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..bcbdae2fe 100755
--- a/scripts/syntax_guard.py
+++ b/scripts/syntax_guard.py
@@ -8,6 +8,11 @@ errors = []
 for p in Path(".").rglob("*.py"):
     if ".venv" in p.parts or "__pycache__" in p.parts:
         continue
+
+    # Optional dry-run mode for testing
+    if "--dry-run" in sys.argv:
+        print(f"Would check: {p}")
+        continue
     try:
         py_compile.compile(str(p), doraise=True)
     except py_compile.PyCompileError as e:
@@ -16,5 +21,7 @@ for p in Path(".").rglob("*.py"):
 
 if errors:
     print(f"\n{len(errors)} file(s) with syntax errors", file=sys.stderr)
+    for error in errors:
+        print(f"  - {error}", file=sys.stderr)
     sys.exit(1)
 print("All Python files compile successfully")