pingdotgg / pingdotgg/t3code

[Bug]: No documented way to exclude directories from the workspace index; `.gitignore` does not apply outside a git repository

Open Beginner friendly
#10,918 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

accepted documentation enhancement via-triage
Dominant language
TypeScript
Stars
23k
Forks
5.9k
Avg merge
11h 14m
Merged PRs (30d)
357

Description

The situation

On a large workspace the index scan exceeds the hardcoded 15-second deadline and the
Files panel fails completely (reported separately). The natural user response is to
exclude directories that carry no useful content. There is no supported way to do that.

  • The built-in exclusion list is fixed: node_modules, __pycache__, venv, .venv,
    target/debug, target/release, target/rust-analyzer, target/criterion.
  • Nothing in Settings, settings.json or client-settings.json adds to it.
  • .gitignore is honored by the underlying ignore crate only inside a git
    repository
    . Workspaces that are Subversion working copies, plain directories, or
    anything else non-git get no benefit from it.
  • .ignore works, and a custom filename .jj.ignore appears to be registered as well,
    but neither is mentioned anywhere in docs/user/. I only found them by reading strings
    in fff_c.dll.

So the mechanism largely exists; it is simply undiscoverable, and the one file name most
users would reach for is the one that silently does nothing for them.

Measurements from a real workspace

Windows 10, local NTFS, Subversion working copy, T3 Code 0.0.40.

Level Files
Total in tree 655098
Under node_modules (already excluded by T3) 478681
Effectively scanned 146377
Of which .svn 7913

Adding common build and VCS output directories (build/, .gradle/, platforms/,
obj/, bin/, Library/, Temp/, packages/, .git/) to an ignore file brings the
walked tree to 93482 files. The index scan then completed in 1503 ms instead of hitting
the 15-second deadline.

One caveat on that number, because it would be easy to over-read: the OS
directory-metadata cache was warm when it was taken. An equivalent walk over the same
tree took 100.8 s cold against 9.9 s warm, so cache state is worth about a factor of ten
here and the exclusion list about a factor of three. The exclusions are a real
improvement, but they are not by themselves the difference between 15028 ms and 1503 ms.

Two suggestions
  1. Document the ignore-file mechanism in docs/user/. State which file names are
    read, and state clearly that .gitignore requires a git repository. This alone would
    have saved the whole investigation.
  2. Add .svn and .hg to the built-in list. Both hold VCS metadata plus, in
    Subversion's case since 1.7, a pristine duplicate of the working tree. It is 5 % here
    rather than the dominant cost, so this is a small win, not a fix — but it is content
    that can never be wanted.

A third option worth considering is honoring .gitignore regardless of whether a git
repository is present, since in a T3 workspace the file expresses intent about the
directory either way.

Environment
  • T3 Code 0.0.40 (Alpha), installed via winget install T3Tools.T3Code
  • Windows 10 Home 19045
  • Workspace is a Subversion working copy, not a git repository

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start in docs/user/ and search existing workspace or file-index documentation for the appropriate page. Verify the supported ignore filenames and the .gitignore repository limitation against the implementation, then document the behavior and explain how users can exclude directories. Treat the proposed .svn and .hg exclusions as a separate implementation change if included.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript
Domain
documentation, tooling
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
74/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.