diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 37f0028d66..a20f3e615d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,64 +1,36 @@
-*.pyc
-.*.swp
+# filename patterns
 *~
+.*.swp
+.#*
+*.deb
+*.egg
+*.egg-info
 *.lock
-
-.DS_Store
+*.pyc
+*.tac
 _trial_temp/
 _trial_temp*/
-logs/
-dbs/
-*.egg
-dist/
-docs/build/
-*.egg-info
-pip-wheel-metadata/
 
-cmdclient_config.json
-homeserver*.db
-homeserver*.log
-homeserver*.log.*
-homeserver*.pid
-/homeserver*.yaml
+# stuff that is likely to exist when you run a server locally
+/*.signing.key
+/*.tls.crt
+/*.tls.key
+/uploads
+/media_store/
 
-*.signing.key
-*.tls.crt
-*.tls.dh
-*.tls.key
+# IDEs
+/.idea/
+/.ropeproject/
+/.vscode/
 
-.coverage*
-coverage.*
-!.coveragerc
-htmlcov
+# build products
+/.coverage*
+!/.coveragerc
+/.tox
+/build/
+/coverage.*
+/dist/
+/docs/build/
+/htmlcov
+/pip-wheel-metadata/
 
-demo/*/*.db
-demo/*/*.log
-demo/*/*.log.*
-demo/*/*.pid
-demo/media_store.*
-demo/etc
-
-uploads
-cache
-
-.idea/
-media_store/
-
-*.tac
-
-build/
-venv/
-venv*/
-*venv/
-
-localhost-800*/
-static/client/register/register_config.js
-.tox
-
-env/
-*.config
-
-.vscode/
-.ropeproject/
-*.deb
-/debs
diff --git a/changelog.d/4688.misc b/changelog.d/4688.misc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..24cd2eb424
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/4688.misc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Clean up gitignores
diff --git a/demo/.gitignore b/demo/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4d12712343
--- /dev/null
+++ b/demo/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+*.db
+*.log
+*.log.*
+*.pid
+
+/media_store.*
+/etc