Ignore files

Oxfmt provides several ways to exclude files from formatting.

Some ignore mechanisms apply globally, while others are scoped to the config file they belong to:

Mechanism	Scope
CLI paths with ! prefix	Global
.prettierignore / --ignore-path	Global
ignorePatterns in config	Scoped to that config

When using nested config, ignorePatterns only applies to files that are resolved by that particular config file. Global mechanisms always apply regardless of which config file is in effect.

ignorePatterns

The recommended way to ignore files. Add to your Oxfmt config:

.oxfmtrc.json

{
  "ignorePatterns": ["dist/**", "*.min.js"]
}

oxfmt.config.ts

import { defineConfig } from "oxfmt";

export default defineConfig({
  ignorePatterns: ["dist/**", "*.min.js"],
});

• Uses .gitignore syntax
• Paths are resolved relative to the directory containing the Oxfmt config file
• Formatter-specific and independent of Git

Files matching ignorePatterns cannot be formatted, even if explicitly specified.

.gitignore

Oxfmt respects the same Git ignore rules as Git itself:

• .gitignore files in the current directory tree
• .gitignore files in parent directories (up to the repository boundary)
• .git/info/exclude

However, global gitignore (core.excludesFile) is not read.

Files ignored by .gitignore can still be formatted if explicitly specified.

Note that this exception applies to explicitly specified files only. A directory target is still traversed with .gitignore applied, so oxfmt dist does not format files under an ignored dist/. To format them, specify files: oxfmt dist/index.js, or use a shell-expanded (unquoted) glob like oxfmt dist/**/*.js.

VCS directories and node_modules

Ignored by default: .git, .svn, .jj, node_modules

Use --with-node-modules to include node_modules.

Lock files

package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, etc. are always ignored.

.prettierignore

Supported for Prettier compatibility. Uses .gitignore syntax.

Files in .prettierignore cannot be formatted, even when explicitly specified.

For new projects, prefer ignorePatterns.