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aislop gives you three independent mechanisms for excluding paths from a scan: a project-level ignore file, an exclude: array in your config, and CLI flags for ad-hoc runs. You can mix all three — aislop merges them before scanning. For silencing a specific finding on a single line rather than excluding a whole file, see Rule Overrides → Inline suppressions.

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Default exclusions

The following paths are excluded automatically on every scan, regardless of your config: 
node_modules
.git
dist
build
coverage
You do not need to add these to your config. They are built into aislop’s default exclude: list and apply even when no config file is present.

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Method 1: .aislopignore

Create a .aislopignore file at the project root. It uses the same glob syntax as .gitignore and supports # comments. 
# .aislopignore

# Generated protobuf and GraphQL types
src/generated
src/__generated__

# Jest snapshots
**/*.snap

# Legacy code pending rewrite
legacy/
old-api/

# Third-party vendored code
vendor/
.aislopignore is the right choice when you want exclusions tracked in version control and shared with everyone who runs aislop on the project, without coupling them to the config file.
.aislopignore is ignored by Git by default. Add it to your repository explicitly so the whole team benefits from the same exclusions.

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Method 2: exclude in config.yml

Add an exclude: array to .aislop/config.yml. Every entry is a glob pattern. This is the right choice when your exclusions are tightly coupled to your config — for example, when a strict config excludes test files and a relaxed config does not. 
# .aislop/config.yml
exclude:
  - node_modules
  - .git
  - dist
  - build
  - coverage
  - "**/*.test.ts"      # exclude all test files
  - "**/*.spec.ts"
  - src/generated       # generated types
  - "**/*.snap"         # Jest snapshots
  - legacy              # legacy directory pending rewrite
The exclude: array is replaced wholesale when a child config extends a parent — values are not concatenated. If your child config sets exclude:, it must repeat any parent exclusions it wants to keep. See Config inheritance for details.

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Restricting to specific paths

Use include: to limit scanning to a subset of your project. aislop only scans files that match at least one include: pattern and do not match any exclude: pattern. An empty include: (the default) scans everything not excluded. 
include:
  - src/**          # only scan the src directory
  - packages/**     # and the packages directory

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Method 3: CLI flags

Pass --exclude or --include directly to aislop scan or aislop ci for a one-off run without changing your config. Both flags accept comma-separated glob patterns. 
# Exclude a directory for a single run
aislop scan --exclude "src/generated,**/*.snap"

# Scan only the src directory
aislop scan --include "src/**"

# Combine both: scan src, but skip generated files within it
aislop scan --include "src/**" --exclude "src/generated/**"
CLI flags apply on top of your config’s exclude: and .aislopignore — they do not replace them.

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Common exclusion patterns

Generated files contain patterns that look like slop (generic names, narrative comments, unsafe casts) but are intentional outputs of a code generator. Exclude them so they don’t distort your score.
# .aislopignore
src/generated
src/__generated__
**/*.pb.ts         # protobuf generated TypeScript
**/*.pb.go         # protobuf generated Go
graphql/generated
Snapshot files are large, auto-generated, and contain no logic worth analysing. Exclude them by file extension.
# .aislopignore
**/*.snap
**/__snapshots__/**
When adopting aislop incrementally in a large codebase, exclude legacy code until you’re ready to address it. Track the exclusions in .aislopignore so you can remove them one directory at a time.
# .aislopignore
legacy/
vendor/
third_party/
Some teams prefer to exclude test files from scoring so that only production code contributes to the score. Use config.yml for this so the exclusion is part of your versioned configuration.
# .aislop/config.yml
exclude:
  - node_modules
  - .git
  - dist
  - build
  - coverage
  - "**/*.test.ts"
  - "**/*.spec.ts"
  - "**/__tests__/**"
  - "test/**"
  - "fixtures/**"
In a monorepo, each package can have its own .aislop/config.yml that extends a root base config. Set exclude: in the child config to add package-specific exclusions — but remember that arrays are replaced, not merged, so repeat the defaults you want to keep.
# packages/ui/.aislop/config.yml
extends: ../../.aislop/base.yml

exclude:
  - node_modules
  - .git
  - dist
  - build
  - coverage
  - "src/icons/generated/**"   # icon sprite output
  - "**/*.stories.ts"          # Storybook story files

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Summary: which method to use

MethodBest for
.aislopignoreExclusions shared across the whole team, decoupled from config
exclude: in configExclusions that vary between config profiles (strict vs. relaxed)
--exclude / --include CLI flagsAd-hoc one-off runs without touching committed files
For silencing a single finding on one line instead of excluding an entire file or path, use an inline suppression comment.