TameAGENTS provides comprehensive support for JetBrains AI Assistant ignore files and self-review rules, helping you control which files AI assistants can access.

Ignore Files

Primary: .aiignore

The .aiignore file is the primary way to tell JetBrains AI Assistant which files to ignore. It uses gitignore-style patterns.

# .aiignore
# Dependencies
node_modules/
*.lock

# Build outputs
dist/
build/
*.js.map

# IDE files
.vscode/
.idea/

Fallback Files

TameAGENTS also reads these fallback ignore files at the repository root:

.cursorignore
.codeiumignore
.aiexclude

These files are merged with .aiignore patterns. If a file is ignored by any source, it will be marked as ignored in TameAGENTS.

Pattern Matching

TameAGENTS implements gitignore-style pattern matching:

node_modules

Matches the directory name anywhere in the tree

*.log

Matches all .log files

dist/

Matches the dist directory and all its contents

**/test/*.js

Matches .js files in any test directory

!important.log

Negation pattern - unignores a previously ignored file

Self-Review Rules

TameAGENTS can detect and create JetBrains "AI Self-Review" rules files. These files guide the AI assistant when performing code reviews.

Detection Heuristics

TameAGENTS searches for Markdown files containing "AI Self-Review" headings in:

docs/**/*.md
rules/**/*.md

Commands

TameAGENTS: Open .aiignore

Opens the .aiignore file. If it doesn't exist, prompts to create it with a template.

TameAGENTS: Add Pattern to .aiignore

Prompts for a pattern and appends it to .aiignore. Automatically deduplicates patterns.

TameAGENTS: Create JetBrains Self-Review Rules

Creates a new Self-Review Rules file at docs/AI-Self-Review-Rules.md with a comprehensive template covering security, testing, performance, and documentation.

Configuration

{
  // Enable/disable JetBrains provider
  "tameagents.providers.jetbrains.enabled": true,
  
  // Show ignored files prominently in UI
  "tameagents.ignores.strictMode": false
}

Strict Mode

When enabled, strict mode decorates all ignored files in the Agents Map with visual indicators, making it easy to see what's being excluded from AI context.

Privacy & Security

Important Privacy Note

TameAGENTS never uploads any repository content anywhere. All file scanning and pattern matching happens locally in your VS Code instance. Ignore files control what JetBrains AI Assistant sees, but the enforcement happens in JetBrains IDEs, not in TameAGENTS.

Folder Ignore Counts

TameAGENTS computes per-folder "ignored counts" by checking how many files in each directory match ignore patterns. This information is displayed in:

The Agents Map tree view (tooltips)
File decorations (🚫 overlay when enabled)
The dashboard webview

Example

See the examples/sample-repo directory for complete examples including .aiignore, .cursorignore, and docs/AI-Self-Review-Rules.md.

JetBrains AI Assistant Integration