diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 953d390c7452a6ed7085e6a35fe7d0cc4ec712f9..5fd8ac473c828bc433648b6f78402c2eab4d0583 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -16,4 +16,3 @@ target/
 *.swp
 *.vscode
 nomad.yaml
-nomad/gitinfo.py
diff --git a/nomad/gitinfo.py b/nomad/gitinfo.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..376177db3976e0ac09a067a351e2afdda85ac401
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nomad/gitinfo.py
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# This file will be overridden during build.
+# The values here are just placeholder
+log = "git commit msg placeholder"
+ref = "git ref placeholder"
+version = "git version placeholder"
+commit = "git commit sha placeholder"