diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..81c5ae6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# symlink to ${my_build_directory}/compile_commands.json to make LSP work
+compile_commands.json
+# lsp keeps state here
+.cache
+# typical build dirs
+build
+ccov