git stop tracking a file — remove from git without deleting

Quick Answer

# Remove the file from git tracking (keeps the file on disk)
git rm --cached config/secrets.json

# Add it to .gitignore so it won't be re-added
echo "config/secrets.json" >> .gitignore

git commit -m "stop tracking secrets.json"

When to use this

You accidentally committed a file (like .env or a config with credentials) and need to remove it from the repository history without deleting the file locally.

Other causes & fixes

Untrack an entire directory

git rm --cached -r node_modules/
echo "node_modules/" >> .gitignore
git commit -m "remove node_modules from tracking"

Remove a sensitive file from all past commits

If credentials were committed, git rm --cached only stops future tracking — the file still exists in history. Use git filter-repo to scrub it completely.

# Install: pip install git-filter-repo
git filter-repo --path config/secrets.json --invert-paths