i always have a large pile of temp files and such that should never be committed but it's never been a problem because i never use `git add .` i use `git add -u` which is "only add things that are already being tracked"

there's a newer flag for the same thing but my brain is hardcoded to the old "-u" option from "back in the day". It feels like a "simple, out of the box way to do it" to me.