ok... ok... I'll add it to git...

.gitignore

@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+# tower-of-joy .gitignore
+# Prevent committing sensitive or ephemeral files
+
+# Docker volumes and data directories (created at runtime)
+docker-data/
+/mnt/media/
+
+# Backups (too large for git)
+backups/
+*.backup
+*.bak
+
+# Environment files (may contain secrets)
+.env
+.env.*
+!.env.example
+
+# Logs
+*.log
+logs/
+
+# Temporary files
+*.tmp
+*.temp
+.tmp/
+tmp/
+
+# IDE/Editor files
+.vscode/
+.idea/
+*.swp
+*.swo
+*~
+.DS_Store
+
+# OS files
+Thumbs.db
+desktop.ini
+
+# Secrets and credentials
+secrets/
+*.key
+*.pem
+*.crt
+!example.crt
+credentials.json
+password.txt
+.portainer-token
+.test-update.sh
+services/core-api/src/credentials.py
+
+# Build artifacts (if any)
+dist/
+build/
+*.o
+*.pyc
+__pycache__/
+
+# Node modules (if using any Node tools)
+node_modules/
+
+# Python virtual environments (if any)
+venv/
+.venv/
+env/
+
+# Docker Compose overrides (local-only configs)
+docker-compose.override.yml
+
+# Local configuration (machine-specific)
+local.yml
+local.config
+
+# Archive files
+*.zip
+*.tar
+*.tar.gz
+*.tgz
+
+# Database dumps
+*.sql
+*.db
+*.sqlite
+!example.db
+
+# Cache directories
+.cache/
+cache/
+
+# Test output
+coverage/
+.coverage
+test-results/
+
+# Documentation builds
+docs/_build/
+site/