diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..239fcefa5b5a2d453fa9e9a8a095a2573888a7c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# exclude top level directories
+# which are taken from other git repositories
+# The / at the beginning is important, otherwise all directories
+# containing the string are ignored 
+/geometry
+/input
+/parameters
+/build
+
+# Comment some single files
+Dart*.cfg