diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e1316b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# ignore everything
+*
+
+# don't ignore dirs so we can look inside them
+!*/
+
+# but do ignore volumes and subsubdirs
+volumes/
+*/*/
+
+# only allow .yml files
+!*.yml
+
+!*.md
+!.gitignore
+.env