diff --git a/.agents/skills/omarchy b/.agents/skills/omarchy
deleted file mode 120000
index d6e1435c4..000000000
--- a/.agents/skills/omarchy
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-/home/vivek/.local/share/omarchy/default/omarchy-skill
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 72437ab73..02b8cb25d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -12,9 +12,12 @@ node_modules
 /*.jpeg
 
 # build / caches
-dist/
-build/
-out/
+# No trailing slash on purpose: `dist/` matches a DIRECTORY only, so a symlink
+# named `dist` (the shape used to borrow a built dist into a fresh worktree)
+# walked straight past it and got committed once. Match the name either way.
+dist
+build
+out
 .cache/
 # `.webjs/vendor/` is the EXCEPTION: holds the committed importmap
 # manifest + optional downloaded bundles for `webjs vendor pin`. See
@@ -86,3 +89,8 @@ packages/mcp/resources/
 # Generated at prepack from the canonical .agents/skills/webjs/ (see
 # scripts/sync-scaffold-skill.mjs). Never commit this bundle.
 packages/cli/templates/.agents/skills/webjs/
+
+# A machine-local symlink into ~/.local/share (an omarchy skill). Kept on disk
+# so the local setup keeps resolving it, untracked so it does not dangle in
+# every other clone. See test/repo-health/no-committed-symlinks.test.mjs.
+.agents/skills/omarchy
diff --git a/packages/core/dist b/packages/core/dist
deleted file mode 120000
index 0ee3aee03..000000000
--- a/packages/core/dist
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-/home/vivek/Documents/Projects/frameworks/webjs/packages/core/dist
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/repo-health/no-committed-symlinks.test.mjs b/test/repo-health/no-committed-symlinks.test.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7cf16eb9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/repo-health/no-committed-symlinks.test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+/**
+ * No tracked file may be a SYMLINK that escapes the repo.
+ *
+ * A fresh git worktree has no `node_modules` and no built `packages/core/dist`
+ * (#954), so the standard remedy is to borrow them from the primary checkout
+ * with a symlink. That symlink is machine-local by construction: it holds an
+ * ABSOLUTE path into one developer's home directory. Committing one puts that
+ * path in every clone, and it dangles everywhere except the machine that made
+ * it.
+ *
+ * This has happened. A `packages/core/dist` symlink was committed and reached
+ * `main`, because `.gitignore` listed `dist/` WITH a trailing slash, which
+ * matches a directory only. Git does not treat a symlink as a directory, so the
+ * pattern never applied and a `git add -A` swept it in. The `.gitignore` entry
+ * is now `dist` (no slash), and this test is the backstop for the general
+ * shape, since the next borrowed path will not necessarily be called `dist`.
+ *
+ * In-repo symlinks are fine and several are load-bearing (the vendored nvim
+ * intellisense copy, the ui registry), so the rule is about ESCAPING the repo,
+ * not about symlinks as such: a target is rejected when it is absolute, or when
+ * resolving it relative to the link's own directory lands outside the repo root.
+ */
+import { test } from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import { execFileSync } from 'node:child_process';
+import { dirname, isAbsolute, resolve, relative, join } from 'node:path';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+
+const repoRoot = resolve(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), '../..');
+
+test('no tracked symlink points outside the repo', () => {
+  // Mode 120000 is git's symlink mode. `ls-files -s` prints it per tracked path.
+  const out = execFileSync('git', ['ls-files', '-s'], { cwd: repoRoot, encoding: 'utf8' });
+  const links = out
+    .split('\n')
+    .filter((l) => l.startsWith('120000 '))
+    .map((l) => l.split('\t').slice(1).join('\t'))
+    .filter(Boolean);
+
+  const escaping = [];
+  for (const path of links) {
+    // The blob content of a symlink IS its target string.
+    const target = execFileSync('git', ['cat-file', '-p', `HEAD:${path}`], {
+      cwd: repoRoot,
+      encoding: 'utf8',
+    }).trim();
+
+    if (isAbsolute(target)) {
+      escaping.push(`${path} -> ${target} (absolute, so machine-local)`);
+      continue;
+    }
+    const resolved = resolve(join(repoRoot, dirname(path)), target);
+    const rel = relative(repoRoot, resolved);
+    if (rel.startsWith('..')) escaping.push(`${path} -> ${target} (resolves outside the repo)`);
+  }
+
+  assert.deepEqual(
+    escaping,
+    [],
+    'a tracked symlink escapes the repo, so it dangles in every clone but the one that made it:\n  ' +
+      escaping.join('\n  '),
+  );
+});
+
+test('the build-output ignore patterns match a symlink, not just a directory', () => {
+  // The specific gap that let the dist symlink through. `dist/` matches a
+  // directory only; the entry must be slash-free so a symlink of that name is
+  // caught too.
+  const ignore = execFileSync('git', ['show', 'HEAD:.gitignore'], {
+    cwd: repoRoot,
+    encoding: 'utf8',
+  });
+  const lines = ignore.split('\n').map((l) => l.trim());
+  for (const name of ['dist', 'build', 'out']) {
+    assert.ok(
+      lines.includes(name),
+      `.gitignore must list a slash-free \`${name}\` so a symlink of that name is ignored too, ` +
+        `not just a \`${name}/\` directory`,
+    );
+    assert.ok(
+      !lines.includes(`${name}/`),
+      `.gitignore still has \`${name}/\`, which matches a directory only and is what let a ` +
+        `committed \`packages/core/dist\` symlink reach main`,
+    );
+  }
+});