Gitignore Debugger: Find the Rule That Won

Field notes

The tool takes a repository-relative path and the complete contents of a .gitignore file, then returns Git’s ignored or not-ignored verdict with the matching rules listed in evaluation order. It distinguishes the rule that matched from the rule that ultimately decided the result, a useful distinction when precedence is the problem. The page also covers directory-only patterns, negation, parent-directory blocking, Windows path conversion, and the fact that .gitignore does not retroactively stop tracking a committed file.