Tracking Untracked Files Without Staging Them

To track untracked files in a Git repository without staging them, follow these steps:

Add the Untracked Files to the Index Temporarily Use the git add command with the --intent-to-add (or -N) option. This tells Git to track the file but does not stage its content. The file will appear as “modified but unstaged” in the status.
```
git add --intent-to-add <file>
```
For example, if you have an untracked file named example.txt, you would run:
```
git add --intent-to-add example.txt
```
Check the Status After running the above command, check the status using:
```
git status
```
The file will now appear under “Changes not staged for commit” (modified but unstaged).
Optional: Untrack the File Later If you decide you no longer want to track the file, use git rm --cached to stop tracking it:
```
git rm --cached <file>
```
This will remove the file from the index but keep it in your working directory.

Example Workflow

Suppose you have an untracked file newfile.txt.
Run:
```
git add --intent-to-add newfile.txt
```

Check the status:

git status

Output:

On branch main
Changes not staged for commit:
  (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
  (use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
        modified: newfile.txt

Now the file is tracked but not staged, and it shows up as “modified but unstaged” in the status.

This approach is useful when you want to track changes to a file without committing it immediately.