diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index fd9e5b6a07e..165d549cee2 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -55,3 +55,6 @@ go/tools/win64
 go/tools/tokenizer.jar
 go/main
 
+# node_modules folders except in the JS test suite
+node_modules/
+!/javascript/ql/test/**/node_modules/