Exclusions

Exclusions tell Stairwell forwarders to skip specific files or directories during collection. They are defined as file glob patterns and override the policy's extension list, giving you fine-grained control over what gets uploaded.

Exclusion Types

Stairwell supports two types of exclusions:

Do not upload -- Applies to all backscan and real-time events (image loads, new files, modified files). Any file matching this pattern is never uploaded.
Do not scan -- Applies only to files discovered during a backscan. Real-time events are not affected, so a matching file will still be uploaded if it is created or modified after the backscan.

Create an Exclusion

You can create exclusions at two levels depending on whether you need to reuse them.

Option 1: Environment-level (reusable) exclusion

Use this when you have patterns you want to apply across multiple policies (e.g., build artifacts, dev folders).

Go to Settings.
Under Environments, open the target environment.
Find the Asset Exclusions section.
Click Create Exclusion.
Enter the exclusion pattern (path or glob) and save.

The exclusion is now stored at the environment level and can be attached to any policy in that environment.

Option 2: Policy-specific (one-off) exclusion

Use this for temporary exceptions or exclusions that apply to only one policy.

Go to Asset Policies.
Click the ... menu next to the target policy and select Edit.
Open the Exclusions section.
Click Create New Exclusion.
Enter the exclusion pattern and save.

Attach an environment-level exclusion to a policy

Go to Asset Policies and edit the target policy.
In the Exclusions section, click Add Exclusion to Policy.
Select one or more environment-level exclusions.
Save the policy.

Common Exclusion Patterns

**\*.swift
**\*.tf
**\*.json
**\*.go
**\*.pyc
**\*.yaml
**\*.rs
**\*.ts
**\*.kt
**\*.java
**/tmp/_bazel_**
**/core*
.ssh/*
%windir%\CCMCache\*
/app/docker/overlay/**
/private/var/tmp/_bazel_*/**
/lib/**
/Applications/CrashPlan.app/**/*