diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index 253ae357..5d4a3c71 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ PlatformIO 3.0
   ``debug`` target using `platformio run <https://docs.platformio.org/page/userguide/cmd_run.html>`__ command or `targets <http://docs.platformio.org/page/projectconf/section_env_general.html#targets>`__ option in ``platformio.ini``.
   The last option allows to avoid project rebuilding between "Run/Debug" modes.
   (`issue #1833 <https://github.com/platformio/platformio-core/issues/1833>`_)
+* Do not re-create ".gitignore" and ".travis.yml" files if they were removed
+  from a project
 
 3.6.0 (2018-08-06)
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
diff --git a/platformio/commands/init.py b/platformio/commands/init.py
index c4900c2f..1275a269 100644
--- a/platformio/commands/init.py
+++ b/platformio/commands/init.py
@@ -138,6 +138,8 @@ def init_base_project(project_dir):
         copyfile(
             join(util.get_source_dir(), "projectconftpl.ini"),
             join(project_dir, "platformio.ini"))
+        init_ci_conf(project_dir)
+        init_cvs_ignore(project_dir)
 
     with util.cd(project_dir):
         lib_dir = util.get_projectlib_dir()
@@ -147,8 +149,6 @@ def init_base_project(project_dir):
                 makedirs(d)
 
     init_lib_readme(lib_dir)
-    init_ci_conf(project_dir)
-    init_cvs_ignore(project_dir)
 
 
 def init_lib_readme(lib_dir):
diff --git a/platformio/ide/projectgenerator.py b/platformio/ide/projectgenerator.py
index f1dcd35e..da3faab0 100644
--- a/platformio/ide/projectgenerator.py
+++ b/platformio/ide/projectgenerator.py
@@ -130,7 +130,9 @@ class ProjectGenerator(object):
         file_name = basename(dst_path)
 
         # merge .gitignore
-        if file_name == ".gitignore" and isfile(dst_path):
+        if file_name == ".gitignore":
+            if not isfile(dst_path):
+                return
             modified = False
             default = [l.strip() for l in contents.split("\n")]
             with open(dst_path) as fp: