diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c1a2b4dfb..18173879c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -70,3 +70,6 @@ next-env.d.ts
 
 # wren-launcher
 wren-launcher/dist
+
+## temporary files
+.tmp
diff --git a/wren-ui/src/apollo/server/config.ts b/wren-ui/src/apollo/server/config.ts
index 27442d0d8..418bb652e 100644
--- a/wren-ui/src/apollo/server/config.ts
+++ b/wren-ui/src/apollo/server/config.ts
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ const defaultConfig = {
   // sqlite
   sqliteFile: './db.sqlite3',
 
-  persistCredentialDir: process.cwd(),
+  persistCredentialDir: `${process.cwd()}/.tmp`,
 
   // wren engine
   wrenEngineEndpoint: 'http://localhost:8080',