Setup Windows Gitignore

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Create or refresh the root .gitignore of a Windows desktop application built on .NET (WPF, WinUI 3 or Windows Forms), from a trimmed house template rather than GitHub’s 400-line VisualStudio.gitignore.

Purpose

iru-setup-windows-gitignore is the .gitignore step of the Windows chain run by iru-setup-windows-repository, and it also works standalone against any .sln/.slnx desktop solution. The base template covers .NET build output ([Bb]in/, [Oo]bj/, artifacts/, publish/), Visual Studio, Rider and VS Code user state, test and coverage output, analyzer SARIF logs, NuGet packages, signing material (.pfx, .p12, .cer), the Antora build output, OS files and the repository-wide .integration-test.lock/ that serializes desktop UI-test runs, and the UI tests' screenshot directory .ui-screenshots/ (regenerated on every full UI run; the documentation skills copy the images they use into the Antora module’s images/ui/). The root .ui-quality.yml (accessibility level and screenshot matrix) is configuration and is never ignored. It adds an MSIX section (AppPackages/, .msix, *.appinstaller, packaging/layout/) and a DocFX section (the docfx.json metadata and site folders) only when those are detected.

It deliberately keeps Properties/PublishProfiles/.pubxml tracked (WinUI publish profiles carry no secrets and the build needs them) and does not ignore .snk. Before proposing content it runs git check-ignore against the source files the scaffold commits and refuses any line that would hide one. An existing .gitignore is never overwritten silently: the skill shows a diff and asks Update (merge, keep hand-added lines) / Keep as is / Replace, unless on-existing decides. It never untracks already-committed files; it reports them with the git rm -r --cached each needs.

Purpose group

Windows Desktop Bootstrap

Plugin

Shipped by the iru-dotnet plugin of the ai-catalog marketplace (install with /plugin install iru-dotnet@ai-catalog; see Plugins).

Invocation

/iru-setup-windows-gitignore

Inputs

Argument Required Description Default

Argument	Required	Description	Default
`mode` (args)	No	`new` or `existing`.	Detected: `existing` when a root `.gitignore` is present
`on-existing` (args)	No	`ask`, `keep`, `update` or `replace`: how an existing `.gitignore` is treated. For scripted runs; the warning and diff are still printed.	`ask`

mode (args)

new or existing.

Detected: existing when a root .gitignore is present

on-existing (args)

ask, keep, update or replace: how an existing .gitignore is treated. For scripted runs; the warning and diff are still printed.

ask

Any other key from a full shared-args set is ignored and named in the report.

Outputs

The root .gitignore: created, updated (merged), replaced or kept as is, including the .ui-screenshots/ entry (and with .ui-quality.yml verified as tracked).
A report naming which conditional sections (MSIX, DocFX) were included or skipped and why, the result of the git check-ignore safety check, any already-tracked file under a newly ignored path, and warnings to review the file, untrack committed artifacts and rotate any certificate that was ever committed.

Execution flow

flowchart TD A[Start /iru-setup-windows-gitignore] --> B["Step 0: Parse args (mode, on-existing)"] B --> C["Step 1: Survey: docfx.json, MSIX packaging,\n.sln/.slnx, tracked files under ignored paths,\nexisting .gitignore"] C --> D["Step 2: Base template"] D --> E["Step 3: Add MSIX and DocFX sections\nonly when detected"] E --> F["Step 4: Compose content (merge existing lines);\ngit check-ignore safety check on committed sources"] F --> G{"Existing .gitignore\ndiffers?"} G -- no --> I G -- yes --> H["Step 5: Show diff, ask\nUpdate / Keep as is / Replace\n(or apply on-existing)"] H --> I["Step 6: Write file and report\nsections, safety check, tracked files, warnings"]

Dependencies

Invokes

None — iru-setup-windows-gitignore is a leaf skill; it only reads the repository and runs git commands (ls-files, check-ignore, diff --no-index).

Invoked by

Setup Windows Repository — Step 6, after the scaffold and the Antora site and before the workflows, via the iru-isolated-skill-executor agent (only on-existing is forwarded, when supplied).

It can also be run directly by a person to add or check a .gitignore later. Its .integration-test.lock/ line covers the lock taken by Windows Code One Task Group.

Related agents

None — this skill runs inline; it spawns no agents.

Source

SKILL.md on GitHub — the file this page was generated from.