diff --git a/.coveragerc b/.coveragerc
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.coveragerc
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+[run]
+omit =
+    # the bin scripts are not part of the Kallithea web app
+    kallithea/bin/*
+    # we ship with no active extensions
+    kallithea/config/rcextensions/*
+    # dbmigrate and paster_commands are not part of the Kallithea web app
+    kallithea/lib/dbmigrate/*
+    kallithea/lib/paster_commands/*
+    # the tests themselves should not be part of the coverage report
+    kallithea/tests/*
+    # the scm hooks are not run in the kallithea process
+    kallithea/config/post_receive_tmpl.py
+    kallithea/config/pre_receive_tmpl.py