[git] .gitignore for Visual Studio Projects and Solutions

Which files should I include in .gitignore when using Git in conjunction with Visual Studio Solutions (.sln) and Projects?

For those interested in what Microsoft thinks should be included in the gitignore, here's the default one which Visual Studio 2013 RTM automatically generates when creating a new Git-Repository:

## Ignore Visual Studio temporary files, build results, and
## files generated by popular Visual Studio add-ons.

# User-specific files
*.suo
*.user
*.sln.docstates

# Build results

[Dd]ebug/
[Rr]elease/
x64/
build/
[Bb]in/
[Oo]bj/

# Enable "build/" folder in the NuGet Packages folder since NuGet packages use it for MSBuild targets
!packages/*/build/

# MSTest test Results
[Tt]est[Rr]esult*/
[Bb]uild[Ll]og.*

*_i.c
*_p.c
*.ilk
*.meta
*.obj
*.pch
*.pdb
*.pgc
*.pgd
*.rsp
*.sbr
*.tlb
*.tli
*.tlh
*.tmp
*.tmp_proj
*.log
*.vspscc
*.vssscc
.builds
*.pidb
*.log
*.scc

# Visual C++ cache files
ipch/
*.aps
*.ncb
*.opensdf
*.sdf
*.cachefile

# Visual Studio profiler
*.psess
*.vsp
*.vspx

# Guidance Automation Toolkit
*.gpState

# ReSharper is a .NET coding add-in
_ReSharper*/
*.[Rr]e[Ss]harper

# TeamCity is a build add-in
_TeamCity*

# DotCover is a Code Coverage Tool
*.dotCover

# NCrunch
*.ncrunch*
.*crunch*.local.xml

# Installshield output folder
[Ee]xpress/

# DocProject is a documentation generator add-in
DocProject/buildhelp/
DocProject/Help/*.HxT
DocProject/Help/*.HxC
DocProject/Help/*.hhc
DocProject/Help/*.hhk
DocProject/Help/*.hhp
DocProject/Help/Html2
DocProject/Help/html

# Click-Once directory
publish/

# Publish Web Output
*.Publish.xml

# NuGet Packages Directory
## TODO: If you have NuGet Package Restore enabled, uncomment the next line
#packages/

# Windows Azure Build Output
csx
*.build.csdef

# Windows Store app package directory
AppPackages/

# Others
sql/
*.Cache
ClientBin/
[Ss]tyle[Cc]op.*
~$*
*~
*.dbmdl
*.[Pp]ublish.xml
*.pfx
*.publishsettings

# RIA/Silverlight projects
Generated_Code/

# Backup & report files from converting an old project file to a newer
# Visual Studio version. Backup files are not needed, because we have git ;-)
_UpgradeReport_Files/
Backup*/
UpgradeLog*.XML
UpgradeLog*.htm

# SQL Server files
App_Data/*.mdf
App_Data/*.ldf


#LightSwitch generated files
GeneratedArtifacts/
_Pvt_Extensions/
ModelManifest.xml

# =========================
# Windows detritus
# =========================

# Windows image file caches
Thumbs.db
ehthumbs.db

# Folder config file
Desktop.ini

# Recycle Bin used on file shares
$RECYCLE.BIN/

# Mac desktop service store files
.DS_Store

See: Add a default .gitignore file on MSDN

In Visual Studio 2015 Team Explorer > Local Git Repositories > Project > Settings > Git > Repository Settings > Ignore & Attribute Files.You can add .gitignore file with items should be ignored in visual studio solutions by default.

Late to the party here, but I also find that I use the following. Some may only be useful for hiding sensitive files when pushing to a public remote.

#Ignore email files delivered to specified pickup directory
*.eml

#Allow NuGet.exe (do not ignore)
!NuGet.exe

#Ignore WebDeploy publish profiles
*.Publish.xml

#Ignore Azure build csdef & Pubxml files
ServiceDefinition.build.csdef
*.azurePubxml

#Allow ReSharper .DotSettings (for non-namespace-provider properties)
!*.csproj.DotSettings

#Ignore private folder
/Private/

I use the following .gitignore for C# projects. Additional patterns are added as and when they are needed.

