diff --git a/opensaas-sh/.gitignore b/opensaas-sh/.gitignore
index 83beb016..908f7bbc 100644
--- a/opensaas-sh/.gitignore
+++ b/opensaas-sh/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1 @@
-# We can't ignore `app/` because it messes up our patch/diff procedure (check
-# the README for more info on this)
-# app/
+app/
diff --git a/opensaas-sh/tools/dope.sh b/opensaas-sh/tools/dope.sh
index 0c2f3cf4..07a35e6f 100755
--- a/opensaas-sh/tools/dope.sh
+++ b/opensaas-sh/tools/dope.sh
@@ -140,6 +140,8 @@ recreate_derived_dir() {
 
   echo "DONE: generated ${DERIVED_DIR}/"
 
+  (cd "${DERIVED_DIR}" && git init -b main -q)
+
   if [ ${num_patches_failed} -gt 0 ]; then
     echo -e "${RED_COLOR}${num_patches_failed} patches failed, look into generated files for merge conflicts.${RESET_COLOR}"
     exit 1