diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 364aaa4..8554309 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -13,3 +13,5 @@ tmp.*
 *.tmp
 *.off
 
+_secrets/*
+!_secrets/README.md
diff --git a/_secrets/README.md b/_secrets/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b917fd4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_secrets/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# runtipi's user-config secrets
+
+the text files in this directory are referenced in the compose yaml files in runtipi's user-config.
+the files in this directory (except this README.md file) are all ignored by git
+