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

# Excluding files

> What analyze skips automatically, and how to exclude tracked paths with .truecourseignore.

TrueCourse honors `.gitignore` automatically, including nested `.gitignore` files, `.git/info/exclude`, and your configured global excludes file. Anything git ignores, analyze ignores.

## .truecourseignore

For paths you want tracked in git but **not analyzed** (generated code, vendored snapshots, large fixtures), add a `.truecourseignore` at the repo root. Same syntax as `.gitignore`:

```text theme={null}
# generated
src/generated/
# vendored
third_party/
# specific files
scripts/ingest-epub.js
```

Patterns are anchored to the file's location, so `src/generated/` matches the top-level directory only; use `**/generated/` to match at any depth.

<Note>
  `.truecourseignore` also narrows [spec scan](/guard/spec-scan)'s doc discovery: excluded markdown never enters the corpus. For a positive include-list on the spec scan (only these globs), see [Scoping the scan](/guard/spec-scan#scoping-the-scan).
</Note>

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Guard your specs" icon="shield-check" href="/guard/overview">
    The second capability: turn your docs into deterministic scenario tests.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Storage" icon="database" href="/configuration/storage">
    Everything .truecourse/ holds, and what to commit.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>