Ignore Patterns

Ignore Patterns

Control which files are excluded from Confluence sync.

Overview

atlcli supports ignore patterns to exclude files from sync operations:

• .atlcliignore - atlcli-specific ignore file
• .gitignore - Automatically respected (can be disabled)

.atlcliignore File

Create a .atlcliignore file in your sync directory:

# Drafts folder
drafts/

# Work in progress files
*.wip.md
*.draft.md

# Local notes
notes/
TODO.md

# Build artifacts
_build/
.cache/

Pattern Syntax

Uses gitignore-style patterns:

Pattern	Matches
*.md	All .md files in current directory
**/*.md	All .md files recursively
drafts/	Directory named “drafts”
!important.md	Negation - don’t ignore this file
docs/*.md	.md files in docs/ only
**/temp/*	Any file in any “temp” directory

Examples

# Ignore all files starting with underscore
_*

# Ignore test files
**/test-*.md
**/*.test.md

# Ignore specific directories
archive/
old-versions/

# But keep specific files in ignored directories
!archive/index.md

# Ignore files with specific extensions
*.tmp
*.bak
*.swp

# Ignore hidden files (except .atlcliignore itself)
.*
!.atlcliignore

Default Ignores

atlcli always ignores these patterns:

.atlcli/           # State directory
*.meta.json        # Metadata files
.git/              # Git directory
.gitignore         # Git ignore file
node_modules/      # Node dependencies

These cannot be overridden.

.gitignore Integration

By default, .gitignore patterns are also respected:

# Uses both .atlcliignore and .gitignore
atlcli wiki docs pull ./docs

Disable gitignore integration:

atlcli wiki docs pull ./docs --no-gitignore

Or in config:

{
  "sync": {
    "respectGitignore": false
  }
}

Check Ignored Files

See which files are being ignored:

atlcli wiki docs status ./docs --show-ignored

Output:

Ignored files (12):
  drafts/new-feature.md       (.atlcliignore: drafts/)
  old-api.draft.md            (.atlcliignore: *.draft.md)
  node_modules/...            (default: node_modules/)
  .git/...                    (default: .git/)

Sync-Specific Ignores

Ignore files only for specific operations:

# Ignore during pull only
atlcli wiki docs pull ./docs --ignore "generated/**"

# Ignore during push only
atlcli wiki docs push ./docs --ignore "local-only/**"

Configuration

Configure ignores in .atlcli/config.json:

{
  "sync": {
    "ignore": [
      "drafts/**",
      "*.wip.md",
      "local-notes/"
    ],
    "respectGitignore": true
  }
}

Pattern Priority

Patterns are evaluated in order:

1. Default ignores (always applied)
2. .gitignore (if enabled)
3. .atlcliignore
4. Config file ignores
5. Command-line --ignore flags
6. Negation patterns (!pattern)

Later patterns can override earlier ones, except for default ignores.

Use Cases

Development Workflow

# .atlcliignore for development
drafts/
*.local.md
scratch/
TODO.md
NOTES.md

Multi-Environment

.atlcliignore

# Staging-only pages
staging-*.md

# Test content
test/
fixtures/

Large Repository

# .atlcliignore for performance
# Ignore large asset directories
assets/videos/
assets/archives/

# Ignore generated docs
api-docs/generated/

Selective Sync

# Only sync specific sections
# (ignore everything, then un-ignore what you want)
*
!getting-started/
!tutorials/
!reference/

Debugging

Verbose output shows ignore processing:

atlcli wiki docs pull ./docs --verbose

[ignore] Checking: drafts/new-feature.md
[ignore]   Matched: drafts/ (.atlcliignore:3)
[ignore]   Result: IGNORED
[ignore] Checking: api-reference.md
[ignore]   No matches
[ignore]   Result: INCLUDED

Validate Patterns

Test your ignore patterns:

# Check if a specific file would be ignored
atlcli wiki docs ignore-check ./docs "drafts/test.md"
# Output: IGNORED (matched: drafts/ in .atlcliignore:3)

atlcli wiki docs ignore-check ./docs "api-reference.md"
# Output: INCLUDED

Related Topics

• Sync - Sync configuration and behavior
• File Format - Directory structure conventions
• Configuration - Global ignore settings