diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b14dab0a6b1..0951496d45c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@
 # Byte-compiled python files
 *.pyc
 
+# python virtual environment folder 
+.venv/
+
 # It's useful (though not required) to be able to unpack codeql in the ql checkout itself
 /codeql/