diff --git a/completions/try.bash b/completions/try.bash
index 258870db..60f95298 100755
--- a/completions/try.bash
+++ b/completions/try.bash
@@ -20,13 +20,12 @@ _try() {
 
     case "${cmd}" in
         try)
-            opts="-n -y -v -h -D -U summary commit explore"
+            opts="-n -y -v -h -i -D -U summary commit explore"
             if [[ ${cur} == -* || ${COMP_CWORD} -eq 1 ]] ; then
                 COMPREPLY=( $(compgen -W "${opts}" -- "${cur}") )
                 return 0
             fi
             case "${prev}" in
-                
                 -D)
                     COMPREPLY=($(compgen -d "${cur}"))
                     return 0
diff --git a/docs/try.1.md b/docs/try.1.md
index 7dcf906c..4148bf6c 100644
--- a/docs/try.1.md
+++ b/docs/try.1.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 try - run a command in an overlay
 
 # SYNOPSIS
-| try [-n] [-D DIR] CMD [ARG ...]
+| try [-ny] [-i PATTERN] [-D DIR] [-U PATH] CMD [ARG ...]
 | try summary [DIR]
 | try commit [DIR]
 | try explore
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@ While using *try* you can choose to commit the result to the filesystem or compl
 
 ## Options
 
+-i PATTERN
+
+: Ignore paths that match PATTERN on summary and commit. This option can be passed multiple times; the patterns given will be used in as arguments to `-e` in a call to `grep -v`.
+
 -D *DIR*
 
 : Specifies DIR as the overlay directory (implies -n). The use of -D also implies that *DIR* already exists.
diff --git a/test/run_tests.sh b/test/run_tests.sh
index 94c7f55f..20ff622b 100755
--- a/test/run_tests.sh
+++ b/test/run_tests.sh
@@ -317,10 +317,24 @@ test_mkdir_on_file()
     diff -qr expected target
 }
 
+test_ignore_flag()
+{
+    local try_workspace=$1
+    cd "$try_workspace/"
+
+    touch expected.bar
+
+    ## Ignore changes to foo
+    "$try" -y -i foo1 -i foo2 "touch foo1.txt; touch foo2.txt; touch bar.txt"
+
+    diff -q expected.bar bar.txt &&
+        [ ! -f foo1.txt ] &&
+        [ ! -f foo2.txt ]
+}
+
 test_dev()
 {
     local try_workspace=$1
-    cp $RESOURCE_DIR/file.txt.gz "$try_workspace/"
     cd "$try_workspace/"
 
     "$try" -y "head -c 5 /dev/urandom > target"
@@ -353,6 +367,7 @@ if [ "$#" -eq 0 ]; then
     run_test test_explore
     run_test test_empty_summary
     run_test test_mkdir_on_file
+    run_test test_ignore_flag
     run_test test_dev
 
 # uncomment this to force a failure
diff --git a/try b/try
index f4cce711..e27f0e99 100755
--- a/try
+++ b/try
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ summary() {
     fi
     
     ## Finds all potential changes
-    changed_files=$(find_upperdir_changes "$SANDBOX_DIR")
+    changed_files=$(find_upperdir_changes "$SANDBOX_DIR" "$IGNORE_FILE")
     summary_output=$(process_changes "$SANDBOX_DIR" "$changed_files")
     
     if [ -z "$summary_output" ]
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ commit() {
         exit 1
     fi
 
-    changed_files=$(find_upperdir_changes "$SANDBOX_DIR")
+    changed_files=$(find_upperdir_changes "$SANDBOX_DIR" "$IGNORE_FILE")
     summary_output=$(process_changes "$SANDBOX_DIR" "$changed_files")
 
     while IFS= read -r summary_line; do
@@ -328,15 +328,16 @@ is_whiteout_file() {
 }
 
 ## Defines which changes we want to ignore in the summary and commit
-## TODO: Make this be parametrizable, through a file for example
 ignore_changes() {
-    grep -v -e .rkr -e Rikerfile
+    ignore_file="$1"
+    grep -v -f "$ignore_file"
 }
 
 ## Lists all upperdir changes in raw format
 find_upperdir_changes() {
     sandbox_dir="$1"
-    find "$sandbox_dir/upperdir/" -type f -o \( -type c -size 0 \) -o -type d | ignore_changes
+    ignore_file="$2"
+    find "$sandbox_dir/upperdir/" -type f -o \( -type c -size 0 \) -o -type d | ignore_changes "$ignore_file"
 }
 
 
@@ -415,10 +416,11 @@ sandbox_valid_or_empty() {
 usage() {
     cmd="$(basename $0)"
     cat >&2 <<EOF
-Usage: $cmd [-nvhy] [-D DIR] [-U PATH] CMD [ARG ...]
+Usage: $cmd [-nvhy] [-i PATTERN] [-D DIR] [-U PATH] CMD [ARG ...]
 
   -n                don't prompt for commit
   -y                assume yes to all prompts (implies -n is not used)
+  -i PATTERN        ignore paths that match PATTERN on summary and commit
   -D DIR            work in DIR (implies -n)
   -U PATH           path to unionfs helper (e.g., mergerfs, unionfs-fuse)
   
@@ -439,11 +441,16 @@ EOF
 # "commit"      - commit the result directory automatically when we're done
 NO_COMMIT="interactive"
 
-while getopts ":yvnD:U:" opt
+# Includes all patterns given using the `-i` flag
+# Each pattern is preceded by an -e so as to be immediately passed to grep.
+IGNORE_FILE=$(mktemp)
+
+while getopts ":yvni:D:U:" opt
 do
     case "$opt" in
         (y) NO_COMMIT="commit";;
         (n) NO_COMMIT="show";;
+        (i) echo $OPTARG >>"$IGNORE_FILE";;
         (D) if ! [ -d "$OPTARG" ]
             then
                 printf "%s: no such directory $OPTARG\n" "$(basename $0)" >&2