diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 91f6b423e1..74e2caf095 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,4 +1,91 @@
-/apps/*/vendor/bundle
+# See http://help.github.com/ignore-files/ for more about ignoring files.
+#
+# If you find yourself ignoring temporary files generated by your text editor
+# or operating system, you probably want to add a global ignore instead:
+#   git config --global core.excludesfile '~/.gitignore_global'
+
+# Ignore bundler config.
+/apps/*/.bundle
+/apps/*/vendor/bundle/
+
+# files used for deployment should not be versioned
+/apps/*/.htaccess
+/apps/*/public/.htaccess
+
+# Ignore the default SQLite database.
+/apps/*/db/*.sqlite3
+/apps/*/db/*.sqlite3-journal
+
+# Ignore all logfiles and tempfiles.
+/apps/*/log/*.log
+/apps/*/tmp/*
+!/apps/*/tmp/.keep
+# data to store simulations and file uploads for development
+/apps/*/data
+/apps/myjobs/templates
+
+# awesim-rails uses separately versioned wiki repositories
+# do not include those in the app repo
+/apps/myjobs/docs
+
+# files used for deployment should not be versioned
+/apps/*/public/assets/
+/apps/*/public/.htaccess
+/apps/*/.env.production.local
+/apps/*/.env.local*
+/apps/activejobs/config/initializers/filter.rb
+/apps/dashboard/config/initializers/ood.rb
+
+/apps/bc_desktop/local
+
+# Ignore staged app
+/apps/dashboard/vendor/my_app
+
+/apps/dashboard/config/clusters.d
+
+# SSHFS
+._*
+
+.DS_Store
+
+# Don't include the node modules
 /apps/*/node_modules
+
+# Build artifacts
 /apps/*/.built
 /packaging/*.tar.gz
+
+lib-cov
+*.seed
+*.log
+*.csv
+*.dat
+*.out
+*.pid
+*.gz
+npm-debug.log
+
+/apps/shell/pids
+/apps/shell/results
+
+######################################################################
+#
+# Ignore Vim files
+# https://github.com/github/gitignore/blob/master/Global/Vim.gitignore
+#
+######################################################################
+
+# Swap
+[._]*.s[a-v][a-z]
+[._]*.sw[a-p]
+[._]s[a-v][a-z]
+[._]sw[a-p]
+
+# Session
+Session.vim
+
+# Temporary
+.netrwhist
+*~
+# Auto-generated tag files
+tags
diff --git a/apps/activejobs/.gitignore b/apps/activejobs/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index cdaa3cf1cb..0000000000
--- a/apps/activejobs/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
-# See http://help.github.com/ignore-files/ for more about ignoring files.
-#
-# If you find yourself ignoring temporary files generated by your text editor
-# or operating system, you probably want to add a global ignore instead:
-#   git config --global core.excludesfile '~/.gitignore_global'
-
-# Ignore bundler config.
-/.bundle
-/vendor/bundle/
-
-/.htaccess
-
-# Ignore the default SQLite database.
-/db/*.sqlite3
-/db/*.sqlite3-journal
-
-# Ignore all logfiles and tempfiles.
-/log/*.log
-/tmp/*
-!/tmp/.keep
-# data to store simulations and file uploads for development
-/data
-
-# files used for deployment should not be versioned
-/public/assets/
-/public/.htaccess
-/.env.production.local
-/.env.local*
-/config/initializers/filter.rb
diff --git a/apps/bc_desktop/.gitignore b/apps/bc_desktop/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 6308795ca9..0000000000
--- a/apps/bc_desktop/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-/tmp/
-/local
diff --git a/apps/dashboard/.gitignore b/apps/dashboard/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 62f1d19327..0000000000
--- a/apps/dashboard/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,55 +0,0 @@
-# See http://help.github.com/ignore-files/ for more about ignoring files.
