diff --git a/internal/cmd/root.go b/internal/cmd/root.go
index 184ac45b7796bda483fedd6b6612498e8b178af9..bb0294658e4502838594242a40344edaeeed716c 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/root.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/root.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"io"
 	"log/slog"
 	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 
 	tea "github.com/charmbracelet/bubbletea/v2"
 	"github.com/charmbracelet/crush/internal/app"
@@ -112,6 +113,10 @@ func setupApp(cmd *cobra.Command) (*app.App, error) {
 	}
 	cfg.Permissions.SkipRequests = yolo
 
+	if err := createDotCrushDir(cfg.Options.DataDirectory); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
 	// Connect to DB; this will also run migrations.
 	conn, err := db.Connect(ctx, cfg.Options.DataDirectory)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -160,3 +165,18 @@ func ResolveCwd(cmd *cobra.Command) (string, error) {
 	}
 	return cwd, nil
 }
+
+func createDotCrushDir(dir string) error {
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(dir, 0o700); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create data directory: %q %w", dir, err)
+	}
+
+	gitIgnorePath := filepath.Join(dir, ".gitignore")
+	if _, err := os.Stat(gitIgnorePath); os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		if err := os.WriteFile(gitIgnorePath, []byte("*\n"), 0o644); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed to create .gitignore file: %q %w", gitIgnorePath, err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/internal/db/connect.go b/internal/db/connect.go
index b135351c226e5a1207e81f033e3e1a34b1d3d7e1..110c3e0f8805b218c0c71dc11ee284edc0a23fa0 100644
--- a/internal/db/connect.go
+++ b/internal/db/connect.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"database/sql"
 	"fmt"
 	"log/slog"
-	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 
 	_ "github.com/ncruces/go-sqlite3/driver"
@@ -18,9 +17,6 @@ func Connect(ctx context.Context, dataDir string) (*sql.DB, error) {
 	if dataDir == "" {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("data.dir is not set")
 	}
-	if err := os.MkdirAll(dataDir, 0o700); err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create data directory: %w", err)
-	}
 	dbPath := filepath.Join(dataDir, "crush.db")
 	// Open the SQLite database
 	db, err := sql.Open("sqlite3", dbPath)