[Oo]bj
[Bb]in
*.user
*.suo
*.[Cc]ache
*.bak
*.ncb
*.log 
*.DS_Store
[Tt]humbs.db 
_ReSharper.*
*.resharper
Ankh.NoLoad

While you should keep your NuGet packages.config file, you should exclude the packages folder:

#NuGet
packages/

I typically don't store binaries, or anything generated from my source, in source control. There are differing opinions on this however. If it makes things easier for your build system, do it! I would however, argue that you are not versioning these dependencies, so they will just take up space in your repository. Storing the binaries in a central location, then relying on the packages.config file to indicate which version is needed is a better solution, in my opinion.

Some project might want to add *.manifest to their visual studio gitignore.io file.

That is because some Visual Studio project properties of new projects are set to generate a manifest file.

See "Manifest Generation in Visual Studio"

But if you have generated them and they are static (not changing over time), then it is a good idea to remove them from the .gitignore file.

That is what a project like Git for Windows just did (for Git 2.24, Q4 2019)

See commit aac6ff7 (05 Sep 2019) by Johannes Schindelin (dscho).
^{(Merged by Junio C Hamano -- gitster -- in commit 59438be, 30 Sep 2019)}

.gitignore: stop ignoring .manifest files

On Windows, it is possible to embed additional metadata into an executable by linking in a "manifest", i.e. an XML document that describes capabilities and requirements (such as minimum or maximum Windows version).
These XML documents are expected to be stored in .manifest files.

At least some Visual Studio versions auto-generate .manifest files when none is specified explicitly, therefore we used to ask Git to ignore them.

However, we do have a beautiful .manifest file now: compat/win32/git.manifest, so neither does Visual Studio auto-generate a manifest for us, nor do we want Git to ignore the .manifest files anymore.

Credit to Jens Lehmann for this one - if you keep source directories separate to your compiler project files and build output, you could simplify your .gitignore by negating it:

path/to/build/directory/*
!*.sln
!*.vcproj

You don't say what language(s) you're using, but the above should work for C++ projects.

Here's an extract from a .gitignore on a recent project I was working on. I've extracted the ones that I believe are related to Visual Studio, including the compilation outputs; it's a cross platform project, so there are various other ignore rules for files produced by other build systems, and I can't guarantee that I separated them out exactly.

*.dll
*.exe
*.exp
*.ilk
*.lib
*.ncb
*.log
*.pdb
*.vcproj.*.user
[Dd]ebug
[Rr]elease

Perhaps this question should be Community Wiki, so we can all edit together one master list with comments about which files should be ignored for which types of project?

There is a shortcut in Visual Studio, because it supports Git out of the box in 2015 or above. For new solutions (or some which don't have .git folder) use source control features in Solution Explorer:

Right-click on your solution and select Add Solution to Source Control... item in the popup menu.

It automatically initializes .git repository, adds .gitignore with necessary things to your solution and even .gitattributes file (line endings, etc.).

The text will appeared in the VS console:

A new Git repository has been created for you in C:\<path to your solution>
Commit ______ created locally in repository.

Done!

Here is what I use in my .NET Projects for my .gitignore file.

[Oo]bj/
[Bb]in/
*.suo
*.user
/TestResults
*.vspscc
*.vssscc

This is pretty much an all MS approach, that uses the built in Visual Studio tester, and a project that may have some TFS bindings in there too.

I know this is an old thread but for the new and the old who visit this page, there is a website called gitignore.io which can generate these files. Search "visualstudio" upon landing on the website and it will generate these files for you, also you can have multiple languages/ides ignore files concatenated into the one document.

Beautiful.

There's an online tool which allow you to generate .gitignore file based on your OS, IDE, language, etc. Take a look at http://www.gitignore.io/.

On 8/20/2014, here's the file that is generated for Visual Studio + Windows.

