diff --git a/src/pymod/distutils_src/klayout/.gitignore b/src/pymod/distutils_src/klayout/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4b1a6f02b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/pymod/distutils_src/klayout/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+### Python ###
+# Byte-compiled / optimized / DLL files
+__pycache__/
+*.py[cod]
+*$py.class
+
+# C extensions
+*.so
+*.dylib
diff --git a/src/pymod/distutils_src/klayout/db_plugins/.keep b/src/pymod/distutils_src/klayout/db_plugins/.keep
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb