diff --git a/.flake8 b/.flake8
index d5bfc9f5be..4684de71eb 100644
--- a/.flake8
+++ b/.flake8
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ per-file-ignores =
     __init__.py:F401
 format = [flake8 PEP8 ERROR] %(path)s:%(row)d:%(col)d: %(code)s %(text)s
 exclude =
+    # ignore the .git directory
+    ./.git,
     # ignore default build directory
     ./build,
     # ignore external dependency files