how to use gitignore to ignore a folder

You can ignore entire directories, just by including their paths and putting a / on the end:

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node_modules/
logs/

# exclude everything
somefolder/*

# exception to the rule
!somefolder/.gitkeep 

# Step 1) First stop git from tracking the <folder> 
### Example git rm -r --cached dist ###
git rm -r --cached <folder> 

# Step 2) Then update .gitignore file
dist/
node_modules/
*.log
.env
*.zip