# Created by http://www.gitignore.io

### VisualStudio ###
## Ignore Visual Studio temporary files, build results, and
## files generated by popular Visual Studio add-ons.

# User-specific files
*.suo
*.user
*.sln.docstates

# Build results
[Dd]ebug/
[Dd]ebugPublic/
[Rr]elease/
[Rr]eleases/
x64/
x86/
build/
bld/
[Bb]in/
[Oo]bj/

# Roslyn cache directories
*.ide/

# MSTest test Results
[Tt]est[Rr]esult*/
[Bb]uild[Ll]og.*

#NUNIT
*.VisualState.xml
TestResult.xml

# Build Results of an ATL Project
[Dd]ebugPS/
[Rr]eleasePS/
dlldata.c

*_i.c
*_p.c
*_i.h
*.ilk
*.meta
*.obj
*.pch
*.pdb
*.pgc
*.pgd
*.rsp
*.sbr
*.tlb
*.tli
*.tlh
*.tmp
*.tmp_proj
*.log
*.vspscc
*.vssscc
.builds
*.pidb
*.svclog
*.scc

# Chutzpah Test files
_Chutzpah*

# Visual C++ cache files
ipch/
*.aps
*.ncb
*.opensdf
*.sdf
*.cachefile

# Visual Studio profiler
*.psess
*.vsp
*.vspx

# TFS 2012 Local Workspace
$tf/

# Guidance Automation Toolkit
*.gpState

# ReSharper is a .NET coding add-in
_ReSharper*/
*.[Rr]e[Ss]harper
*.DotSettings.user

# JustCode is a .NET coding addin-in
.JustCode

# TeamCity is a build add-in
_TeamCity*

# DotCover is a Code Coverage Tool
*.dotCover

# NCrunch
_NCrunch_*
.*crunch*.local.xml

# MightyMoose
*.mm.*
AutoTest.Net/

# Web workbench (sass)
.sass-cache/

# Installshield output folder
[Ee]xpress/

# DocProject is a documentation generator add-in
DocProject/buildhelp/
DocProject/Help/*.HxT
DocProject/Help/*.HxC
DocProject/Help/*.hhc
DocProject/Help/*.hhk
DocProject/Help/*.hhp
DocProject/Help/Html2
DocProject/Help/html

# Click-Once directory
publish/

# Publish Web Output
*.[Pp]ublish.xml
*.azurePubxml
# TODO: Comment the next line if you want to checkin your web deploy settings 
# but database connection strings (with potential passwords) will be unencrypted
*.pubxml
*.publishproj

# NuGet Packages
*.nupkg
# The packages folder can be ignored because of Package Restore
**/packages/*
# except build/, which is used as an MSBuild target.
!**/packages/build/
# If using the old MSBuild-Integrated Package Restore, uncomment this:
#!**/packages/repositories.config

# Windows Azure Build Output
csx/
*.build.csdef

# Windows Store app package directory
AppPackages/

# Others
sql/
*.Cache
ClientBin/
[Ss]tyle[Cc]op.*
~$*
*~
*.dbmdl
*.dbproj.schemaview
*.pfx
*.publishsettings
node_modules/

# RIA/Silverlight projects
Generated_Code/

# Backup & report files from converting an old project file
# to a newer Visual Studio version. Backup files are not needed,
# because we have git ;-)
_UpgradeReport_Files/
Backup*/
UpgradeLog*.XML
UpgradeLog*.htm

# SQL Server files
*.mdf
*.ldf

# Business Intelligence projects
*.rdl.data
*.bim.layout
*.bim_*.settings

# Microsoft Fakes
FakesAssemblies/


### Windows ###
# Windows image file caches
Thumbs.db
ehthumbs.db

# Folder config file
Desktop.ini

# Recycle Bin used on file shares
$RECYCLE.BIN/

# Windows Installer files
*.cab
*.msi
*.msm
*.msp

As mentioned by another poster, Visual Studio generates this as a part of its .gitignore (at least for MVC 4):

