diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3447aa9..7ea34e7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -103,6 +103,8 @@ dist
 # TernJS port file
 .tern-port
 
-
 # local env files
 .env*.local
+
+# config file for BorgWarehouse
+config/repo.json
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/config/repo.json b/config/repo.json
deleted file mode 100644
index fe51488..0000000
--- a/config/repo.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-[]
diff --git a/pages/api/repo/index.js b/pages/api/repo/index.js
index aaa220d..704fb8d 100644
--- a/pages/api/repo/index.js
+++ b/pages/api/repo/index.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { promises as fs } from 'fs';
+import fs from 'fs';
 import path from 'path';
 import { authOptions } from '../../../pages/api/auth/[...nextauth]';
 import { unstable_getServerSession } from 'next-auth/next';
@@ -17,8 +17,15 @@ export default async function handler(req, res) {
             //console.log('API call (GET)');
             //Find the absolute path of the json directory
             const jsonDirectory = path.join(process.cwd(), '/config');
-            //Read the json data file data.json
-            let repoList = await fs.readFile(
+            //Check if the repo.json file exists and initialize it if not.
+            if (!fs.existsSync(jsonDirectory + '/repo.json')) {
+                fs.writeFileSync(
+                    jsonDirectory + '/repo.json',
+                    JSON.stringify([])
+                );
+            }
+            //Read the file repo.json
+            let repoList = await fs.promises.readFile(
                 jsonDirectory + '/repo.json',
                 'utf8'
             );