.pdaignore

.pdaignore sits at the root of the project folder. It lists files and folders that the Polaris agent must not see. pda deploy also leaves them out of the upload.

Format

One pattern per line. Blank lines and lines that start with # are ignored.

# Templates are sources, not context
templates/
*.j2

# Hide the expected answers from the agent
tests/

This is the file that pda init writes.

How patterns match

Pattern	Matches
tests/	A folder named tests anywhere in the project, and everything in it.
*.j2	Any file ending in .j2, in any folder.
drafts	Any file or folder named drafts.
docs/old/*.md	Markdown files in docs/old.

The agent’s file tools use glob matching. pda deploy uses simpler matching: an exact file or folder name, or a *.ext suffix. Use those two forms when a pattern must also apply to pda deploy.

Always hidden

The agent never sees .env files or common build and dependency folders, even if .pdaignore does not list them.

Why hide tests/

Tests hold the expected SQL for each question. If the agent could read them, it could copy the answer instead of working it out, and your tests would measure nothing. Keep tests/ in .pdaignore.

Caution

.pdaignore is not a security boundary. Do not rely on it to protect secrets. Keep secrets out of the project folder entirely and reference them from pda_config.yaml. See Keep secrets out of the file.