diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index ae107e8..f309b5a 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ repos:
     -   id: check-yaml
     -   id: detect-private-key
 -   repo: https://github.com/tox-dev/pyproject-fmt
-    rev: "v2.16.2"
+    rev: "v2.19.0"
     hooks:
     -   id: pyproject-fmt
 -   repo: https://github.com/citation-file-format/cffconvert
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ repos:
     hooks:
     -   id: validate-cff
 -   repo: https://github.com/codespell-project/codespell
-    rev: v2.4.1
+    rev: v2.4.2
     hooks:
     -   id: codespell
         exclude: |
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ repos:
     -   id: yamllint
         exclude: pre-commit-config.yaml
 -   repo: https://github.com/astral-sh/ruff-pre-commit
-    rev: "v0.15.4"
+    rev: "v0.15.6"
     hooks:
     -   id: ruff-format
     -   id: ruff-check
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ repos:
     -   id: pre-commit-update
         args: ["--keep", "mdformat", "--keep", "pre-commit-update", "--keep", "cffconvert"]
 -   repo: https://github.com/jendrikseipp/vulture
-    rev: 'v2.14'
+    rev: 'v2.15'
     hooks:
     -   id: vulture
 -   repo: https://github.com/aristanetworks/j2lint
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fb77717..22a0a31 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ Follow these steps to use this template:
 1. Follow the directions in your new repo's `README.md` and make sure to check each file for alignment with your project.
 1. Enjoy!
 
+Copier already excludes `.git` from rendered output, so copying this template into an existing repository keeps that repository's history in place instead of importing this template's history. Copier also does not automatically run `git init` for a fresh destination. That could be done with a post-copy task, but Copier treats tasks as an unsafe feature, so this template leaves repository initialization as an explicit user step.
+
 ## What's included in the template
 
 - Pre-configured `pyproject.toml` for Python project management
diff --git a/copier.yaml b/copier.yaml
index 3426374..63070b6 100644
--- a/copier.yaml
+++ b/copier.yaml
@@ -43,6 +43,12 @@ github_url:
     and other places.
 
 _exclude:
+  - .git
+  - .DS_Store
+  - .svn
+  - __pycache__
+  - "*.py[co]"
+  - "~*"
   - copier.yaml
   - tests/test_template.py
   - .github/workflows/test-template.yml
diff --git a/tests/test_template.py b/tests/test_template.py
index fb623dc..4e16da4 100644
--- a/tests/test_template.py
+++ b/tests/test_template.py
@@ -8,6 +8,22 @@
 from copier import run_copy
 
 
+def _git(*args: str, cwd: Path) -> str:
+    return subprocess.check_output(["git", *args], cwd=cwd, text=True).strip()
+
+
+def _init_git_repo(path: Path) -> str:
+    subprocess.run(["git", "init"], cwd=path, check=True)
+    subprocess.run(["git", "config", "user.name", "Test User"], cwd=path, check=True)
+    subprocess.run(
+        ["git", "config", "user.email", "test@example.com"], cwd=path, check=True
+    )
+    (path / "README.md").write_text("# Existing repo\n")
+    subprocess.run(["git", "add", "README.md"], cwd=path, check=True)
+    subprocess.run(["git", "commit", "-m", "Initial commit"], cwd=path, check=True)
+    return _git("rev-parse", "HEAD", cwd=path)
+
+
 def test_template(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
     # Path to the Copier template root
     template_path = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
@@ -33,6 +49,33 @@ def test_template(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
 
     # Assert a file from the template was created
     assert (dst_path / "src/demo_project/main.py").exists()
+    assert not (dst_path / ".git").exists()
 
     # Run pytest from the copied template
     subprocess.run(["uv", "run", "pytest"], cwd=dst_path, check=True)
+
+
+def test_template_preserves_existing_git_repo(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    template_path = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+    dst_path = tmp_path / "existing-repo"
+    dst_path.mkdir()
+    original_head = _init_git_repo(dst_path)
+
+    run_copy(
+        src_path=str(template_path),
+        dst_path=dst_path,
+        data={
+            "project_name": "demo-project",
+            "project_description": "A demo project for testing Copier templates.",
+            "author_name": "Test Author",
+            "author_orcid": "https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000",
+            "github_url": "https://github.com/org/repo",
+        },
+        quiet=True,
+        overwrite=True,
+        vcs_ref="HEAD",
+    )
+
+    assert (dst_path / "src/demo_project/main.py").exists()
+    assert _git("rev-parse", "--is-inside-work-tree", cwd=dst_path) == "true"
+    assert _git("rev-parse", "HEAD", cwd=dst_path) == original_head