diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index fce1a429..9f1276da 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-node_modules/
+# node_modules as a folder or a link (links were once committed by mistake)
+node_modules
 dist/
 .astro/
 .env
diff --git a/api/node_modules b/api/node_modules
deleted file mode 120000
index 1ee83cb3..00000000
--- a/api/node_modules
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-/Users/anasrashid/divan/api/node_modules
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/web/node_modules b/web/node_modules
deleted file mode 120000
index 0fd07bfe..00000000
--- a/web/node_modules
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-/Users/anasrashid/divan/web/node_modules
\ No newline at end of file