diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ef3f0eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# swap files generated by vim
+*.swp
+
+# all scratch dirs
+scratch/
+
+# OSX folder attribute files
+.DS_Store