diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 82dda142..c073c601 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -14,3 +14,5 @@ npm-shrinkwrap.json
 # coverage output
 coverage/
 .nyc_output/
+
+.npmignore
diff --git a/.npmignore b/.npmignore
deleted file mode 100644
index f3eaf982..00000000
--- a/.npmignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-# gitignore
-npm-debug.log
-node_modules
-.DS_Store
-
-# Only apps should have lockfiles
-yarn.lock
-package-lock.json
-npm-shrinkwrap.json
-
-# coverage output
-coverage/
-.nyc_output/
-
-bower.json
-component.json
-.npmignore
-
-.github/workflows
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 3d6b97ba..ad7dd967 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
         "iconv-lite": "^0.5.1",
         "in-publish": "^2.0.1",
         "mkdirp": "^0.5.5",
+        "npmignore": "^0.3.0",
         "nyc": "^10.3.2",
         "object-inspect": "^1.12.0",
         "qs-iconv": "^1.0.4",
@@ -52,6 +53,7 @@
         "tape": "^5.4.0"
     },
     "scripts": {
+        "prepack": "npmignore --auto --commentLines=autogenerated",
         "prepublishOnly": "safe-publish-latest && npm run dist",
         "prepublish": "not-in-publish || npm run prepublishOnly",
         "pretest": "npm run --silent readme && npm run --silent lint",
@@ -63,5 +65,13 @@
         "lint": "eslint --ext=js,mjs .",
         "dist": "mkdirp dist && browserify --standalone Qs lib/index.js > dist/qs.js"
     },
-    "license": "BSD-3-Clause"
+    "license": "BSD-3-Clause",
+    "publishConfig": {
+        "ignore": [
+            "!dist/*",
+            "bower.json",
+            "component.json",
+            ".github/workflows"
+        ]
+    }
 }