diff --git a/.taplo.toml b/.taplo.toml
index 0d0d4461..6e25fde3 100644
--- a/.taplo.toml
+++ b/.taplo.toml
@@ -1,8 +1,4 @@
 exclude = [
-    "**/Cargo.toml",
-    "**/Manifest.toml",
-    "**/Project.toml",
-    "labels*.toml",
     "labels/*.toml",
 ]
 
diff --git a/.vscode/settings.json b/.vscode/settings.json
index 96590612..402199ce 100644
--- a/.vscode/settings.json
+++ b/.vscode/settings.json
@@ -57,13 +57,13 @@
     ".constraints/*.txt": true,
     ".github/workflows/cd.yml": true,
     ".github/workflows/ci.yml": true,
+    ".taplo.toml": true,
     "src/repoma/.github/workflows/clean-caches.yml": true,
     "src/repoma/.github/workflows/pr-linting.yml": true,
     "src/repoma/.github/workflows/release-drafter.yml": true,
     "src/repoma/.template/.cspell.json": true,
     "src/repoma/.template/.gitpod.yml": true,
-    "src/repoma/.template/.prettierrc": true,
-    "src/repoma/.template/.taplo.toml": true
+    "src/repoma/.template/.prettierrc": true
   },
   "yaml.schemas": {
     "https://citation-file-format.github.io/1.2.0/schema.json": "CITATION.cff",
diff --git a/src/repoma/.template/.taplo.toml b/src/repoma/.template/.taplo.toml
deleted file mode 120000
index 0c8b8cb5..00000000
--- a/src/repoma/.template/.taplo.toml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-../../../.taplo.toml
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/repoma/.template/.taplo.toml b/src/repoma/.template/.taplo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0d0d4461
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/repoma/.template/.taplo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+exclude = [
+    "**/Cargo.toml",
+    "**/Manifest.toml",
+    "**/Project.toml",
+    "labels*.toml",
+    "labels/*.toml",
+]
+
+[formatting]
+align_comments = false
+align_entries = false
+allowed_blank_lines = 1
+array_auto_collapse = false
+array_auto_expand = true
+array_trailing_comma = true
+column_width = 88
+compact_inline_tables = true
+indent_string = "    "
+reorder_arrays = true
+reorder_keys = true
diff --git a/src/repoma/check_dev_files/toml.py b/src/repoma/check_dev_files/toml.py
index 4a8370b0..b543e25f 100644
--- a/src/repoma/check_dev_files/toml.py
+++ b/src/repoma/check_dev_files/toml.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import List, Union
 
+import tomlkit
 from ruamel.yaml.comments import CommentedMap
 
 from repoma.errors import PrecommitError
@@ -94,12 +95,20 @@ def _update_taplo_config() -> None:
         msg = f"Added {CONFIG_PATH.taplo} config for TOML formatting"
         raise PrecommitError(msg)
     with open(template_path) as f:
-        expected_content = f.read()
+        expected = tomlkit.load(f)
+    excludes: List[str] = [p for p in expected["exclude"] if glob(p, recursive=True)]  # type: ignore[union-attr]
+    if excludes:
+        excludes = sorted(excludes, key=str.lower)
+        expected["exclude"] = to_toml_array(excludes, enforce_multiline=True)
+    else:
+        del expected["exclude"]
     with open(CONFIG_PATH.taplo) as f:
-        existing_content = f.read()
-    if existing_content != expected_content:
+        existing = tomlkit.load(f)
+    expected_str = tomlkit.dumps(expected)
+    existing_str = tomlkit.dumps(existing)
+    if existing_str != expected_str:
         with open(CONFIG_PATH.taplo, "w") as stream:
-            stream.write(expected_content)
+            stream.write(expected_str)
         msg = f"Updated {CONFIG_PATH.taplo} config file"
         raise PrecommitError(msg)
 
diff --git a/src/repoma/utilities/pyproject.py b/src/repoma/utilities/pyproject.py
index 2f02e5c9..c7b7b32f 100644
--- a/src/repoma/utilities/pyproject.py
+++ b/src/repoma/utilities/pyproject.py
@@ -45,10 +45,10 @@ def write_pyproject(config: TOMLDocument) -> None:
         stream.write(src)
 
 
-def to_toml_array(items: Iterable[Any]) -> Array:
+def to_toml_array(items: Iterable[Any], enforce_multiline: bool = False) -> Array:
     array = tomlkit.array()
     array.extend(items)
-    if len(array) > 1:
+    if enforce_multiline or len(array) > 1:
         array.multiline(True)
     else:
         array.multiline(False)