diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9d271fabac79e1b9ea1d72a654904df51b68fc76..c8370e41de59c5fc2793aec03606e333694e09dd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -46,3 +46,14 @@ Set the following environment variables in the GitLab project's configuration:
 ### Alternatives
 
 A [loader script](./scripts/loader.sh) is available as an alternative to downloading the deploy script during the `before_script` stage.
+
+## Ignoring items
+
+The build script uses a `.gitattributes`-based ignore for reasons discussed at [https://github.com/10up/actions-wordpress/pull/7](https://github.com/10up/actions-wordpress/pull/7).
+
+A sample is provided in [examples/gitattributes](./examples/gitattributes). If used, it needs to be copied to `.gitattributes` in the git-repo root and committed before it will be respected.
+
+```
+# A set of files you probably don't want in your WordPress.org distribution
+/.gitattributes export-ignore
+```
diff --git a/examples/gitattributes b/examples/gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..d632abe387d802229a8cf427ad99422027490dfe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# A set of files you probably don't want in your WordPress.org distribution
+/.distignore export-ignore
+/.editorconfig export-ignore
+/.gitattributes export-ignore
+/.gitignore export-ignore
+/.gitlab-ci.yml export-ignore
+/.travis.yml export-ignore
+/.DS_Store export-ignore
+/Thumbs.db export-ignore
+/behat.yml export-ignore
+/bitbucket-pipelines.yml export-ignore
+/bin export-ignore
+/.circleci/config.yml export-ignore
+/composer.json export-ignore
+/composer.lock export-ignore
+/Gruntfile.js export-ignore
+/package.json export-ignore
+/package-lock.json export-ignore
+/phpunit.xml export-ignore
+/phpunit.xml.dist export-ignore
+/multisite.xml export-ignore
+/multisite.xml.dist export-ignore
+/.phpcs.xml export-ignore
+/phpcs.xml export-ignore
+/.phpcs.xml.dist export-ignore
+/phpcs.xml.dist export-ignore
+/README.md export-ignore
+/wp-cli.local.yml export-ignore
+/yarn.lock export-ignore
+/tests export-ignore
+/vendor export-ignore
+/node_modules export-ignore
+/*.sql export-ignore
+/*.tar.gz export-ignore
+/*.zip export-ignore