diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index a695807..8856f55 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,4 @@
 __tests__/runner/*
+# actions requires a node_modules dir https://github.com/actions/toolkit/blob/master/docs/javascript-action.md#publish-a-releasesv1-action
+# but its recommended not to check these in https://github.com/actions/toolkit/blob/master/docs/action-versioning.md#recommendations
+node_modules