diff --git a/pkg/watch/ephemeral.go b/pkg/watch/ephemeral.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ae1ea96c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/watch/ephemeral.go
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+package ignore
+
+import (
+	"github.com/windmilleng/tilt/internal/dockerignore"
+	"github.com/windmilleng/tilt/internal/model"
+)
+
+// Filter out spurious changes that we don't want to rebuild on, like IDE
+// temp/lock files.
+//
+// This isn't an ideal solution. In an ideal world, the user would put
+// everything to ignore in their tiltignore/dockerignore files. This is a
+// stop-gap so they don't have a terrible experience if those files aren't
+// there or aren't in the right places.
+//
+// https://app.clubhouse.io/windmill/story/691/filter-out-ephemeral-file-changes
+var ephemeralPathMatcher = initEphemeralPathMatcher()
+
+func initEphemeralPathMatcher() model.PathMatcher {
+	golandPatterns := []string{"**/*___jb_old___", "**/*___jb_tmp___"}
+	emacsPatterns := []string{"**/.#*"}
+	vimPatterns := []string{"**/4913", "**/*~", "**/.*.swp", "**/.*.swx"}
+
+	allPatterns := []string{}
+	allPatterns = append(allPatterns, golandPatterns...)
+	allPatterns = append(allPatterns, emacsPatterns...)
+	allPatterns = append(allPatterns, vimPatterns...)
+
+	matcher, err := dockerignore.NewDockerPatternMatcher("/", allPatterns)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+	return matcher
+}