diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c82148e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+benchmarking-tests export-ignore
+deploy-cluster-aws export-ignore
+docs export-ignore export-ignore
+speed-tests export-ignore
+tests export-ignore
+.gitattributes export-ignore
+.gitignore export-ignore
+.travis.yml export-ignore
+*.md export-ignore
+codecov.yml export-ignore
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/deploy-cluster-aws/awsdeploy.sh b/deploy-cluster-aws/awsdeploy.sh
index 06c8574b..5ffa7b11 100755
--- a/deploy-cluster-aws/awsdeploy.sh
+++ b/deploy-cluster-aws/awsdeploy.sh
@@ -104,8 +104,6 @@ else
     cd ..
     rm -f bigchaindb-archive.tar.gz
     git archive $BRANCH --format=tar --output=bigchaindb-archive.tar
-    # TODO: the archive could exclude more files besides the .gitignore ones
-    # such as the docs. See http://tinyurl.com/zo6fxeg
     gzip bigchaindb-archive.tar
     mv bigchaindb-archive.tar.gz deploy-cluster-aws
     cd deploy-cluster-aws
diff --git a/deploy-cluster-aws/fabfile.py b/deploy-cluster-aws/fabfile.py
index e54b37a5..ebd8274d 100644
--- a/deploy-cluster-aws/fabfile.py
+++ b/deploy-cluster-aws/fabfile.py
@@ -124,6 +124,7 @@ def install_bigchaindb_from_git_archive():
     run('tar xvfz bigchaindb-archive.tar.gz')
     sudo('pip3 install .')
     # sudo('python3 setup.py install')
+    run('rm bigchaindb-archive.tar.gz')
 
 
 # Configure BigchainDB