diff --git a/packages/workspace/src/core/file-utils.spec.ts b/packages/workspace/src/core/file-utils.spec.ts
index aa6e734d7a..89585f6029 100644
--- a/packages/workspace/src/core/file-utils.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/workspace/src/core/file-utils.spec.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 import { calculateFileChanges, WholeFileChange } from './file-utils';
 import { DiffType, JsonChange, jsonDiff } from '../utils/json-diff';
 
+const ignore = require('ignore');
+
 describe('calculateFileChanges', () => {
   it('should return a whole file change by default', () => {
     const changes = calculateFileChanges(
@@ -63,4 +65,18 @@ describe('calculateFileChanges', () => {
       }
     });
   });
+
+  it('should ignore *.md changes', () => {
+    const ig = ignore();
+    ig.add('*.md');
+    const changes = calculateFileChanges(
+      ['proj/readme.md'],
+      undefined,
+      (path, revision) => {
+        return revision === 'sha1' ? '' : 'const a = 0;';
+      },
+      ig
+    );
+    expect(changes.length).toEqual(0);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/workspace/src/core/file-utils.ts b/packages/workspace/src/core/file-utils.ts
index dfa21d7190..d5bd364ab5 100644
--- a/packages/workspace/src/core/file-utils.ts
+++ b/packages/workspace/src/core/file-utils.ts
@@ -41,8 +41,12 @@ export function calculateFileChanges(
   readFileAtRevision: (
     f: string,
     r: void | string
-  ) => string = defaultReadFileAtRevision
+  ) => string = defaultReadFileAtRevision,
+  ignore = getIgnoredGlobs()
 ): FileChange[] {
+  if (ignore) {
+    files = files.filter(f => !ignore.ignores(f));
+  }
   return files.map(f => {
     const ext = extname(f);
     const _mtime = mtime(`${appRootPath}/${f}`);