diff --git a/scripts/check_removed_time_parser_ready.py b/scripts/check_removed_time_parser_ready.py
index 1900f6003..1a9aeacad 100644
--- a/scripts/check_removed_time_parser_ready.py
+++ b/scripts/check_removed_time_parser_ready.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ SKIP_DIRS = {
     "dist",
     "htmlcov",
     "node_modules",
+    "scratch",
     "target",
 }
 ALLOWED_PATHS = {
diff --git a/tests/test_removed_time_parser_guard.py b/tests/test_removed_time_parser_guard.py
index d25f4c908..6a6b43b7a 100644
--- a/tests/test_removed_time_parser_guard.py
+++ b/tests/test_removed_time_parser_guard.py
@@ -19,3 +19,27 @@ def test_synthetic_production_caller_makes_removed_time_parser_retain(tmp_path):
     assert len(blockers) == 1
     assert blockers[0].path == caller
     assert blockers[0].line_number == 1
+
+
+def test_ignored_scratch_dir_is_not_shipped_source(tmp_path):
+    """scratch/ is git-ignored working space; only its .gitignore is tracked.
+
+    Agent session transcripts land there and quote historical dependency lists
+    verbatim, so a filesystem walk that includes scratch/ reds the release gate
+    on a developer clone while the shipped source is clean. The exclusion must
+    be narrow: a real caller sitting beside the scratch file still blocks.
+    """
+    scratch = tmp_path / "scratch" / "codex_stream_events.jsonl"
+    scratch.parent.mkdir(parents=True)
+    scratch.write_text('{"aggregated_output": "timefhuman"}\n', encoding="utf-8")
+
+    assert find_blockers(tmp_path) == []
+
+    caller = tmp_path / "solstone" / "think" / "live_caller.py"
+    caller.parent.mkdir(parents=True)
+    caller.write_text(
+        "from solstone.think.utils import parse_time_range\n", encoding="utf-8"
+    )
+
+    blockers = find_blockers(tmp_path)
+    assert [b.path for b in blockers] == [caller]