diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9017604..b5e64f1 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@ node_modules/
 .sqlite/
 .env
 out/
+.idea/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7d26655
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The `master` branch is used purely for deploying to production. All work should be done on the `development` branch but branching off of it following the naming scheme `<feature>/<issue_number>-<name>`, for example, `feature/58-fix-test-environment`
\ No newline at end of file