diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e75fe96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# @see https://git-scm.com/docs/gitattributes
+# when you composer-require this library with --prefer-dist the tests will not be part of the installed vendor code
+# making your final package smaller in size and therefore faster to build and deploy
+
+/tests/ export-ignore
+.gitattributes export-ignore
+.gitignore export-ignore
+.travis.yml export-ignore
+phpunit.xml.dist export-ignore