What is .gitkeep and can I safely remove it once folder has files?

I recently encountered this when analyzing a template or boilerplate code in my workplace.

I noticed this weird .gitkeep file and I am curious on what that file is. So I went ahead to Microsoft Edge browser and used CoPilot AI.

I typed a question and immediately received answers.

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Here are the questions I asked:

"What is .gitkeep? Can I safely remove it once folder has files?"

CoPilot answered me with this:

"Great question! The .gitkeep file is often used as a placeholder in empty directories within a Git repository. Since Git doesn't track empty folders by default, adding a .gitkeep file forces Git to recognize and commit the directory.

Once the folder has actual files in it, you can safely remove the .gitkeep file—its only purpose was to ensure the directory was committed when it was empty. Removing it won’t affect anything as long as there are other files present."

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Another follow-up question I had is:

"Is .gitkeep a conventional file to commit empty directory?"

CoPilot responded to me with this:

"Yes, .gitkeep is a widely used convention for committing empty directories to a Git repository. Since Git does not track empty directories by default, developers often add a .gitkeep file inside an otherwise empty folder to ensure it remains in version control.

Although .gitkeep isn't an official Git feature, it's a common practice among developers for maintaining necessary directory structures. Alternatively, some teams may use other placeholder files like .gitignore with a comment inside, but .gitkeep is the more intuitive choice."

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That's it! I hope you find this useful esp. when you get a chance to see a .gitkeep file in your code repo.

Happy coding and programming!