# SQL Server files
App_Data/*.mdf
App_Data/*.ldf

Since your project may be a subfolder of your solution, and the .gitignore file is stored in the solution root, this actually won't touch the local database files (Git sees them at projectfolder/App_Data/*.mdf). To account for this, I changed those lines like so:

# SQL Server files
*App_Data/*.mdf
*App_Data/*.ldf

Added InstallShield ignores for the build deployment. InstallShield is the new direction Microsoft is headed over Visual Studio Installer, so we've started using it on all new projects. This added line removes the SingleImage installation files. Other InstallShield types may include DVD distribution among others. You may want to add those directory names or just [Ee]xpress/ to prevent any InstallShield LE deployment files from getting into the repo.

Here is our .gitignore for VS2010 C# projects using Install Shield LE with SingleImage deployments for the installer:

#OS junk files
[Tt]humbs.db
*.DS_Store

#Visual Studio files
*.[Oo]bj
*.exe
*.pdb
*.user
*.aps
*.pch
*.vspscc
*.vssscc
*_i.c
*_p.c
*.ncb
*.suo
*.tlb
*.tlh
*.bak
*.[Cc]ache
*.ilk
*.log
*.lib
*.sbr
*.sdf
ipch/
obj/
[Bb]in
[Dd]ebug*/
[Rr]elease*/
Ankh.NoLoad

#InstallShield
[Ss]ingle[Ii]mage/
[Dd][Vv][Dd]-5/
[Ii]nterm/

#Tooling
_ReSharper*/
*.resharper
[Tt]est[Rr]esult*

#Project files
[Bb]uild/

#Subversion files
.svn

# Office Temp Files
~$*

On Visual Studio 2015 Update 3, and with Git extension updated as of today (2016-10-24), the .gitignore generated by Visual Studio is:

## Ignore Visual Studio temporary files, build results, and
## files generated by popular Visual Studio add-ons.

# User-specific files
*.suo
*.user
*.userosscache
*.sln.docstates

# User-specific files (MonoDevelop/Xamarin Studio)
*.userprefs

# Build results
[Dd]ebug/
[Dd]ebugPublic/
[Rr]elease/
[Rr]eleases/
[Xx]64/
[Xx]86/
[Bb]uild/
bld/
[Bb]in/
[Oo]bj/

# Visual Studio 2015 cache/options directory
.vs/
# Uncomment if you have tasks that create the project's static files in wwwroot
#wwwroot/

# MSTest test Results
[Tt]est[Rr]esult*/
[Bb]uild[Ll]og.*

# NUNIT
*.VisualState.xml
TestResult.xml

# Build Results of an ATL Project
[Dd]ebugPS/
[Rr]eleasePS/
dlldata.c

# DNX
project.lock.json
artifacts/

*_i.c
*_p.c
*_i.h
*.ilk
*.meta
*.obj
*.pch
*.pdb
*.pgc
*.pgd
*.rsp
*.sbr
*.tlb
*.tli
*.tlh
*.tmp
*.tmp_proj
*.log
*.vspscc
*.vssscc
.builds
*.pidb
*.svclog
*.scc

# Chutzpah Test files
_Chutzpah*

# Visual C++ cache files
ipch/
*.aps
*.ncb
*.opendb
*.opensdf
*.sdf
*.cachefile
*.VC.db

# Visual Studio profiler
*.psess
*.vsp
*.vspx
*.sap

# TFS 2012 Local Workspace
$tf/

# Guidance Automation Toolkit
*.gpState

# ReSharper is a .NET coding add-in
_ReSharper*/
*.[Rr]e[Ss]harper
*.DotSettings.user

# JustCode is a .NET coding add-in
.JustCode

# TeamCity is a build add-in
_TeamCity*

# DotCover is a Code Coverage Tool
*.dotCover

# NCrunch
_NCrunch_*
.*crunch*.local.xml
nCrunchTemp_*

# MightyMoose
*.mm.*
AutoTest.Net/

# Web workbench (sass)
.sass-cache/

# Installshield output folder
[Ee]xpress/

# DocProject is a documentation generator add-in
DocProject/buildhelp/
DocProject/Help/*.HxT
DocProject/Help/*.HxC
DocProject/Help/*.hhc
DocProject/Help/*.hhk
DocProject/Help/*.hhp
DocProject/Help/Html2
DocProject/Help/html

