diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..429a441c7e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+.venv
+.vscode
+build
+ 
+# documentation artifacts
+_build/
+_images/
+_static/
+_templates/
+_toc.yml
+docBin/
+_doxygen/
+_readthedocs/
+ 
+# avoid duplicating contributing.md due to conf.py
+docs/CHANGELOG.md
+docs/contribute/index.md
+docs/about/release-notes.md
+docs/about/CHANGELOG.md