diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f7275bb..2c0009b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,4 @@
 venv/
+
+# ignore all settings.json files
+**/settings.json
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/data/settings.json b/data/settings.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 727e987..0000000
--- a/data/settings.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-{"data_directory": "data/"}
\ No newline at end of file