See https://salferrarello.com/wordpress-gitignore/ for the latest version of my WordPress .gitignore file

.gitignore

# -----------------------------------------------------------------
# .gitignore for WordPress
# Bare Minimum Git
# http://ironco.de/bare-minimum-git/
# ver 20150227
#
# This file is tailored for a WordPress project 
# using the default directory structure
#
# This file specifies intentionally untracked files to ignore
# http://git-scm.com/docs/gitignore
#
# NOTES:
# The purpose of gitignore files is to ensure that certain files not
# tracked by Git remain untracked.
#
# To ignore uncommitted changes in a file that is already tracked,
# use `git update-index --assume-unchanged`.
#
# To stop tracking a file that is currently tracked,
# use `git rm --cached`
#
# Change Log:
# 20150227 Ignore hello.php plugin. props @damienfa
# 20150227 Change theme ignore to wildcard twenty*. props @Z33
# 20140606 Add .editorconfig as a tracked file
# 20140404 Ignore database, compiled, and packaged files
# 20140404 Header Information Updated
# 20140402 Initially Published
#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------

# ignore everything in the root except the "wp-content" directory.
/*
!wp-content/

# ignore all files starting with .
.*

# track this file .gitignore (i.e. do NOT ignore it)
!.gitignore

# track .editorconfig file (i.e. do NOT ignore it)
!.editorconfig

# track readme.md in the root (i.e. do NOT ignore it)
!readme.md

# ignore all files that start with ~
~*

# ignore OS generated files
ehthumbs.db
Thumbs.db

# ignore Editor files
*.sublime-project
*.sublime-workspace
*.komodoproject

# ignore log files and databases
*.log
*.sql
*.sqlite

# ignore compiled files
*.com
*.class
*.dll
*.exe
*.o
*.so

# ignore packaged files
*.7z
*.dmg
*.gz
*.iso
*.jar
*.rar
*.tar
*.zip

# ignore everything in the "wp-content" directory, except:
# "mu-plugins" directory
# "plugins" directory
# "themes" directory
wp-content/*
!wp-content/mu-plugins/
!wp-content/plugins/
!wp-content/themes/

# ignore these plugins
wp-content/plugins/hello.php

# ignore specific themes
wp-content/themes/twenty*/

# ignore node/grunt dependency directories
node_modules/

You should add :

wp-content/themes/twentyfifteen/

# ignore useless plugins file
wp-content/plugins/hello.php
wp-content/plugins/index.php

I use wp-content/themes/twenty* to ignore all default themes.

I'm now using this WordPress .gitignore file instead. I prefer how the other version excludes plugins and themes by default.

I'm thinking these should be ignored as well:
wp-content/plugins/index.php
wp-content/themes/index.php

for example, when I pulled a repo and then rsync'd a fresh empty wp install over it, it's now asking for a commit just because my fresh files didn't have "?>" at the ends of the files.

Thanks for this, You should also track the composer.lock file so your you don't end up with different package versions across developers.

Here is quick update for those who are on OSX and/or using IntelliJ
https://gist.github.com/indieforger/d915d8b430fef748f966

Probably should include:

!wp-content/languages

Thanks for the file. Why ignore plugins though?

I like the idea of ignoring the plugins in order to conserve repo size. I'd think ideally, all plugins (custom or third party) should be contained as an object in a discrete repo. Utilities like Composer or even a good old Readme file should allow one to find and install the required plugins to run the WP site/app.

Good list, but I feel you should also add:

.DS_Store (OSX Filesystem)
.idea (For PHPStorm etc.)

@mvhoute, no need to exclude these implicitly, they are automatically excluded by excluding . files on line #38.

I like this idea but quick question. Do I need to event push entire WordPress copy first time or not?
And if not then if might in future developer use new version of WP and if something is not support with that version then how it should go workflow?

@chrisgeary92 Thanks for your input, I go back and forth on this idea. For 99% of the project on which I work, we update the plugins from within WordPress. When doing development, I pull the repo, run composer, and then update the plugin if necessary. For the other 1% of projects, I do add composer.lock.

@ajmerainfo With the backwards compatibility of WordPress, I see this as a rare problem and if it were to occur I'd have to deal with it manually. I know some prefer to keep WordPress core as a composer dependency, which I believe would address your concern.

As I mentioned above, I'm now using this WordPress .gitignore file instead, which ignores everything by default and allows me to whitelist only those plugins and themes I want to version control. Of course, use whatever works best for you.

Is it better to just create a repository from your theme only and not the whole Wordpress files?

@junibrosas I would say it depends on what you're building. When I'm doing a site for client, which is what I'm doing most of the time, I create the repo from the root of the website. If I'm specifically just building a theme, not an entire site, then I create the repo for just the theme folder.

Some people prefer to have one project repo (for the entire project) and use a separate repo within the project repo for the theme. For me, I find this adds a lot of complexity and very little benefit, so I do not do this.

@salcode +1

Very helpful @salcode. Thanks so much for sharing.

@salcode Thanks for sharing!

Thanks!

You should add .idea for phpstorm project files also.

@Andekas

You should add .idea for phpstorm project files also.

A good thought but this folder is already excluded due to

# ignore all files starting with .
.*

As a side note, I'm now using this other WordPress .gitignore file, which excludes everything by default, allowing me to whitelist only those plugins and/or themes I want to include.

maybe you could add:

# sublime sftp sensitive info
sftp-config.json

@paradigmaweb

Thanks for the note. If sftp-config.json is in the root of the project, it should already be ignored. (Everything in the root of the project is ignored unless it is specifically whitelisted, e.g. !.gitignore)

If you're not seeing that behavior (or if you have a use-case for sftp-config.json in a different location), let me know and I'll take a look at it. Unfortunately, Gists don't provide notifications when a comment is left. If you want to leave a comment at https://salferrarello.com/wordpress-gitignore/ instead, I'll get notified in a much more timely manner.

Thanks.

How do you clone a project with this project structure?
Something like
git clone <repo> . throws fatal: destination path '.' already exists and is not an empty directory.