diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..01ecee4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Python bytecode cache. Generated by py_compile / import of
+# scripts/sweep_poll.py during local validation; never part of the
+# docs assembly.
+__pycache__/
+*.pyc