-#
-# If you find yourself ignoring temporary files generated by your text editor
-# or operating system, you probably want to add a global ignore instead:
-#   git config --global core.excludesfile '~/.gitignore_global'
-
-######################################################################
-#
-# Ignore Vim files
-# https://github.com/github/gitignore/blob/master/Global/Vim.gitignore
-#
-######################################################################
-
-# Swap
-[._]*.s[a-v][a-z]
-[._]*.sw[a-p]
-[._]s[a-v][a-z]
-[._]sw[a-p]
-
-# Session
-Session.vim
-
-# Temporary
-.netrwhist
-*~
-# Auto-generated tag files
-tags
-
-######################################################################
-
-# Ignore bundler config.
-/.bundle
-/vendor/bundle
-
-# Ignore the default SQLite database.
-/db/*.sqlite3
-/db/*.sqlite3-journal
-
-# Ignore all logfiles and tempfiles.
-/log/*.log
-/tmp/*
-!/tmp/.keep
-/public/assets
-.env.local
-/config/initializers/ood.rb
-
-# Ignore staged app
-/vendor/my_app
-
-# Ignore data files
-/data
-config/clusters.d
-
-# SSHFS
-._*
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/apps/file-editor/.gitignore b/apps/file-editor/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 25d4776f12..0000000000
--- a/apps/file-editor/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
-# See http://help.github.com/ignore-files/ for more about ignoring files.
-#
-# If you find yourself ignoring temporary files generated by your text editor
-# or operating system, you probably want to add a global ignore instead:
-#   git config --global core.excludesfile '~/.gitignore_global'
-
-# Ignore bundler config.
-/.bundle
-
-# Ignore the default SQLite database.
-/db/*.sqlite3
-/db/*.sqlite3-journal
-
-# Ignore all logfiles and tempfiles.
-/log/*.log
-/tmp/*
-!/tmp/.keep
-
-# Ignore any user pre-compiled assets
-/public/assets
-
-# data to store simulations and file uploads for development
-/data
-
-# files used for deployment should not be versioned
-/public/.htaccess
-
-# /.env.production
-/.env.local
-/vendor/bundle
-
-/.htaccess
-# SSHFS temp files
-._*
diff --git a/apps/files/.gitignore b/apps/files/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 05970b0cd7..0000000000
--- a/apps/files/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-# Don't include the site-configured .env
-.env
-.env.local
-
-# Don't include the node modules
-/node_modules/
-
-# ignore everyting in tmp but keep tmp dir around
-/tmp/*
-!/tmp/.keep
diff --git a/apps/myjobs/.gitignore b/apps/myjobs/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 24b5898133..0000000000
--- a/apps/myjobs/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,35 +0,0 @@
-# See http://help.github.com/ignore-files/ for more about ignoring files.
-#
-# If you find yourself ignoring temporary files generated by your text editor
-# or operating system, you probably want to add a global ignore instead:
-#   git config --global core.excludesfile '~/.gitignore_global'
-
-# Ignore bundler config.
-/.bundle
-
-# Ignore the default SQLite database.
-/db/*.sqlite3
-/db/*.sqlite3-journal
-
-# Ignore all logfiles and tempfiles.
-/log/*.log
-/tmp/*
-!/tmp/.keep
-/templates
-
-# data to store simulations and file uploads for development
-/data
-
-# files used for deployment should not be versioned
-/public/.htaccess
-/public/assets
-/.env.local*
-
-# awesim-rails uses separately versioned wiki repositories
-# do not include those in the app repo
-/docs
-
-# do not version the bundled gems
-vendor/bundle
-._*
-.DS_Store
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/apps/shell/.gitignore b/apps/shell/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index bd142ecaa2..0000000000
--- a/apps/shell/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
-lib-cov
-*.seed
-*.log
-*.csv
-*.dat
-*.out
-*.pid
-*.gz
-
-pids
-logs
-results
-
-npm-debug.log
-node_modules/*
-
-# ignore all tempfiles
-/tmp/*
-!/tmp/.keep
-
-# ignore env vars
-/.env
-/.env.local