diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index baa31a543..71958d693 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -58,3 +58,4 @@ mini-swe-agent/
 # Nix
 .direnv/
 result
+.aider*
diff --git a/scripts/syntax_guard.py b/scripts/syntax_guard.py
index 7c41dc9b4..3a5c0a92b 100755
--- a/scripts/syntax_guard.py
+++ b/scripts/syntax_guard.py
@@ -1,20 +1,41 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 """Syntax guard — compile all Python files to catch syntax errors before merge."""
 import py_compile
+import re
 import sys
 from pathlib import Path
 
+# List of regex patterns for cloud inference APIs
+CLOUD_API_PATTERNS = [
+    r'https?://(?:api\.)?(openai\.com|anthropic\.ai|anthropic\.com|openrouter\.ai|nous\.ai|kimi\.ai|groq\.com)',
+    r'https?://(?:api\.)?gitea\.com',  # if Gitea is cloud-hosted
+]
+
 errors = []
+
 for p in Path(".").rglob("*.py"):
     if ".venv" in p.parts or "__pycache__" in p.parts:
         continue
+
     try:
         py_compile.compile(str(p), doraise=True)
     except py_compile.PyCompileError as e:
-        errors.append(f"{p}: {e}")
+        errors.append(f"SYNTAX ERROR: {p}: {e}")
         print(f"SYNTAX ERROR: {p}: {e}", file=sys.stderr)
 
+    # Read file content to check for cloud API calls
+    try:
+        content = p.read_text()
+        for pattern in CLOUD_API_PATTERNS:
+            if re.search(pattern, content, re.IGNORECASE):
+                errors.append(f"CLOUD API CALL: {p}")
+                print(f"CLOUD API CALL: {p} — matches pattern: {pattern}", file=sys.stderr)
+                break
+    except Exception as e:
+        print(f"ERROR reading {p}: {e}", file=sys.stderr)
+
 if errors:
-    print(f"\n{len(errors)} file(s) with syntax errors", file=sys.stderr)
+    print(f"\n{len(errors)} issue(s) found", file=sys.stderr)
     sys.exit(1)
-print("All Python files compile successfully")
+
+print("All Python files compile and are cloud API-free")