diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 176d8f6..1e8b537 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -33,4 +33,7 @@ Thumbs.db
 
 # misc scratch / generated files
 temp/
-backend/public/uploads/
\ No newline at end of file
+backend/public/uploads/
+
+# runtime data stores (mutated by the running app, not source)
+backend/data/scheduled-emails.json
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backend/data/scheduled-emails.json b/backend/data/scheduled-emails.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 5d591f6..0000000
--- a/backend/data/scheduled-emails.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "jobs": []
-}
\ No newline at end of file