How are .gitignore and .graphifyignore handled?

[andreastedile]

Hello,
the README is not very clear in how .gitignore and .graphifyignore are handled.
Can I have both? What happens if both are present: are .gitignore items ignored as well?
If only .gitignore is present, are its items correctly ignored when constructing the graph?
Thank you for your work on this project.

[safishamsi]

Great question — here is exactly how it works:

Both .graphifyignore and .gitignore are supported, and you can have both.

The rules (from the source at graphify/detect.py):

1. .graphifyignore takes priority. In each directory, if a .graphifyignore exists graphify uses that. If not, it falls back to .gitignore in the same directory.

2. If only .gitignore is present, its patterns are respected automatically — no need to create a .graphifyignore.

3. gitignore semantics are followed exactly — last-match-wins, negation patterns (!), directory anchoring, and the parent-exclusion rule all work as with git.

4. Subdirectory scoping — ignore files are picked up at each directory level, so a .graphifyignore in a subdirectory only affects that subtree.

In summary:

• Only .gitignore present: graphify respects it automatically
• Both present: .graphifyignore wins where it exists; .gitignore is the fallback elsewhere
• Only .graphifyignore present: only that is used

The README could be clearer on this — will add a note. Thanks for raising it!