diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..84d1b679b19ea80b5f973225cda851266ef3883d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# ipython notebook checkpoints
+.ipynb_checkpoints/*