diff --git a/client/cli/bam.py b/client/cli/bam.py
index cd8edcb..be957a0 100755
--- a/client/cli/bam.py
+++ b/client/cli/bam.py
@@ -159,6 +159,14 @@ class bam_config:
                     sort_keys=True, indent=4, separators=(',', ': '),
                     )
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def write_bamignore(cwd=None):
+        path = bam_config.find_rootdir(cwd=cwd)
+        if path:
+            filepath = os.path.join(path, ".bamignore")
+            with open(filepath, 'w') as f:
+                f.write(r".*\.blend\d+$")
+
     @staticmethod
     def create_bamignore_filter(id_=".bamignore", cwd=None):
         path = bam_config.find_rootdir()
@@ -328,6 +336,10 @@ class bam_commands:
                     },
                 cwd=proj_dirname_abs)
 
+        # Create the default .bamignore
+        # TODO (fsiddi) get this data from the project config on the server
+        bam_config.write_bamignore(cwd=proj_dirname_abs)
+
         print("Project %r initialized" % proj_dirname)
 
     @staticmethod
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 06497a5..816d2f0 100755
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -715,6 +715,9 @@ class BamInitTest(BamSessionTestCase):
             self.assertEqual(url, cfg["url"])
             self.assertEqual(user_name, cfg["user"])
 
+        with open(os.path.join(proj_path, ".bamignore")) as f:
+            self.assertEqual(f.readline(), ".*\.blend\d+$")
+
 
 class BamListTest(BamSessionTestCase):
     """Test for the `bam ls --json` command. We run it with --json for easier command