diff --git a/chatmastermind/chat.py b/chatmastermind/chat.py
index f3637de..8d64f86 100644
--- a/chatmastermind/chat.py
+++ b/chatmastermind/chat.py
@@ -7,12 +7,16 @@ from pprint import PrettyPrinter
 from pydoc import pager
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 from typing import TypeVar, Type, Optional, ClassVar, Any, Callable, Literal
+from .configuration import default_config_file
 from .message import Message, MessageFilter, MessageError, message_in
 from .tags import Tag
 
 ChatInst = TypeVar('ChatInst', bound='Chat')
 ChatDBInst = TypeVar('ChatDBInst', bound='ChatDB')
 
+db_next_file = '.next'
+ignored_files = [db_next_file, default_config_file]
+
 
 class ChatError(Exception):
     pass
@@ -45,7 +49,9 @@ def read_dir(dir_path: Path,
     messages: list[Message] = []
     file_iter = dir_path.glob(glob) if glob else dir_path.iterdir()
     for file_path in sorted(file_iter):
-        if file_path.is_file() and file_path.suffix in Message.file_suffixes:
+        if (file_path.is_file()
+           and file_path.name not in ignored_files  # noqa: W503
+           and file_path.suffix in Message.file_suffixes):  # noqa: W503
             try:
                 message = Message.from_file(file_path, mfilter)
                 if message:
@@ -235,7 +241,7 @@ class ChatDB(Chat):
 
     def __post_init__(self) -> None:
         # contains the latest message ID
-        self.next_fname = self.db_path / '.next'
+        self.next_path = self.db_path / db_next_file
         # make all paths absolute
         self.cache_path = self.cache_path.absolute()
         self.db_path = self.db_path.absolute()
@@ -274,7 +280,7 @@ class ChatDB(Chat):
 
     def get_next_fid(self) -> int:
         try:
-            with open(self.next_fname, 'r') as f:
+            with open(self.next_path, 'r') as f:
                 next_fid = int(f.read()) + 1
             self.set_next_fid(next_fid)
             return next_fid
@@ -283,7 +289,7 @@ class ChatDB(Chat):
             return 1
 
     def set_next_fid(self, fid: int) -> None:
-        with open(self.next_fname, 'w') as f:
+        with open(self.next_path, 'w') as f:
             f.write(f'{fid}')
 
     def read_db(self) -> None:
diff --git a/chatmastermind/configuration.py b/chatmastermind/configuration.py
index 1415eb2..d1f9601 100644
--- a/chatmastermind/configuration.py
+++ b/chatmastermind/configuration.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ OpenAIConfigInst = TypeVar('OpenAIConfigInst', bound='OpenAIConfig')
 
 
 supported_ais: list[str] = ['openai']
-default_config_path = '.config.yaml'
+default_config_file = '.config.yaml'
 
 
 class ConfigError(Exception):
diff --git a/chatmastermind/main.py b/chatmastermind/main.py
index 7e18185..fcd1b2f 100755
--- a/chatmastermind/main.py
+++ b/chatmastermind/main.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import argcomplete
 import argparse
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any
-from .configuration import Config, default_config_path
+from .configuration import Config, default_config_file
 from .message import Message
 from .commands.question import question_cmd
 from .commands.tags import tags_cmd
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ def tags_completer(prefix: str, parsed_args: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> list[str]:
 def create_parser() -> argparse.ArgumentParser:
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
         description="ChatMastermind is a Python application that automates conversation with AI")
-    parser.add_argument('-C', '--config', help='Config file name.', default=default_config_path)
+    parser.add_argument('-C', '--config', help='Config file name.', default=default_config_file)
 
     # subcommand-parser
     cmdparser = parser.add_subparsers(dest='command',
diff --git a/tests/test_chat.py b/tests/test_chat.py
index ca74725..ff44cda 100644
--- a/tests/test_chat.py
+++ b/tests/test_chat.py
@@ -241,7 +241,7 @@ class TestChatDB(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(chat_db.get_next_fid(), 5)
         self.assertEqual(chat_db.get_next_fid(), 6)
         self.assertEqual(chat_db.get_next_fid(), 7)
-        with open(chat_db.next_fname, 'r') as f:
+        with open(chat_db.next_path, 'r') as f:
             self.assertEqual(f.read(), '7')
 
     def test_chat_db_write(self) -> None: