diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1833665..d2d2990 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
 backend/node_modules
-backend/credentials.js
-# See https://help.github.com/articles/ignoring-files/ for more about ignoring files.
 
 # dependencies
 /node_modules
diff --git a/backend/credentials.js b/backend/credentials.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4be1469
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/credentials.js
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+// Write your own mongoDBatlas credentials here
+module.exports = '';