diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d6ee25257..5b1ea6782 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ pids
 *.seed
 *.pid.lock
 data/acknowledgements.json
+data/alert-rules.json
+data/custom-thresholds.json
 
 # Directory for instrumented libs generated by jscoverage/JSCover
 lib-cov
diff --git a/data/alert-rules.json b/data/alert-rules.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 27f3d3958..000000000
--- a/data/alert-rules.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,31 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "compound_1749159848654_h011bw96f": {
-    "id": "compound_1749159848654_h011bw96f",
-    "condition": "greater_than",
-    "duration": 5000,
-    "severity": "warning",
-    "enabled": true,
-    "tags": [],
-    "group": "compound_threshold",
-    "escalationTime": 900000,
-    "autoResolve": false,
-    "suppressionTime": 300000,
-    "notificationChannels": [
-      "default"
-    ],
-    "type": "compound_threshold",
-    "name": "Alert for CPU: 2%",
-    "targetType": "all",
-    "specificTarget": "",
-    "thresholds": [
-      {
-        "type": "cpu",
-        "operator": ">",
-        "value": 2
-      }
-    ],
-    "sendEmail": true,
-    "sendWebhook": false,
-    "createdAt": 1749159848648
-  }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/data/alert-rules.json.template b/data/alert-rules.json.template
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1a236e2da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/alert-rules.json.template
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+{
+  "_readme": "This is a template file. Custom alert rules will be stored in alert-rules.json (not tracked by git)",
+  "_example": {
+    "compound_example_123": {
+      "id": "compound_example_123",
+      "condition": "greater_than",
+      "duration": 5000,
+      "severity": "warning",
+      "enabled": true,
+      "tags": [],
+      "group": "compound_threshold",
+      "escalationTime": 900000,
+      "autoResolve": false,
+      "suppressionTime": 300000,
+      "notificationChannels": [
+        "default"
+      ],
+      "type": "compound_threshold",
+      "name": "Example Alert",
+      "targetType": "all",
+      "specificTarget": "",
+      "thresholds": [
+        {
+          "type": "cpu",
+          "operator": ">",
+          "value": 80
+        }
+      ],
+      "sendEmail": true,
+      "sendWebhook": false,
+      "createdAt": 1749159848648
+    }
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/data/custom-thresholds.json b/data/custom-thresholds.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 6debb34c6..000000000
--- a/data/custom-thresholds.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "primary:103": {
-    "endpointId": "primary",
-    "nodeId": "auto-detect",
-    "vmid": "103",
-    "thresholds": {
-      "disk": {
-        "warning": 70,
-        "critical": 80
-      }
-    },
-    "enabled": true,
-    "createdAt": "2025-06-01T19:50:34.784Z",
-    "updatedAt": "2025-06-01T19:50:34.784Z"
-  }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/data/custom-thresholds.json.template b/data/custom-thresholds.json.template
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..613224b6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/custom-thresholds.json.template
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+{
+  "_readme": "This is a template file. Custom threshold configurations will be stored in custom-thresholds.json (not tracked by git)",
+  "_example": {
+    "endpointId:vmid": {
+      "endpointId": "primary",
+      "nodeId": "auto-detect",
+      "vmid": "103",
+      "thresholds": {
+        "cpu": {
+          "warning": 80,
+          "critical": 90
+        },
+        "memory": {
+          "warning": 85,
+          "critical": 95
+        },
+        "disk": {
+          "warning": 70,
+          "critical": 80
+        }
+      },
+      "enabled": true,
+      "createdAt": "2025-06-01T19:50:34.784Z",
+      "updatedAt": "2025-06-01T19:50:34.784Z"
+    }
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file