diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 1131f2c..8cbd32b 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
     "latest-version": "^2.0.0",
     "lodash": "^3.10.1",
     "minimatch": "^3.0.0",
+    "parse-gitignore": "^0.3.1",
     "prompt": "^0.2.14",
     "rsync": "^0.4.0",
     "untildify": "^2.1.0",
diff --git a/src/local/index.js b/src/local/index.js
index a98b31b..d7f482e 100644
--- a/src/local/index.js
+++ b/src/local/index.js
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
  */
 import _ from 'lodash';
 import os from 'os';
+import untildify from 'untildify';
+import gitignore from 'parse-gitignore';
 import constants from '../../conf/constants';
 import text from '../../conf/text';
 import eventsConf from '../../conf/events';
@@ -47,6 +49,9 @@ function startProject (config, projectConf) {
     let destinationLocation = util.ensureTrailingSlash(projectConf.destinationLocation);
     let secret = util.getId();
 
+    // parse excludesFile
+    projectConf.excludes = [].concat.apply(projectConf.excludes, projectConf.excludesFile.map(untildify).map(gitignore));
+
     let fsHelper = new FSHelper({
         sourceLocation: sourceLocation,
         excludes: projectConf.excludes,
diff --git a/src/project-helper.js b/src/project-helper.js
index b62b50e..e992305 100644
--- a/src/project-helper.js
+++ b/src/project-helper.js
@@ -53,6 +53,11 @@ export default {
                     return csv.split(',');
                 }
             },
+            excludesFile: {
+                description: 'Would you like to load excludes from file?',
+                default: '.gitignore,~/.gitignore',
+                before: csv => csv.split(','),
+            },
             prefersEncrypted: {
                 description: 'Would you like to encrypt the sync messages? (yes/no):',
                 before: util.toBoolean,
diff --git a/test/local/index.mspec.js b/test/local/index.mspec.js
index 60f9d66..7f60d40 100644
--- a/test/local/index.mspec.js
+++ b/test/local/index.mspec.js
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ var testConfig = {
         myProject: {
             project: 'myProject',
             excludes: ['.git'],
+            excludesFile: ['.gitignore'],
             sourceLocation: '~/wat',
             destinationLocation: '~/wat',
             hostname: 'yo-dawg',
diff --git a/test/project-helper.mspec.js b/test/project-helper.mspec.js
index e0ed0d1..412581a 100644
--- a/test/project-helper.mspec.js
+++ b/test/project-helper.mspec.js
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ describe('Project-Helper', function () {
                 'sourceLocation',
                 'destinationLocation',
                 'excludes',
+                'excludesFile',
                 'prefersEncrypted',
                 'websocketPort',
                 'followSymLinks',
@@ -52,6 +53,7 @@ describe('Project-Helper', function () {
                 'sourceLocation',
                 'destinationLocation',
                 'excludes',
+                'excludesFile',
                 'prefersEncrypted',
                 'websocketPort',
                 'followSymLinks'