diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4570d7f..0f14f8f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,7 +4,10 @@
 ### Editors
 *~
 \#*\#
-**/.vscode
+**/.vscode/
+!/.vscode/
+.vscode/*
+!.vscode/settings.json
 .$*
 
 ### Byte-compiled files
@@ -39,4 +42,5 @@ tmp/
 results/
 report/
 
+### repo specific exceptions
 !modules/_example_module/**
diff --git a/.vscode/settings.json b/.vscode/settings.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bcb7d46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.vscode/settings.json
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+{
+    "files.watcherExclude": {
+        "**/.git/objects/**": true,
+        "**/.git/subtree-cache/**": true,
+        "**/node_modules/*/**": true,
+        "**/.hg/store/**": true,
+        "**/.snakemake/**": true
+    },
+    "search.exclude": {
+        "**/node_modules": true,
+        "**/bower_components": true,
+        "**/*.code-search": true,
+        "**/.snakemake": true
+    }
+}