[Feature Request] Add untracked files / stash entries to .git/info/exclude from UI

[iletai]

Problem

When working on a project, developers often create local-only files that should never be committed: personal scripts, IDE/editor workspace files, local environment overrides, debug logs, experimental patches stashed away, etc.

Adding these to .gitignore pollutes the shared repository — every team member gets the exclusion, even though the files are irrelevant or private to one person. Editing .git/info/exclude manually requires dropping into the terminal, finding the file in Finder, or navigating Forks file tree to a hidden .git directory — all friction that breaks flow.

Proposed Solution

Add contextual UI actions that write entries to .git/info/exclude (the per-repo local exclusion file):

Action	Where	What it does
"Exclude file locally"	Right-click on an untracked file in the Changes view	Appends the file path to .git/info/exclude and immediately removes it from the untracked list
"Exclude folder locally"	Right-click on an untracked folder	Appends folder_name/ to .git/info/exclude
"Exclude pattern locally"	Right-click → a sub-option that opens an inline editor pre-filled with the file path, letting the user tweak it into a glob pattern before saving	Full pattern flexibility (e.g. *.log, build/*)
"Edit .git/info/exclude…"	Fork menu → Repository (or a gear icon in Changes view)	Opens the file in Forks built-in editor (or the system default editor)

Why .git/info/exclude (not global .config/git/ignore)

Per-repo exclusion is the right default for most cases:

• A file that is irrelevant in this repo may be meaningful in another.
• Stash entries that should be hidden in one project may need to appear elsewhere.
• The exclusion is automatically cleaned up when the repo is deleted — no orphaned global rules.

A follow-up could add a global ignore option too (#688 covers that), but the per-repo UI is the more immediate pain point.

Use Cases

1. Local scratch/notes files: You create notes.md or debug.log while investigating a bug. You want them tracked by git? No. You want them visible in Forks Changes view cluttering the diff? No. → "Exclude file locally."
2. Stashed experimental work you want to keep out of sight: You have a stash that touches files you dont want to see in the working tree. → "Exclude pattern locally."
3. IDE/editor files that differ per machine: .vscode/settings.json with machine-specific paths. → Folder-level exclude.
4. Build/test artifacts that fall outside .gitignore: e.g. a test_output/ directory generated by a script you wrote for yourself.

Existing Related Issue

#688 covers global gitignore (~/.config/git/ignore). This request is complementary — it targets the per-repo .git/info/exclude file, which is a different mechanism with different scope and trade-offs.

Implementation Notes

• Fork already has access to the repo path and can read/write .git/info/exclude via the embedded git (or directly as a text file).
• The file format is identical to .gitignore — same pattern syntax, same rules.
• No git command is needed to apply the exclusion — git reads .git/info/exclude automatically on the next git status.
• A "Reveal in Finder" button next to the Exclude actions would help users who want to manually edit the file further.

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Would love to hear thoughts from the team and the community!