diff --git a/create/main.js b/create/main.js
index 553149d..1df8092 100644
--- a/create/main.js
+++ b/create/main.js
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@ export async function main({ cwd, templateDir, exampleTemplatesDir, targetDir, e
     errorOnExist: true,
   });
 
+  // npm strips `.gitignore` from published packages, so the template ships it as
+  // `gitignore`. Restore the dotfile name in the generated project.
+  await restoreGitignore(targetDir);
+
   const EXAMPLE_ENV_PATH = path.join(targetDir, '.env.example');
   const ENV_PATH = path.join(targetDir, '.env');
   const PKG_PATH = path.join(targetDir, 'package.json');
@@ -100,6 +104,8 @@ export async function main({ cwd, templateDir, exampleTemplatesDir, targetDir, e
         errorOnExist: true,
       });
 
+      await restoreGitignore(exampleTargetDir);
+
       // Apply the same token replacements as for the main project, remapped to exampleTargetDir.
       const remap = (f) => path.join(exampleTargetDir, path.relative(targetDir, f));
       await replaceTokensInFiles(filesWithAppTitle.map(remap), appTitleRegex, APP_TITLE);
@@ -148,6 +154,18 @@ What's next?
   );
 }
 
+async function restoreGitignore(dir) {
+  const shipped = path.join(dir, 'gitignore');
+  const dotfile = path.join(dir, '.gitignore');
+  try {
+    await fs.rename(shipped, dotfile);
+  } catch (error) {
+    if (error.code !== 'ENOENT') {
+      throw error;
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 async function mergeExampleFiles(sourceDir, targetDir) {
   const entries = await fs.readdir(sourceDir, { recursive: true, withFileTypes: true });
   for (const entry of entries) {
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index bfbae1c..58ced1a 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -8,7 +8,17 @@
   "files": [
     "template",
     "example-templates",
-    "create"
+    "create",
+    "!**/node_modules/**",
+    "!**/dist/**",
+    "!**/build/**",
+    "!**/.turbo/**",
+    "!**/.react-router/**",
+    "!**/coverage/**",
+    "!**/data-mocks/**",
+    "!**/.cache/**",
+    "!**/*.tsbuildinfo",
+    "!**/package-lock.json"
   ],
   "engines": {
     "node": ">=22.3.0"
@@ -33,7 +43,8 @@
     "create-tinker-stack"
   ],
   "scripts": {
-    "prerelease": "find template example-templates -name package-lock.json -delete && find template example-templates -name tsconfig.tsbuildinfo -delete && find template example-templates -name .turbo -type d -prune -exec rm -rf {} +",
+    "clean:template": "find template example-templates -type d \\( -name node_modules -o -name dist -o -name build -o -name .turbo -o -name .react-router -o -name coverage -o -name data-mocks -o -name .cache \\) -prune -exec rm -rf {} + && find template example-templates -type f \\( -name package-lock.json -o -name '*.tsbuildinfo' \\) -delete",
+    "prerelease": "npm run clean:template",
     "release": "commit-and-tag-version",
     "test": "npm run test:e2e",
     "test:e2e": "vitest run --no-file-parallelism",
diff --git a/template/.gitignore b/template/gitignore
similarity index 86%
rename from template/.gitignore
rename to template/gitignore
index a6fecbd..cf137cd 100644
--- a/template/.gitignore
+++ b/template/gitignore
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ data-mocks/
 vite.config.ts.timestamp-*
 .playwright-mcp/
 
+# Example templates (self-contained, generated into examples/<name>/)
+examples/
+
 # Misc
 .DS_Store
 *.pem
diff --git a/tests/generator.test.mjs b/tests/generator.test.mjs
index 4f3095b..87c2472 100644
--- a/tests/generator.test.mjs
+++ b/tests/generator.test.mjs
@@ -52,6 +52,17 @@ describe('create-tinker-stack generator', () => {
         );
         expect(examplePackageJson.scripts).toHaveProperty('build');
 
+        // npm strips `.gitignore` from published packages, so the template ships
+        // it as `gitignore` and the generator restores the dotfile name.
+        const gitignore = await readFile(path.join(projectDir, '.gitignore'), 'utf8');
+        expect(gitignore).toContain('node_modules');
+        expect(gitignore).toContain('examples/');
+        await expect(readFile(path.join(projectDir, 'gitignore'), 'utf8'))
+          .rejects.toMatchObject({ code: 'ENOENT' });
+        await expect(readFile(path.join(exampleDir, '.gitignore'), 'utf8')).resolves.toContain(
+          'node_modules'
+        );
+
         await runCommand('npm', ['install'], { cwd: projectDir });
         await runCommand('npm', ['run', 'typecheck'], { cwd: projectDir });
         await runCommand('npm', ['run', 'build:data'], { cwd: projectDir });