respectGitignore>

   A file is skipped using the same rules as git status: it matches any .gitignore (including nested ones and negations), .git/info/exclude or core.excludesFile, and it isn't tracked. Tracked files are still formatted even if they match a pattern, so nothing committed silently drops out of formatting. On Gradle it also works with the configuration cache.

   Feedback is very welcome, especially on:

   • the name (respectGitignore vs. something like excludeGitIgnored)
   • whether tracked-but-ignored files should keep being formatted (current behaviour, same as git)
   • whether it should eventually become the default

   If you get a chance to try it on a real project, I'd love to hear how it goes. Thanks!