diff --git a/avm-transpiler/Dockerfile.dockerignore b/avm-transpiler/Dockerfile.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cc6b2b4c0d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/avm-transpiler/Dockerfile.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+*
+!noir
+!avm-transpiler
+**/target
+**/node_modules
diff --git a/build-system/scripts/create_dockerignore b/build-system/scripts/create_dockerignore
index feade28a12f..9e0521668b1 100755
--- a/build-system/scripts/create_dockerignore
+++ b/build-system/scripts/create_dockerignore
@@ -11,6 +11,12 @@ DOCKERFILE=$(query_manifest dockerfile $REPOSITORY)
 
 cd $BUILD_DIR
 DOCKERIGNOREFILE=$DOCKERFILE.dockerignore
+
+# If there is a dockerignore file committed to git, use it.
+if git ls-files --error-unmatch $DOCKERIGNOREFILE > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+  exit 0
+fi
+
 echo '*' > $DOCKERIGNOREFILE
 (git ls-files; git ls-files --others --exclude-standard) | sort -u | sed 's/^/!/' >> $DOCKERIGNOREFILE
-echo '**/Dockerfile*' >> $DOCKERIGNOREFILE
\ No newline at end of file
+echo '**/Dockerfile*' >> $DOCKERIGNOREFILE