diff --git a/quartz/cli/plugin-git-handlers.js b/quartz/cli/plugin-git-handlers.js
index 1e7dc3481..bda3acc24 100644
--- a/quartz/cli/plugin-git-handlers.js
+++ b/quartz/cli/plugin-git-handlers.js
@@ -86,7 +86,24 @@ async function runParallel(items, concurrency, fn) {
   return results
 }
 
+/**
+ * Check whether a plugin's .gitignore excludes dist/.
+ * When dist/ is gitignored, the plugin cannot ship pre-built output in version
+ * control (e.g. because it uses tree-shaking) and must always be built locally.
+ */
+function isDistGitignored(pluginDir) {
+  const gitignorePath = path.join(pluginDir, ".gitignore")
+  if (!fs.existsSync(gitignorePath)) return false
+
+  const lines = fs.readFileSync(gitignorePath, "utf-8").split("\n")
+  return lines.some((line) => {
+    const trimmed = line.trim()
+    return trimmed === "dist" || trimmed === "dist/" || trimmed === "/dist" || trimmed === "/dist/"
+  })
+}
+
 function needsBuild(pluginDir) {
+  if (isDistGitignored(pluginDir)) return true
   const distDir = path.join(pluginDir, "dist")
   return !fs.existsSync(distDir)
 }