How do I delete files locally without commiting these deletions to a remote repository while keeping a “clean” working tree?

Question

This question is essentially the opposite of this one.

There are certain files that exist for reasons on the team\'s remote. They are not frequently changed

Answer 1

You can try:

git update-index --assume-unchanged -- unWantedFile
rm unWantedFile
# work
# ...
# later on
git update-index --no-assume-unchanged -- unWantedFile
git restore unWantedFile

That should be enough to work in a working tree without that file, while telling Git the file is still there.

It works too with git update-index --skip-worktree -- unWantedFile.
I have written about the difference between the two here.