# Click-Once directory
publish/

# Publish Web Output
*.[Pp]ublish.xml
*.azurePubxml

# TODO: Un-comment the next line if you do not want to checkin 
# your web deploy settings because they may include unencrypted
# passwords
#*.pubxml
*.publishproj

# NuGet Packages
*.nupkg
# The packages folder can be ignored because of Package Restore
**/packages/*
# except build/, which is used as an MSBuild target.
!**/packages/build/
# Uncomment if necessary however generally it will be regenerated when needed
#!**/packages/repositories.config
# NuGet v3's project.json files produces more ignoreable files
*.nuget.props
*.nuget.targets

# Microsoft Azure Build Output
csx/
*.build.csdef

# Microsoft Azure Emulator
ecf/
rcf/

# Microsoft Azure ApplicationInsights config file
ApplicationInsights.config

# Windows Store app package directory
AppPackages/
BundleArtifacts/

# Visual Studio cache files
# files ending in .cache can be ignored
*.[Cc]ache
# but keep track of directories ending in .cache
!*.[Cc]ache/

# Others
ClientBin/
[Ss]tyle[Cc]op.*
~$*
*~
*.dbmdl
*.dbproj.schemaview
*.pfx
*.publishsettings
node_modules/
orleans.codegen.cs

# RIA/Silverlight projects
Generated_Code/

# Backup & report files from converting an old project file
# to a newer Visual Studio version. Backup files are not needed,
# because we have git ;-)
_UpgradeReport_Files/
Backup*/
UpgradeLog*.XML
UpgradeLog*.htm

# SQL Server files
*.mdf
*.ldf

# Business Intelligence projects
*.rdl.data
*.bim.layout
*.bim_*.settings

# Microsoft Fakes
FakesAssemblies/

# GhostDoc plugin setting file
*.GhostDoc.xml

# Node.js Tools for Visual Studio
.ntvs_analysis.dat

# Visual Studio 6 build log
*.plg

# Visual Studio 6 workspace options file
*.opt

# Visual Studio LightSwitch build output
**/*.HTMLClient/GeneratedArtifacts
**/*.DesktopClient/GeneratedArtifacts
**/*.DesktopClient/ModelManifest.xml
**/*.Server/GeneratedArtifacts
**/*.Server/ModelManifest.xml
_Pvt_Extensions

# LightSwitch generated files
GeneratedArtifacts/
ModelManifest.xml

# Paket dependency manager
.paket/paket.exe

# FAKE - F# Make
.fake/

If you are using a dbproj in your solution you will want to add the following:

#Visual Studio DB Project
*.dbmdl
[Ss]ql/

Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/bahill/archive/2009/07/31/come-visit-revisit-the-beer-house-continuous-integration.aspx

You can create or edit your .gitignore file for your repo by going to the Settings view in Team Explorer, then selecting Repository Settings. Select Edit for your .gitignore.

It automatically creates filters that will ignore all the VS specific build directories etc.

More info have a look here.

See the official GitHub's "Collection of useful .gitignore templates".

The .gitignore for Visual Studio can be found here:
https://github.com/github/gitignore/blob/master/VisualStudio.gitignore

I prefer to exclude things on an as-needed basis. You don't want to shotgun exclude everything with the string "bin" or "obj" in the name. At least be sure to follow those with a slash.

Here's what I start with on a VS2010 project:

bin/
obj/
*.suo
*.user

And only because I use ReSharper, also this:

_ReSharper*

I understand this is an old question, still sharing an information. In Visual Studio 2017, you can just right click on the solution file and select Add solution to source control

This will add two files to your source folder.

1. .gitattributes
2. .gitignore

This is the easiest way.