diff --git a/.changeset/gitignore-dot-dirs.md b/.changeset/gitignore-dot-dirs.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ad9839a8f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/gitignore-dot-dirs.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'eas-cli': patch
+---
+
+Read `.gitignore` files inside dot-directories when archiving the project.
diff --git a/packages/eas-cli/src/vcs/__tests__/local-test.ts b/packages/eas-cli/src/vcs/__tests__/local-test.ts
index abb9796e8b..c5f67ccaa7 100644
--- a/packages/eas-cli/src/vcs/__tests__/local-test.ts
+++ b/packages/eas-cli/src/vcs/__tests__/local-test.ts
@@ -60,6 +60,20 @@ describe(Ignore, () => {
     expect((ignore as any).ignoreMapping.map((i: any) => i[0])).toEqual(['', '', 'dir/']);
   });
 
+  it('reads .gitignore from a dot-directory', async () => {
+    vol.fromJSON(
+      {
+        '.gitignore': 'aaa',
+        '.cache/.gitignore': 'bbb',
+      },
+      '/root'
+    );
+
+    const ignore = await Ignore.createForCopyingAsync('/root');
+    expect(ignore.ignores('bbb')).toBe(false);
+    expect(ignore.ignores('.cache/bbb')).toBe(true);
+  });
+
   it('applies all gitignore files in parent directories', async () => {
     vol.fromJSON(
       {
diff --git a/packages/eas-cli/src/vcs/local.ts b/packages/eas-cli/src/vcs/local.ts
index 2e8abf47c2..81ae86a33a 100644
--- a/packages/eas-cli/src/vcs/local.ts
+++ b/packages/eas-cli/src/vcs/local.ts
@@ -60,8 +60,9 @@ node_modules
     const ignoreFilePaths = (
       await fg(`**/${GITIGNORE_FILENAME}`, {
         cwd: this.rootDir,
-        ignore: ['node_modules'],
+        ignore: ['node_modules', '.git'],
         followSymbolicLinks: false,
+        dot: true,
       })
     )
       // ensure that parent dir is before child directories