Stop tracking a file that's already committed

bashMay 6, 2026

Adding a path to .gitignore does not untrack files git already knows about. Use git rm --cached to drop it from the index while keeping the local copy.

.gitignore only prevents new files from being tracked. If a file was committed before you ignored it, git keeps tracking changes to it. To stop tracking it without losing the local copy, remove it from the index with --cached.

terminal

echo "components.json" >> .gitignore
git rm --cached components.json
git commit -m "Stop tracking components.json"

The file stays in your working tree, but future changes are ignored. Anyone who pulls the commit will see the file deleted from their checkout, so this is a one-way move: do it intentionally, on a branch, with the team in the loop.

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bash
Remove node_modules from a git repo
Stop tracking a committed node_modules folder and ignore it going forward.
```
**/node_modules
```
May 10, 2026
bash
Change a git remote's URL
Point an existing remote at a new URL without removing and re-adding it.
```
git remote set-url origin new.git.url/here
```
- git
- remote
May 10, 2026
bash
Delete local and remote git branches
Delete branches one at a time, or sweep up local branches whose upstream has already been deleted.
```
# Local
git branch -d BRANCH_NAME

# Remote
git push origin -d BRANCH_NAME
```
May 10, 2026

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Related snippets

Remove node_modules from a git repo

Change a git remote's URL

Delete local and remote git branches