[Feature Request] Add .claudecodeignore file support or option to disable Git indexing

Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened May 14, 2025 by yamatovision Closed May 16, 2025

I'd like to request a feature to allow ignoring specific directories
(especially .git) when Claude Code indexes a project.

## Problem
When opening large projects in Claude Code, it spends considerable
time indexing directories like .git, node_modules, and cache
folders, causing slow startup times. In my case, loading the
AppGenius project takes nearly a minute due to it reading the .git
directory and other large folders.

The Git context is often not necessary for my workflow and actually
causes two problems:

  1. Significantly slower startup times
  2. Sometimes Claude makes unsolicited suggestions based on Git

history that aren't relevant to my current task

## Proposed Solutions (either would help)

  1. Implement support for a .claudecodeignore file that works like

.gitignore

  1. Add a simple setting to disable Git indexing completely
  2. Make Git indexing opt-in rather than the default behavior

## Benefits

  • Significantly faster project loading times (potentially 5-10x

faster based on my testing)

  • More focused assistance without Git-related tangents
  • Better user experience for those who don't need Git context in

their work

I believe Claude Code would be much more efficient without automatic
Git indexing, or at least with the option to disable it. The tool
was more responsive before this Git integration was added, and I'd
appreciate having control over whether this feature is active.

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