diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 5bbbb5c..121beed 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -96,6 +96,12 @@ version = "1.0.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "acbf1af155f9b9ef647e42cdc158db4b64a1b61f743629225fde6f3e0be2a7c7"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "glob"
+version = "0.3.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d2fabcfbdc87f4758337ca535fb41a6d701b65693ce38287d856d1674551ec9b"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "heck"
 version = "0.4.1"
@@ -151,6 +157,7 @@ name = "todos"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
  "clap",
+ "glob",
  "termcolor",
 ]
 
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 55ae5e1..c1ef24e 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -9,4 +9,5 @@ description = "An intuitive system for organizing TODOs in code"
 
 [dependencies]
 clap = { version = "4.4.8", features = ["derive"] }
+glob = "0.3.1"
 termcolor = "1.4.0"
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 2ba1dff..4c9fdd8 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 
 use clap::Parser;
-use scan::scan_readme_file;
+use scan::{scan_readme_file, add_excludes_from_gitignore};
 use crate::entries::Entry;
 use crate::render::render_entries;
 use crate::scan::{Stats, scan_dir, scan_todo_file};
@@ -86,8 +86,10 @@ fn main() {
         scan_readme_file(&readme_path, &mut entries).unwrap();
     }
 
+    add_excludes_from_gitignore(&root_dir, &mut excludes);
+
     for p in &paths {
-        scan_dir(p.as_path(), &mut entries, &excludes, &mut stats).unwrap();
+        scan_dir(p.as_path(), &mut entries, &mut excludes, &mut stats).unwrap();
     }
 
     render_entries(entries);
diff --git a/src/scan.rs b/src/scan.rs
index 9d5306d..d0323ec 100644
--- a/src/scan.rs
+++ b/src/scan.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
+use std::ffi::OsStr;
 use std::io;
 use std::fs;
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+use glob::glob;
 
 const PRIORITY_CHARS: [char; 10] = ['0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9'];
 
@@ -49,6 +51,24 @@ fn clean_line<'a>(line: &'a str, delimiter_word: &str) -> &'a str {
         .trim();
 }
 
+pub fn add_excludes_from_gitignore(base_dir: &PathBuf, excludes: &mut Vec<PathBuf>) {
+    let mut gitignore = base_dir.clone();
+    gitignore.push(".gitignore");
+
+    if ! gitignore.exists() {
+        return;
+    }
+
+    for line in std::fs::read_to_string(gitignore).unwrap().lines() {
+        for path in glob(line).unwrap() {
+            let mut exclude = base_dir.clone();
+            exclude.push(path.unwrap());
+
+            excludes.push(exclude);
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 pub fn scan_string(str: String, filename: PathBuf, entries: &mut Vec<Entry>) {
     for (line_num, line) in str.lines().enumerate() {
         if ! line.to_lowercase().contains("todo") {
@@ -118,7 +138,7 @@ pub fn scan_file(path: &Path, entries: &mut Vec<Entry>) -> io::Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
-pub fn scan_dir(path: &Path, entries: &mut Vec<Entry>, excludes: &Vec<PathBuf>, stats: &mut Stats) -> io::Result<()> {
+pub fn scan_dir(path: &Path, entries: &mut Vec<Entry>, excludes: &mut Vec<PathBuf>, stats: &mut Stats) -> io::Result<()> {
     stats.visited_folders += 1;
 
     'entry: for entry in fs::read_dir(path)? {
@@ -126,10 +146,14 @@ pub fn scan_dir(path: &Path, entries: &mut Vec<Entry>, excludes: &Vec<PathBuf>,
         let path = entry.path();
 
         if path.components().last().unwrap().as_os_str().to_string_lossy().starts_with('.') {
+            if path.file_name().unwrap() == OsStr::new(".gitignore") {
+                add_excludes_from_gitignore(&path.parent().unwrap().to_path_buf(), excludes);
+            }
+
             continue;
         }
 
-        for exclude in excludes {
+        for exclude in &*excludes {
             if path == *exclude {
                 continue 'entry;
             }