To exclude files from formatting, create a `.prettierignore` file in the root of your project. `.prettierignore` uses [gitignore syntax](https://git-scm.com/docs/gitignore#_pattern_format).
It’s recommended to have a `.prettierignore` in your project! This way you can run `prettier --write .` to make sure that everything is formatted (without mangling files you don’t want, or choking on generated files). And – your editor will know which files _not_ to format!
By default prettier ignores files in version control systems directories (".git", ".jj", ".sl", ".svn" and ".hg") and `node_modules` (unless the [`--with-node-modules` CLI option](cli.md#--with-node-modules) is specified). Prettier will also follow rules specified in the ".gitignore" file if it exists in the same directory from which it is run.
This type of ignore is only allowed to be used in top-level and aimed to disable formatting for auto-generated content, e.g. [`all-contributors`](https://github.com/kentcdodds/all-contributors), [`markdown-toc`](https://github.com/jonschlinkert/markdown-toc), etc.
```markdown
<!-- prettier-ignore-start -->
<!-- SOMETHING AUTO-GENERATED BY TOOLS - START -->